A Circumstantial Case

I’ll be honest and say I’ve got some misgivings about declaring these next two houses as the work of William Waters but one could make a strong circumstantial case for that thesis.  Not too long ago I noticed a similarity between two houses in Oshkosh, one on High Avenue and the other on Scott Avenue.  They shared many of the same features but were mirror images of one another.  Both dwelling had large front porches covered by a long sloping roofs and in the center of that roof was a dormer with a door which opened on to a balcony with a railing, to one side rose a tower with a steep conical roof. 

 The house on Scott Avenue appears much as it did when built in 1898 for Robert Grandy a foreman with the Morgan Company. The gable ends were covered with shingles, the second story was a combination of clapboard and shingles, while the first floor was clad with clapboard.  The roof was dominated by a dormer at center with a gabled roof and door flanked windows.  I had seen dormers like that on homes designed by Mr. Waters, notably the A. B. Ideson residence in Oshkosh, built 1898 and the C. W. Howard house in Neenah

The house on High Avenue was also constructed in 1898 but may have been altered from the original.  It would be likely that this house too had a cone shaped roof that was may have been removed for a verity of reasons.  It may have been a coincidence that William Waters played the base drum for the renowned Arions Band and that the High Avenue house was built for Professor A. D. Amsden the director of the Arions Band

That is as compelling a case as I can make for the assertion that the homes of Robert Grandy and Professor Amsden were from and drafting table of William Waters.