Property Record
900 DEMPSTER ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | William and Marie Willett House |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 6707 |
| Location (Address): | 900 DEMPSTER ST |
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| County: | Jefferson |
| City: | Fort Atkinson |
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| Year Built: | 1940 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1975 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Aluminum/Vinyl Siding |
| Architect: | Marie and William Willett |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. Not many people design and build their own houses anymore, but Marie and William Willett did just that. Marie designed the interior, and her husband William, a metalworker at James Manufacturing in Fort Atkinson, designed and built their stylish Moderne house in his spare time over six months. To save time and materials, he employed a 4-by-8-foot module and clad the walls with 4-by-8-foot sheets of plywood, which he also used for the interior walls and ceiling. When the job was done, he approached his employer with the idea of marketing his design as a "kit house." Buyers would receive both the plans and the materials as a complete package. The firm was not interested, so this ingenious house is one-of-a-kind. The Willetts’s project, however, was part of the larger American movement toward prefabricated modular housing that arose from the demand for inexpensive housing during the Great Depression. For the exterior detailing, Willett drew heavily on machine-age imagery. On the main facade, a long ribbon of sliding windows terminates in a cluster of five horizontal grooves, suggesting speed and movement, and the flat roof’s metal coping curves in a streamlined look. The Willett House also used advanced technology, such as an inventive lighting system with foot-activated automobile dimmer-switches installed in the floors near doorways. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |