Property Record
110 N Ellis Ave
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Samuel S. and Stella Fifield House |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 676 |
| Location (Address): | 110 N Ellis Ave |
|---|---|
| County: | Ashland |
| City: | Ashland |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1883 |
|---|---|
| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19822016 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Asbestos |
| Architect: | Antoine S. Perinier (carpenter/builder) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Fifield Place Historic District |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | 8/30/2023 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 5/26/2023 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | 1982: Very large Late Picturesque house with intersecting hip roof wings on vaguely T-plan. Corner tower lost in fire. Large lot near lake; at one time in true Stick style but snce then resided. Interior woodwork in place but painted. Expensive Italian marble fireplace mantle. Upstairs, now apartments, formerly for servants. Very elaborate entry area and stairwell intact. Tall original windows. The house was known as "Evergreen Cottage." Property also includes a non-contributing garage. 2017 report write-up for Fifield house and the five cottages along N. 2nd Avenue East (AHI#s 72, 677, 678, 23277 & 679): This small district of six homes includes five along N. 2nd Avenue East (aka Fifield Row) and one along N. Ellis Avenue (aka 1 Fifield Place), as well as a non-contributing garage (See map on page 13). The largest of the six is oriented to N. Ellis Avenue, rises two stories in height and is topped with a hipped roof. Although altered with asbestos siding and missing its original tower, the over 4,000-square-foot home retains a number of its original tall-and-narrow windows. The other five houses also rise two stories in height and generally reflect their original Queen Anne styling. While house #4 stands as the most intact of the five--featuring wooden shingle and clapboard sheathing, as well as detailed porchwork--the other four homes have seen varying degrees of alteration. Notably, however, house #5 is currently undergoing restoration. Samuel S. Fifield built the house on N. Ellis Avenue in 1883 as his own home, while the “cottages” along Fifield Row were constructed in 1887. Born in 1839 in Penobscot County, Maine, Fifield came to Wisconsin in 1854 and moved to Ashland in 1872. Having earned experience in printing (as did his brother), Fifield would establish The Ashland Press with his brother that same year, as well as serve as one of the first supervisors of the Ashland County Board. In 1874, he was elected to the State Assembly, serving as Speaker just two years later. That year he would take up the position of State Senator, which he held in 1877, 1880 and 1881; the lattermost date in which he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (a position he served through 1886). In 1890, Fifield was appointed postmaster of Ashland, a position he held for sixteen total (but not consecutive) years. In addition, he also served as the vice president of the First National Bank and the Ashland Lighting Company. In 1863, he wed Stella Grimes, with whom he would live in the subject home--dubbed as “Evergreen Cottage”--from 1883 until her death in 1913; Fifield himself died in 1915. Likely a reaction to the existing shortage of housing, as well as identifying earnings potential, Fifield built six cottages along N. 2nd Avenue East in 1887 for a sum of $18,000. Following the establishment of initial water, gas and light services between 1883 and 1884, the community began to grow. So much so that available housing lagged behind the increasing population. The six cottages, as well as his own home (and another non-extant house on N. Ellis Avenue), were identified in city directories as “Fifield Place,” each of which provided rentable living quarters that were announced as available to tenants as of 15 October 1887. As of the 1888 city directory, the following people were identified as renting the cottages from Fifield : Gustavus Wiberg of Tanton & Wiberg, pianos, organs and merchant tailors (115 N. 2nd Avenue East, aka 2 Fifield Place); Thomas F. McCarthy, agent, Columbus & Hocking Coal & Iron Company (115 N. 2nd Avenue East, aka 2 Fifield Place); Charles F. Latimer, cashier of the Northern National Bank (117 N. 2nd Avenue East, aka 3 Fifield Place); merchant George Deming (125 N. 2nd Avenue East, aka 6 Fifield Place); and school teacher Miss Louisa Manuel (129 N. 2nd Avenue East, aka 7 Fifield Place ). The city directory entry for “Fifield Place” continued through 1901; however, by 1903 it no longer was listed as such (although the homes continued to be utilized as rentals and were owned by Fifield). Additionally, and very early on, the Fifields also rented rooms in their home—seemingly most often to public school teachers, although Frederick Prentice (businessman and president of the Prentice Brownstone Company) is noted as among its occupants in 1891. As of the 1900 census, occupations of the cottage renters ranged from lumber dealer to blast furnace manager to local dry goods store owner/ proprietor. Following Fifield’s death in 1915, the six cottage homes were sold off individually to the following: Mildred W. Johnson (2 Fifield Place); Andrew Howard Byrne (3 Fifield Place); Bernard J. Hoppenyan (4 Fifield Place); Gertrude A. Dennis (5 Fifield Place); George Laughlin (6 Fifield Place); and Catherine McDonnell (7 Fifield Place). The houses at 2-6 Fifield Place were purchased for $1,600 each, while the lake view home at 7 Fifield Place sold for $2,000. The Fifield home, as well as five of the cottages remain extant (6 Fifield Place is no longer extant), along with another former rental unit in between (which is not included in the proposed historic district). |
|---|---|
| Bibliographic References: | [A] ASHLAND DAILY PRESS ANNUAL EDITION, 1893 Sam Fifield founded Ashland's first newspaper and wrote much about the Lake Superior region. Citations for paragraphs in Additional Comments below: Commemorative and Biographical Record of the Upper Lake Region (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1905), 2-4; Ashland (WI) Daily Press, 3 December 1887, 1. Following the establishment of initial water, gas and light services between 1883 and 1884, Ashland began to grow—so much so that available housing lagged behind the increasing population. Excerpts from a June 1887 newspaper article include “There seems to be no abatement, as yet, to the building boom that was begun in this city early in the spring…The demands for dwellings are not yet by any means supplied, notwithstanding the large number that have been completed.” City streets were renamed at that time and houses were numbered in anticipation of free mail delivery. Indeed a boom year for building, total structures erected numbered 554, with nearly 430 of them being homes. Comparatively, construction the following year included just 115 houses, The previous information was excerpted, in part, from “Chapple and MacArthur Avenues Residential Historic District, National Register nomination prepared by Traci E. Schnell, Heritage Research, Ltd. (2013), NRIS #14000266, listed on 27 May 2014. The names associated with each cottage were found doing a search for “N 2nd Avenue East” in the 1888 directory through ancestry.com, Accessed August 2017. Please note that a page-by-page search could also provide additional names. Note that there did not ever seem to be a 129 N. 2nd Avenue East (based on Sanborn map evidence) and that this address is believed to be a typo and should have been 127 N. 2nd Avenue East (which equated to 7 Fifield Place). Ashland City Directory, 1890, 1901, 1903; U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1900. Fifield estate to Mildred Johnson (re: 2 Fifield Place), Warranty Deed (5 May 1915), Book 107/Page 460, Document No. 48044 (all deeds hereafter cited in the following format: WD (5 May 1915), 107/460, #48044; Fifield estate to M.H. Byrne (re: 3 Fifield Place), WD (11 May 1915), 107/468, #48092; Fifield estate to Bernard J. Hoppenyan (re: 4 Fifield Place), WD (5 May 1915), 107/462, #48047; Fifield estate to Gertrude A. Dennis (re: 5 Fifield Place), WD (20 May 1915), 107/473, #48189; Fifield Estate to George Laughlin (re: 6 Fifield Place), WD (20 May 1915), 107/472, #48187; Fifield estate to Catherine McDonnell (re: 7 Fifield Place), WD (18 May 1915), 107/471, #48152. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |