Property Record
726 Orchard Street
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Erwin and Thelma Wall House |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 229531 |
| Location (Address): | 726 Orchard Street |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Racine |
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| Year Built: | 1936 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2017 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Orchard Street Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 8/22/2016 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 5/20/2016 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | 2017- "Sometimes real estate deals come with restrictions. These owners had to agree to 4 conditions to build their dream home! This Regency Revival-style home was built by Erwin Wall, founder of Educator's Credit Union and features splendid brick bandings while being conservative in its design lines. Unlike the Tudor Revival-rstyle homes on the tour, this gem features a style prominent in the late 1930s." -"Tour of Historic Places: Manree Park Neighborhood" pamphlet, Real Racine, preservationracine@gmail.com, 262-634-5748, (2017). 2017- "A special opportunity to look at a third modernized style was provided by the Erwin and Thelma Wall house. This, too, is architect-designed, by Ellis A. Klinger (who also designed the fortress-like Administration Building at Racine Zoo). Its style is best known as "Regency Revival", but like the two previous modernized styles, it has none of the features that distinguished the original version (graceful columns, pediments and delicate classical details). Its alternative name "Modern Georgian" may therefore be a better way of signaling its own identity. In fact, the Modern Georgian is a sub-category of 1930s Art Moderne, and this can be seen in the blocky sections, the austerely rectilinear lines, and the use of parallel horizontal lines that project (as here) or are recessed. The only detauil that hints of the classical antecedents of this style is the cornice on a row of dentils, formed here of projecting brick ends. The octagonal window was also popular in the older version of the style. It is a great pleasure that our historic building heritage is beginning to include such examples of clearly modernizing styles." -"Preservation Racine News", Pippin Michelli, Winter 2017, Volume 10. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |