A Call to Action!

  A situation has developed in Oshkosh concerning a beautiful old house and the needs of a cultural institution.  The Paine Art Center, one of the cultural gems of the city wishes to build a parking lot on land just to the north of the art center.  The problem is the property is occupied by a 104 year old brick colonial style house. The Paine owns the house and has offered to sell it for one dollar to anyone who will move it.  I feel it is important that the Paine Art Center realize it's ambition to provide parking and access for the handicapped and disabled.  I also feel Oshkosh should not, if possible, sacrifice another elegant old home.  The technology exists to move the house.  The question is who would take up the challenge of such a daunting task and where would one move it to?   Why bother to save the house anyway?

The house is significant as it contributes to the architectural variety of the historic neighborhood.  It was designed by William Waters in 1911 for bank president Louis Schriber and is a classic example of Colonial Style architecture.  It would be a shame to allow the building to be razed as so many other  Oshkosh landmarks have been.  A lively debate has been joined on Facebook, with many people expressing concern.  I urge interested citizens to join together and search for a solution, after all this is the city that saved the Grand Opera House.                                                                                          

The past year, 2014 was not a good year for the dwindling number of Waters' building.  The old First National Bank of Menasha and Menasha Hotel were demolished and now the prospect looms that the Schriber residence would fall to the wrecking ball.  I do not live in Oshkosh but Oshkosh will always live in me, it is the city of my nativity and I'm proud to say so.  I will do all I can to help save this house but the concerned citizens of Oshkosh and the Paine Art Center need to work together. There can be no complacence or apathy on the part of those who would save the building.  The Paine Art Center must exercise patience restraint until a buyer is found and a plan put into place.  This house can stand for another one hundred years and more if a workable plan is conceived and executed.

P.S.  Good news, a plan to move the Schriber was announced on 9/27/15.  The building will be moved to a lot on the corner of Algoma and Arboretum some time early in 2016.

Joshua Dalton's Residence

I had often wondered about the early residential works of William Waters.  Published lists from biographies and newspaper articles tended to mention only the homes of the well-to-do, folks such as S. M. Hay and W. H. Doe and being prominent persons images of their dwelling were easy to find. But certainly Mr. Waters did more than homes for lumbermen and bankers.   A few weeks ago a Facebook friend and fellow Waters devotee posted several pictures of a house at 723 Frederick Street in Oshkosh.  In one image there can be seen a notice of condemnation attach to the front door.  The friend expressed fear that the house would soon be bulldozed.  He also said that he thought it may have been the work of architect Waters. I had noticed the house years ago but had never considered that Mr. Waters had designed it.

I went the pages of "Willie's Book" to look for clues and I was astonished by what I found; there were detail sketches of window frames, gable arches and a front elevation, the house was clearly the work of William Waters.  In the 1870's two of the most popular picturesque styles were Italianate and Carpenter Gothic, this house was of the latter.  Characteristically Gothic style houses would have board and batten siding and Gothic arch windows.  Mr. Waters had made his own interpretation of the style, with no Gothic aches and board and batten siding in the gables only.  The gables had segmented arches with trefoil and quatrefoil openings with elaborate fascia boards and finials on the roof peaks, the windows were surrounded by ornate frames.

The house was built for Joshua Dalton a house painter who worked with his father for many years but later opened a grocery store in Methodist Church block on the corner of Main and Merritt Streets. An article published in the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of  December 14, 1877 give a list of the new house construction in the past season and there among them is Joshua Dalton's residence on Leaf Street.

More Oshkosh Building, Part Three

There were so many building designed by William Waters all up and down Oshkosh's Main Street and streets such as Otter, Waugoo and Washington Avenue.  Some had a short time of service and others remain to this day.  There was a building built about 1881 which held three addresses; numbers 79, 81 and 83 Main Street.  M. Lambert Co. occupied #79, Weber Bros #81 and Struass and Jandorf was at # 83.  There were also living quarter on the second floor.  Elements of the building bore a resemblance to the Commercial National Back in Appleton.  The Weber Block was constructed of cream colored brick and accents of dark brick with limestone lintels and springers.  In 1904 the New German American Bank built a fine new edifice and more than half of the Weber Bros. Block was removed and the rest remodeled. That same year the Plummer Company, a four story dry good store next door was destroyed by fire along with the newly rebuilt Weber store and parts of the new bank.   

Other streets off of Main Street also had fine commercial buildings.  The intersection of State and Otter Streets was once truly impressive; there was City Hall the Northwestern Building and in 1905 the Greenlaw-Thomas, a firm that did abstracts of titles built a building of grace and buauty.
The building was of a cream colored brick, two stories high with a chamfered corner which held the front door.  Above the second floor was expanse of window pane brickwork and towering pediments at the chamfered corner and above an entrance to the second floor on Otter Street. Also along the Otter Street side was a retail space.  As time went on the pediments were removed and the structure was given a coat of gray paint.  It fell to the wrecking ball in the 1980's

On Washington Avenue there was a line of stores which were built after the great fire of 1875.  There were four store fronts and two doors to the upper floor.  The building may have been designed as two structures for different client as there are slight detail differences with the second store windows. The
building was built of cream colored brick with pilasters at the center and either end of the upper level and arched lintels of brick with limestone keystones.  

Along the top of the building was an intricate brickwork cornice which ran the length of the building. The accompanying sketch was one gathered the architect's son Willie, from his father's office and place in an old magazine.  Mr. Waters also used such elaborate brickwork on other building erected after the 1875 fire.    

There are more posts to come on the many commercial building of William Waters.  I've yet to touch upon all of them in Oshkosh much less those in Neenah, Appleton, Waupaca and Green Bay.

A Pleasant Surprise !

One research source I've come to rely upon is the Wisconsin State Historical Society.  The society has a search engine, where by one may view their vast collection of images.  Many of the pictures are take from building surveys done in the late 1980's by many cites, Oshkosh being one of them.  One day I was perusing the buildings of Oshkosh and was captivated by an image of an old house.  The picture could well have passed for a prize winning photograph; high contrast black and white and excellent composition moving from the upper left to to lower right.  I looked over the picture closely, feeling there was something familiar about the building.  Perhaps it was because I had driven past the place years ago.   

The address given for the house was 2175 W. 4th Street but it was obviously in a rural setting, unlike any part of 4th Street I could recall.  Next I check the Oshkosh Public Library's address number conversion chart which show that there never was a 2175 W. 4th Avenue.  Where was this place?, I thought to myself.  I then check the city assessors office web site and the address, 2175 Witzle Ave. and got the name of the Oakhaven Church.  I went to the church's web site which featured a slide show, one image of which was the barn that is now the church and the old house in the distance.  

I was convinced the house was a Waters job and that I'd seen it somewhere before.  I decided to revisit "Willie's Book", a collection of drawing gather by a young William Waters Jr. and pasted to the leaves of an old agricultural journal.  There it was!, with a plan view and detail of the porch posts.  In the photograph the porches have been removed but some pieces and shadows remained as witness to their existence.  So whose house was it?  An old atlas of Winnebago county revealed that the land belonged to Rodrick McKenzie.  His biography states that McKenzie was a long time resident of Oshkosh and ran a feed and seed store located on Washington Street between Mt.Vernon and Broad Street.  Further it said McKenzie retired to his farm in 1874 where lived until his passing in 1886, by which time his nephew William McKenzie immigrated from Scotland and ran the farm.  The drawings in "Willie Book" date from the early 1870's and I would recon the McKenzie house to have been built in 1872 or 1873.        

More Oshkosh Buildings, Part Two

The lower end of Main St in Oshkosh had always been a hub of activity and commerce of all kinds. At first it was a ferry crossing and Main St. was known as Ferry St.  Later a bridge was built along with a steamboat dock.  The Revere House, a large, fine hotel was adjacent to the river and other brick building were soon erected such that by the early 1870's only a few frame structures remained.  

One of the most interesting buildings at that end of the street was the one erected by C. S. Weston, pictured here with the Phoenix firehouse.  There is no written proof that William Waters drew the plans for the Weston building, but when compared the the Phoenix firehouse, a building known to have been drawn by Waters, it's obvious they are by the same hand.  Another tell tail sign is the Weston building's layout; two store fronts separated by a stairway to the second floor .  On the upper floor there are two sets of triplet window with a small window between them, Mr. Water used this template in many of his commercial structures.

Just next to the Weston building stood Weisbrod's Hall, built in 1873 for Rudolph Weisbrod a furniture maker and undertaker.  Although there is no proof that Mr. Waters drew the plans for this structure, it may well have been his work as he did other projects for the Weisbrod family.  In 1884 Mr. Weisbrod remodeled the building, changing it to a saloon and hall.  Weisbrod sold the building in 1891 to Herman Teichgraber and it was remodeled once again and reopened as the Alhambra saloon. It is this remodeling shown here and is doubtless the work of architect Waters.  Red pressed brick, terracotta panels as well as a scrolled sill below the second floor windows were all Waters hallmarks. 

There once stood a house on southwest corner of Main St and Marion St. the erstwhile home of O. B. Reed.  The old frame building was torn down in 1885 and the cellar became a frog breeding pond and eye sore.  Henry Borman purchased the property in 1890 and in the spring of that year began construction of a Waters designed building.  An Oshkosh Daily Northwestern article of April 30. 1890 states that the brick building was to be three stories high and measure 20 by 100 feet and cost $8,000.  What was erected was a two story building of red pressed brick with limestone and terracotta accents with a chamfered corner entrance, Mr. Borman resided on the second floor.  All the of the buildings in the first block of Main Street were demolished in the late 1970's.

More Oshkosh Building, Part One

There were a great many building along Oshkosh's North Main Street designed by Mr. William Waters.  On the west side of Main Street from Algoma to Church Avenue were structure I believe to be the work of Waters, but have no proof of his authorship.  The fire of 1874 burned the area north of Washington Avenue and to the east for many blocks.  The aftermath of the conflagration did not receive the same kind of press coverage as the fire of the following year.  Photographs from 1887 show that portion of Main Street to have been lined with large, fine retail buildings.  It was these images I relied upon for much of my research.  

One building which was outstanding for beauty and presents was built in 1883 for Webb and Brooks Hardware, dealers in stoves for heating and cooking.  It was constructed of red pressed brick, two stories high.  The six windows of the second floor had Gothic arches with segmented lintel of brick and limestone.  The two windows at the center were slightly taller than the others and above them was limestone plaque bearing the date and owner's name. There were other limestone adornments on the facade which was capped an almost steeple like parapet with two openings that matched the windows below.  The building stood about mid block, where the Time Cinema is now.  There well be some vestiges of the old building still there.         

Down the street was another building likely from the drawing board of Mr. Waters.  It is still there at, 415 North Main Street, sans the cornice and pediment from 1874.  There were a few old photographs from which one might ascertain the building original appearance but awnings and a severe angle obscured much of the detail.   With help from some enhanced images from the Oshkosh Public Museum and sketches from Wm. Waters I was able to reproduce the facade.  The detail of the arches of the second floor windows which can still be seen are identical to that of the main arch of the Grand Opera House, with rosettes carved in the limestone springers and keystones.     

Also built after the fire of 1874 was the Luther Davies and Company, Dry Goods.  The three story building was constructed of cream colored brick with red accents.  Architect Waters employed many intricate brick work techniques, (see post of 10/23/2010).  For many years the store was covered with several coats of paint, cloaking its' beauty, until cleaning the brick reviled the original splendor.  

At the corner of North Main and Church Street was another commercial structure built in 1874, using much the same brick style as the Davies building; cream colored with red brick accents.  The second story windows on the front featured Gothic arched and segmented lintel of cream and red brick with springers and keystones of limestone. The side of the building ran at an obtuse angle from the front, along Church Avenue.  The building had three retail spaces, one on Main Street and two on the Church Avenue side.  Also on that side was the stairway to the upper floor which housed the Oshkosh Business College, run by W. W. Daggett.  For years the structures' beauty lay hidden under many layers of paint, which when removed exposed the rich color and intricacy.      

Oshkosh Commercial Building of 1884

The year of 1884 was a very good for William Waters, he designed four houses and four commercial buildings in Oshkosh. Of the drawings that came from his drafting board that year, three stores were on Main Street and one on High Street.  Economic times were good and the citizens of Oshkosh were in a mood to build. 

In early November of 1883 there was an announcement of the sale of C. N. Paine's vacant lot on the  east side of Main Street not far from the corner with Washington Street.  The empty lot had long been an eyesore so the news of Messrs. Thielen and Weidner's purchase was greeted with anticipation. By October of the next year the building was nearly finish, the construction having been done by Mr. E. E. Stevens.  The style was said to be Commercial Gothic with the entire building presenting a substantial and elaborate appearance.  Built mostly of red pressed brick the building featured limestone lentils, keystone and other trim as well as black brick in the arches adding to the visual appeal.                                                                                                                                                  

Just to the north of the Thielen, Weidner block was another new building put up that year by John Hoenig.  Although stylistically different from its' neighboring store, the Hoenig building was harmonious with it, in that is was built of red press brick and had limestone trim.  Mr. Waters used a familiar template; two store fronts separated by a stairway to the second floor.  The front elevation of the second floor consisted of a central window flanked by sets of triplet windows in ached openings with white limestone trim set in a backdrop of recessed square panels.  The facade was topped with bands of black brick and a terracotta cornice.

Three door up the street was yet another Waters' job, this being a building of two stores for Killian Dichmann, a retired grocer.  The Dichmann family was large and industrious and architect Waters had designed other commercial buildings for them after the great fire of 1875.  The new building was based on the two store fronts and central stairway model used to such great success in the past.  Red pressed brick was used along with bands of black brick and just below the second floor windows were several courses of diagonally laid bricks.  Above the windows was a terracotta frieze and beyond that a brick work cornice.    

Henry L. Schmidt was referred to as the restaurant man in the newspaper article which announced his intention to build on High Street across from the Grand Opera House.  A description of the building said it was to be 20 x 80 feet and two stories high.  There were to be two stores, one fronting on High Street and the other fronting on Market Street.  The structure was to have a fine basement and office space as well as living quarters on the second floor.  Like the opera house it was built of cream colored brick with dark accent bands and at the top of the walls was a brick work cornice.  

P. S.  As of this writing all four of these building are still standing.