Property Record
120 E 4TH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Paul and Anna Boulay House |
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| Reference Number: | 52417 |
| Location (Address): | 120 E 4TH ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
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| Year Built: | 1910 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2010 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | American Foursquare |
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| Wall Material: | Stucco |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 1998: This two-story frame American Foursquare house is covered with stucco. It has a steeply pitched, sloping hip roof with hip-roof dormers. This house has many single-light double-hung sash windows, along with many single light windows with transoms. A front porch covers the first floor. It has a sloping hip roof that is supported by brick columns that are decorated with stone accents. The columns sit on a brick balustrade. The American Foursquare style is generally seen on simple square houses. These simple houses are usually devoid of detail but may have the form and massing or porch details that suggest the Prairie or Colonial Revival styles. This house has the simple form and massing of the style, but its horizontal lines and modernistic details suggest the Prairie style. Because of its fine construction and high level of integrity, this building is significant for architecture. 2010-2011 Intensive Survey Report Info: This two-story American Foursquare rises from a brick foundation and is sheathed with stucco. The hipped roof includes wide, overhanging eaves. A one-story, flat-roofed porch extends along its primary (north) elevation and features square, stuccoed supports with Prairie-influenced trim that rest upon brick piers. Windows throughout the house feature rectilinear paning, also typical of the Prairie style. Notably, at each corner of the north elevation are box-like projections that are underscored with wooden bracket trim and that carry a window along each of its sides. A hipped-roof dormer rises from the roofline, while an exterior brick chimney is found along the home's west elevation. The subject lot was purchased by Paul & Anna Boulay in 1903 and, by 1905, they are identified as residing at this location (however the subject house is not believed to have been built by 1905). Paul Boulay was born circa 1872, the son of French-born Joseph Boulay. Paul operated the Boulay Flour & Feed Mill in Fond du Lac. Paul and Anna had three children: David, Charlotte and Carlton and, for a time, Paul's father resided with them at the subject home. The Boulays resided here through at least 1930; Paul passed away in 1937, while Anna died in 1968. The subject house is a very good example of an American Foursquare, one with notable Prairie influence. In addition, based on two somewhat unique characteristics--the box-like corner window projections and the trim along the porch supports--the house is likely the direct product, or an altered version of a standardized plan produced by a national firm. Although no exact catalogue plan has yet been identified to be a specific match, the boxed window projections are found on "Plan No. 174" of Sears, Roebuck & Co., the plan of which was available between 1911 and 1913. As well, the porch pier trim is reminiscent of that found on "The Saratoga," another Sears-Roebuck & Co. plan (sold between 1908 and 1922). Another similar example of this house is located at 172 E. Division Street, within the National Register-listed Division & Sheboygan Street Residential Historic District. Additional research into the tax rolls is necessary in order to confirm the home's exact date of construction. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Fond du Lac City Directories. (B) Sanborn-Perris Maps - Fond du Lac. (C) Fond du Lac Tax Rolls. (D) Carol Cartwright, Michael D. Lempinen and Les Ross, Intensive Survey Report, Fond du Lac: City of Fond du Lac and Sundberg, Carlson and Associates, Inc., 1989. See the 2010-2011 Intensive Survey Report for citations for the 2010-2011 material below. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |