Property Record
213 E 1ST ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Francis Fee & Hattie Ryan Duffy House |
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| Reference Number: | 51996 |
| Location (Address): | 213 E 1ST ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
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| Year Built: | 1880 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2010 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | Unknown |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | Photo code #2: 74FD-32/16 1988: This two-story brick Italianate house is painted white. It features a low-pitched hip roof with wide overhanging eaves, paired brackets, and a paneled frieze. Windows are tall and narrow on the first story, and all windows are decorated with flat lintels. The main entrance is covered with an overhang supported by round columns. The entrance is decorated with an elliptically arched fanlight and sidelights. The house has the hip roof, bracketed and eaves, and form and massing of the style, although it is not elaborately decorated. 2010-2011 Intensive Survey report Info: Oriented to the south, this two-story, (painted white) brick, Italianate-style house has a low-pitched, hipped roof and features an off-center entrance. Paired, carved wooden brackets and a paneled frieze run beneath the home#25;s wide overhanging eaves. The doorway itself is sheltered by a hipped-roof, open porch with simple wooden columns and is topped with an elliptical fanlight and flanked by sidelights. Windows throughout the remainder of the house largely consist of one-over-one, double-hung sashes with simple stone sills, flat lintels and wooden shutters. Based on a depiction of the home on an 1896 Birds Eye view, the house may have originally been topped with a cupola, for one is shown on that map. Believed to have been built in circa 1880, the first confirmed occupant owner of the home was H.E. Ryan, who is presumed to be Hattie E. Ryan, the eventual wife of Francis Fee Duffy. Although his father had previously attained citizenship in the United States, Francis F. was born in Ireland in 1851, but grew up in West Virginia. After working on the railroad, attending St. Charles College in Maryland, as well as teaching for a period, he came to Fond du Lac in 1872 and studied law under the firm of Coleman & Spence. He was admitted to the bar in 1877. After serving positions as city and district attorney and a failed attempt at county judge, he joined John H. McCrory to form the law firm of Duffy & McCrory in 1884. In 1887, Francis F. married Hattie E. Ryan, who had been in possession of the subject house as early as October of 1886. Together they had three children, the most notable of whom was Francis Ryan Duffy. The younger Duffy was born in 1888 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison law program in 1912. He joined his father in the practice of law, after which he served in the U.S. Army in World War I. He resumed the practice of law in Fond du Lac and married Louise Haydon in 1918. They resided along with the elder (and widowed) Francis Duffy (who died in 1935) in the subject home until Francis Ryan moved in 1939 (following his position as a United States Senator). Thereafter he served as a circuit court judge and eventually attained the position of chief judge, after which he retired from full-time status as of 1966. He died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1979. The E. 1st Street house remained under the ownership of the Duffy family into at least the 1940s. The house currently functions as #28;The White Picket Fence#29; Bed & Breakfast. The home's first confirmed owner and occupant was local attorney Francis Fee Duffy, who was a seemingly successful and well-known local lawyer. However, his son, Francis Ryan Duffy, was born in the subject home and resided here full-time (aside from his college years and those served in World War II) until 1933. Duffy is believed to have maintained ownership and partial occupancy of the home during his Senatorship. Duffy's Fond du Lac home might well remain as the only property with direct ties to Duffy. Although a Birds Eye map indicates that the Duffy home originally featured a rooftop cupola, the house is a very good and intact example of the Italianate style of architecture. Comparable to the house located at 250 Gillett and for which a recommendation is also included in this document, the Duffy home appears to retain a good degree of integrity. Indeed, the house was listed as a City of Fond du Lac landmark in 1997. Further research, however, is recommended in order to confirm a construction date, as well as the home's original owner. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. City Directories for the City of Fond du Lac, on file at the Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. B. Sanborn-Perris Maps for the City of Fond du Lac, on file in the Archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. C. Tax Rolls for the City of Fond du Lac, on file in the Area Research Center of the University of Wisconisn-Oshkosh Library, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. D. CarolCartwright, City of Fond du Lac Intensive Survey Report, Fond du Lac: City of Fond du Lac, 1992. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |