Cletis Foley

by Beth Johnson and Edward Barry

There has been considerable fanfare in recent years about the late 20th-century Peoria architect Richard Doyle. With the spark ignited by developer and entrepreneur Kim Blickenstaff, the community has been reintroduced to several of Doyle’s architectural jewels, including mercantile structures along North Prospect Road and the delightfully modernist former Peoria Heights Public Library.

Peoria was also home to several of Doyle’s contemporaries cut from the same fine cloth: quiet yet passionate about their architectural craft, possessing immense creative talent, and powerfully committed to the community they called home. One of these contemporaries was Cletis Roy Foley.

A Modernist Legacy

Cletis Foley was the quintessential 20th-century modernist architect, ready to throw off the “shackles” of classical architectural dogma and detailing in favor of a sleek, clean and altogether new paradigm that was bold and powerful in its simplicity. Not only did he believe in the beauty engendered by this approach, he also believed in its transformative power to make society a better place. While hindsight tells us that pure modernism had its shortcomings, that passion ran deep and wide at the time.