| 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 Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
WALLS OF COBBLESTONE CAST IN PLACE IN CONCRETE BLOCKS OCULUS IN SIDE GABLE RETURNES EAVES RAISED FIELDSTONE FOUNDATION W/ WATER COURSE ABOVE ENCLOSED COBBLESTO NE PORCH IN BUNGALOW STYLE, POSSIBLY LATER ADDITION SEE ISF Additional map code: DOT 29. Photo code #1 is: HUDSON 1/32.
In 1900, Harmon Palmer patented a cast-iron block-making machine, which Sears, Roebuck and Company sold by 1905. By changing the face plate, the builder could give the block various surface textures, most often rock-faced or cobblestone. August Johnson, a Swedish-born mason-contractor who erected many local buildings including Hudson’s city hall, did things differently. Here, instead of simulating a cobblestone texture, he placed real cobbles in the mold before adding the concrete. He then laid the colorful blocks like ashlar, with tooled mortar joints. This method also sets his house apart from southeastern Wisconsin’s nineteenth-century cobblestone houses--stone buildings veneered with cobblestones, individually laid in horizontal courses.
Johnson’s cross-gabled house combines exuberant irregularity and color with staid details, including cornice returns, stucco corner moldings, and flat lintels made of cobbles and concrete. More playful details include concrete blocks with diamond insets that enliven the gable ends and form a frieze beneath the eaves. The enclosed entry porch on the south side, probably dating from the 1920s, blends with the original house, but there cobblestone rubble replaced cobblestone-concrete block. The Johnson House also displays colorful glass decorations in gable ends. Inside, the decorations change to wood; carved entablatures top windows and doors, and the front-hall staircase boasts oak newel posts carved with beads, sunflowers, and leaves. |
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