Property Record
1301 VAUGHN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Dr. Martin and Elizabeth Thorsen House |
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| Reference Number: | 4347 |
| Location (Address): | 1301 VAUGHN AVE |
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| County: | Ashland |
| City: | Ashland |
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| Year Built: | 1940 |
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| Survey Date: | 19822016 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | International Style |
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| Wall Material: | Stucco |
| Architect: | Williams Bros. (Detroit, MI) |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Built in 1940 this International style house is the only one of its kind in Ashland. Massing is very simple, which is emphasized by the stucco siding, and features a corner window on both stories, simple stripe moldings. Flat roof was replaced by a hip roof. Plans by the Williams Bros. of Detroit, Michigan were the basis of this house who entered the design in a Ladies Home Journal competition in 1939. The house won a $100.00 prize and was published in the 1940 Book of Small Houses, (New York, 1939). p. 163. 2017 survey information: This two-story, International Style house is sheathed with stucco and topped with a hipped roof. A one-story, enclosed entrance projects slightly from the east elevation of the main block and extends to the north to include an attached, flat-roof garage. Modestly projecting molded banding accents the top of the entry and extends along the garage wing, which confirms the home’s horizontal emphasis. Original fenestration includes corner windows on both the first and second floors, the upper examples of which are comprised of a band of metal casements which further underscore the home’s horizontal lines. An exterior brick chimney dominates the home’s south elevation and breaks through the roofline. Alterations consist of the 1950s replacement of the home’s original flat roof to the existing hipped version. The subject home was built by Dr. Martin and Elizabeth Thorsen and completed in 1940. Plans for the house originated from the Williams Bros. of Detroit, Michigan, which were submitted for a Ladies’ Home Journal (LHJ) small house competition in 1938-1939. Although not taking top honors, the Williams’ Bros. took home $1,000 in prize money for their second-place finish and the plan was published in the February 1939 edition of the LHJ, as well as The 1940 Book of Small Houses. Dr. Thorsen was born in Ashland, the son of an Ashland public schools janitor Hans Thorsen and his wife Bertha, both of whom were Norwegian immigrants. After first working as a stenographer for the ore docks, he would go on to become a dentist and practice in Ashland. Presumably Dr. Thorsen, or perhaps his wife Elizabeth, had seen the published LHJ home design and subsequently chose local contractor Frank Tomlinson to execute it, which was estimated to cost $6,000. Although the house was built with the flat roof seen in the original drawing, it was replaced in the 1950s with a hipped roof with broad, overhanging eaves. Elizabeth died in 1968 and Martin wed Mertle Whitcomb Otis the following year and they continued to reside in the home. Martin died in 1979 at the age of eighty. |
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| Bibliographic References: | 2017 citations for 2017 report info below: John Cushman Fistere, “On Second Consideration…”, Ladies’ Home Journal (February 1939), 29; The 1940 Book Small Houses (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1939), 163; Building permit for 13th and Vaughn, 20 October 1939; est. cost, $6,000, contractor Frank Tomlinson; The 1955 American Architects’ Directory does include an entry for David Hampson Williams Jr.; however, he apparently did not reply to the questionnaire, as nothing other than his office address (13300 E. Outer Drive, Detroit) is listed. There was no other entry for another Williams in Detroit, George S. Koyl, ed., American Architects’ Directory (New York: R.R. Bowker Co., 1955), 607. U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1910, 1920, 1930; Ashland City Directory, 1937, 1942-43, 1968, 1971; both Martin and Elizabeth Thorsen are buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery, Ashland, Wisconsin. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |