Design Repeat

The reuse of a design has previously been discussed in this blog.  If Mr. Waters had a plan a client liked, he would use it again.  In 1900 architect Waters drew plans for *Peter King’s residence on Waugoo and a residence for Nic Stein on North Park Avenue, aka Parkway, the buildings were mirror images of each other.  Nic Stein was the proprietor of a sample room on Main Street and had been employed as a book keeper for another bar owner, Peter Stein, perhaps his brother. **Peter Stein also had a house designed by William Waters.  The bar business must have been lucrative for the Kings  and Steins all had new houses built about the same time.   

But Nic Stein was not the only one to have a house based on the Peter King design, Henry L. Sorenson of Neenah had a house of the same plan built on Church Street in the Sherrytown neighborhood.  

The dwelling was, with but a few alterations the same as King’s house on Waugoo in Oshkosh.  Mr. Sorenson was a partner with George Barlow in the Badger Furniture Store on W. Wisconsin Avenue, and his home would have been in easy walking distance from the store, HHHHH

* See, The Kings of Waugoo 7/10/2017

** See, Bells of St Mary’s 9/16 2017

The Union Block

The recent posting of a photo on social media of an Appleton street scene was a revelation to me.  It wasn’t an image I was familiar with, but I leaned it was the north side of E. College Avenue between Oneida and Morrison.  At the center of the picture was a large two-story building which exhibited many features of a William Waters’ design; store fronts flanking stairs to the second floor, sets of triplet windows on the upper floor and intricate brick cornice capped with pediments.  I had to learn more. 

Directories and maps of the time were the best resource.  The earliest directory I found was for 1877, at the time Appleton lacked a coherent numbering system for buildings and so descriptions of location were provided, an example would be (sic) n s Atlantic e Durkee, meaning the north side of Atlantic east of Durkee.  Commercial concerns would often indicate the business block which housed them.  There were several references to The Union Block in the early directory and newspapers, with the aid of fire insurance maps I concluded the building was the Union Block.  The Appleton Post of 12/31/1874 published an article about several of the new building to town, one being the Union Block owned by, Dr. Stansbury, Capt. Edwards, Samuel Phinny and David Smith.  The contractors of the building were William Johnson and Robert Pride, no mention was made of the architect.  I recognized the name of David Smith as being a client of Mr. Waters for such building as the Manufacturers Bank and a residence, perhaps Mr. Smith enlisted architect Waters once again.