Property Record
660 S MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | William & Marian Magnussen House |
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| Reference Number: | 54558 |
| Location (Address): | 660 S MAIN ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
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| Year Built: | 1908 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2010 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival |
| Structural System: | Unknown |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
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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: | Photo code #2: 74FD-31/28. 1988: This two-story Colonial Revival house has a steep hipped roof with projecting gable roofed dormers. The dormers are decorated with returned eaves, exposed rafters, and round arched windows. Under the wide eaves of the house are exposed rafters. The exposed rafters, also decorating the front wall bay and porch, suggest modillions. The windows are almost all tall single light double hung sashes. The front porch or veranda featured grouped round columns sitting on a spool and spindle balustrade. Colonial Revival style buildings were popular in the early twentieth century. They were formal, orderly buildings with simple classical details that suggested houses from the Colonial period in the United States. This house, with its simple classical details, it formal and orderly form and massing, is a good and intact example of the style. Its high level of preservation adds to its significance. Previously surveyed in 1988. 2010-2011 Intensive Survey Info: Rising two-and-one-half stories from a coursed stone foundation, this Colonial Revival style-house is sheathed with both narrow and standard-width clapboard and topped with a hipped roof with hipped-roof dormers. The house is oriented to S. Main Street/the east and features a full-width, open porch with grouped Doric column supports that rest on wooden bases; the railing consists of a spindled balustrade. Dominating the home's side/north elevation is a porte cochere that extends to the north and includes a small porch with the same supports, bases and balustrade as the east porch. The porch and porte cochere roofs, the roof eave, as well as the dormers feature carved wooden bracket trim. Double-hung sash windows are largely regularly arranged throughout the house and bays are evident along both the east and south elevations. A tripartite grouping above the porte cochere appears to consist of stained or leaded glass. Although no historic photographs were located, the house does not appear to have undergone any exterior alterations. The subject house was built circa 1908 by William & Marian/Marion Magnussen, who purchased the property from Guindon & Harriet Mihills in circa 1906. William was born in Wisconsin in 1857, the son of Danish-born parents. Magnussen married Marion Brown in May of 1883 and her younger sister Henrietta appears to have resided along with them for much of their life. Between 1907 and 1908 the Magnussens had made the transition from their previous home on Forest Avenue to the subject house on S. Main Street. In 1910, the household also included hired hand Eddie Higgins. In 1940--and following a fire--the house was converted for multi-family use, with the Magnussens (and sister Henrietta) residing in one unit, with the other being occupied by Mrs. Minnie Messing. Magnussen worked as a grocery salesman for much of his life and owned and resided in the subject house through 1942; however, by 1942 he was no longer listed in the Fond du Lac city directory. The house was changed back from a multiple-family dwelling to a single-family in the 1990s. The Magnussen house is a very good and highly intact example of the Colonial Revival style of architecture. While a number of Colonial Revival-style examples are located within the National Register-listed district of East Division and Sheboygan streets, the Magnussen home compares favorably to those examples. Additional tax roll research would be required in order to confirm the home's circa date of construction. |
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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 Wisconin, Madison, Wisconsin. C. Tax Rolls for the City of Fond du Lac, on file in the Area Research Center of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Library, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. D. Michael D. Lempinen and Les Ross, Intensive Survey Report, Fond du Lac: City of Fond du Lac and Sundberg, Carlson and Associates, Inc., 1989. Please see the 2010-2011 Intensive survey for citations for material below. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |