Property Record
42 N MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Fountain City Hall and Auditorium |
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| Other Name: | City Hall |
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| Reference Number: | 2567 |
| Location (Address): | 42 N MAIN ST |
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| County: | Buffalo |
| City: | Fountain City |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1922 |
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| Additions: | 2001 |
| Survey Date: | 2001 |
| Historic Use: | auditorium |
| Architectural Style: | Neoclassical/Beaux Arts |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Henry Auler |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | This two-story dark red brick municipal building features a flat roof and an exposed stone foundation. The Classical Revival style building is characterized by an entablature featuring a projecting white metal cornice and brick frieze area that rest on paired two-story capped pilasters flanking the arched recssed entrance on the front elevation and by single pilasters on the side elevation. A denticulated cornice and plain brick parapet rising above the entablature further characterizes the front elevation. The north side elevation of this well-preserved city building features window walls in the space between the pilasters that are comprised of tri-parte arched windows on the upper story and tri-parte rectangular windows with white masonry window heads and sills on the lower story. The front elevation displays a tri-parte rectangular window in the center bay of the upper story and rectangular windows with brick window heads and keystone accents that flank the entrance on the lower story. A brick, two-story addition to the Fountain City auditorium is located at the rear of the building. The Fountain City Hall and Auditorium building was dedicated in April 1922. It replaced two buildings previously on the site, and Concordia Hall, an opera house that was built in the 1860s as a store for Buehler and Clark and which was known as Fisher Hall after 1906, as well as William Ulrich's Saloon. These two buildings were lost in a fire in 1919. The new city building housed city hall, two bowling alleys, a dining room and kitchen, stage and hall. The city auditorium was redecorated including replastering in some rooms in preparation for the Centennial celebration in 1939. A new brick rear addition fronting on North Street was completed in 2001. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Geschichte Von Fountain City. Fountain City: Fountain City Area Historical Society, 1989 (Vol. 1), 1998 (Vol. II), Vol. I, pp. 23, 82, 106, 175; Vol. II, pp. 156-157. The American Contractor. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |