Property Record
404 S WEBSTER AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | William J. Abrams House |
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| Reference Number: | 2244 |
| Location (Address): | 404 S WEBSTER AVE |
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| County: | Brown |
| City: | Green Bay |
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| Year Built: | 1867 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19862022 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
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| Wall Material: | Aluminum/Vinyl Siding |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Photo code #2: 75BR-12/12 Hip roofed main block now has old wrought iron cresting around the roof apex not shown in 1975 survey photo. Wide overhanging eaves have a wide freize band below the paired brackets under the cornice. The entrance door has a transom lite and side lites and flat-arched hood molds above the door casing, as is also found on all the windows on the main block and the rear addition. The excellent, intact, flat-roofed entrance porch has denticulated molding below the eaves. Tuscan Order columns support the roof. Octagonal round window. There is a large two-story-tall rectangular rear addition which is original to the house and identical in style. An excellent side porch faces on the north or Crooks Street facade of the rear addition. Railroad executive and twice mayor of Green Bay, William J. Abrams built this fine Italianate style house for himself and his family on the edge of Astor Hill between 1867 and 1872. While Italianate houses in Green Bay were built in a variety of materials, several of the finest, including the Abrams house, were sided in clapboard. Distinctively Italianate features include a vertical emphasis heightened by the tall first floor, the bracketed cornice, and the very shallow pitched hip roof with a deck surmounting it. All windows have distinctive hood moulds above which are identical to the one over the entrance door with its transom and side lites. The flat roof porch is original and is all that survives of the original veranda. Even thought the house was later converted into apartments, it has been little altered visually and has received excellent maintenance. William J. Abrams arrived in Wisconsin from New York State in 1856, and settled in Green Bay in 1861. He was originally involved in doing route surveys for railroads and, following his arrival in Green Bay, promoting steamship lines. In 1870, he became one of the promotees of the Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railroad and serving as Secretary of the company. He was later the leading promoter and President of the Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western built in 1891, and later became the Green Bay and Western. Politically, Abrams was in the State Assembly from 1864 to 1867 and the State Senate from 1868 to 1869. He was elected mayor of Green Bay in 1882, 1883, and 1885. Green Bay Intensive Survey Phases 2, 3 & 4 |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Brown County Tax Rolls. (B) Commemorative and Biographical record of Brown County, Outagamie and Winnebago Counties. 1895, p. 114-115. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |