Property Record
2090 N CHURCH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Buena Vista House |
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| Other Name: | COACHES COBBLESTONE INN |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 10105 |
| Location (Address): | 2090 N CHURCH ST |
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| County: | Walworth |
| City: | East Troy |
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| Year Built: | 1846 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1978 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Greek Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cobblestone |
| Architect: | SAMUEL R. BRADLEY |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 2022 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Buena Vista House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 1/18/1978 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. STONE QUOINS. In a state with an unusually large collection of cobblestone buildings, the Buena Vista House is the biggest and one of the finest. Its builder was Samuel Bradley, a young mason who ran a hotel in Milwaukee with his wife before moving to East Troy. In 1846, he built the stone walls of his new inn and began the laborious task of veneering them with cobblestones. Because it took so long to select the small stones and lay them in uniform courses, most masons working with this material veneered only the principal facade, leaving the structural walls of rubble or quarried stone exposed at the sides and rear. But Bradley veneered all four sides, using colorful egg-shaped stones he had gathered from nearby lakes and running tooled V-shaped mortar joints between each horizontal course. The process took three years. Like most cobblestone buildings, this one is a vernacular interpretation of the Greek Revival style, with a broad cornice, granite and limestone quoins, and flat-arched limestone lintels. Originally, a one-story porch ran along the west (front) and wrapped around to the north side, but all that remains today are two smaller, pedimented porch roofs, supported by large brackets, on the front. The paired windows on the second floor, over the main entrance, show where a doorway once opened onto a covered balcony. The ground level has always housed a restaurant, but the interior has been altered repeatedly. |
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| Bibliographic References: | PERRIN 1962, P. 78. KOHLER, P. 7. COBBLESTONE BUILDINGS IN WISCONSIN, P. 14. EAST TROY NEWS 10/9/1996. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |