There was a fine house on Otter Avenue which I’d long
admired but hadn’t considered to be the work of William Waters until just
recently. The house was built for Peter
Nicolai, a prominent and colorful citizen.
( Number 4.)
Mr. Nicolai was born in 1820 at Rhineland-Platz, Germany and
immigrated to Oshkosh in 1849 making the city his home until his death
fifty-one years later. He married
Appolonia Jagoditsch and they had eight children. His obituary lists Peter as a carpenter but
said he did not engage in that occupation for many years, a check of old city
directories shows that Peter was a saloon keeper, restaurateur and man of
leisure. Mr. Nicolai had quite a temper
and was arrested for an assault on Theodore Frenz, it seems Mr. Frenz told
Peter that he’d seen his daughter at Rolla Herrmann’s saloon drinking beer with
unsavory company. Later Peter went to
Mr. Herrmann and inquired if he had witnessed his daughter with undesirables,
Rolla told Peter he had not and Peter left Mr. Herrmann’s establishment only to
return the next afternoon in the company of Theodore Frenz. The two strolled up to Mr. Herrmann and Peter
asked if he’s seen his daughter in bad company to which Rolla said no, Mr.
Nicolai then sized a duster and beat Mr. Frenz about the head with the handle
to the point of drawing blood. But I
digress.
The reason I feel
the Nicolai house is a Waters job is the front entrance and porches, they are
nearly identical
to the entrance and porches of the Rodrick McKenzie house. The layout of the
front
elevation of both structures is the same only the scale and some details
differ.
The dates would be about
the same, the McKenzie place was built about 1873 and Peter Nicolai’s
first residual listing
on Otter Avenue comes in 1876, I therefore conclude Mr. Waters to be the
architect of
Peter Nicolai’s house. I can offer no written proof of my accretion just my intuition.
