Property Record
719 MARKET ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Werlich-Needham House |
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| Reference Number: | 7189 |
| Location (Address): | 719 MARKET ST |
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| County: | Jefferson |
| City: | Watertown |
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| Year Built: | 1860 |
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| Additions: | 1910 |
| Survey Date: | 1986 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Second Empire |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cream 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: | This house was the residence of German real estate agent and financier, Gustav Werlich, between the 1860s and c. 1885. It was then the residence of lumber dealer August Needham betweenn c. 1890 and c. 1910. Werlich came to Dodge County in 1846 and began farming. In 1853 he and his brother opened Werlich Brothers store which he operated until 1859, when he became a real estate broker and money lender. He developed several additions to Watertown and held many public offices in rural Dodge County and in Watertown. This house is significant for local history under National Register criterion B because it is associated with Gustav Werlich. Gustav Werlich, as a real estate broker and financier made not only a commercial contribution to the development of Watertown, but a physical one as well, with his additions to the original city plat. Since he was a significant person in Watertown's commercial history, his long-time home is significant in its association with him. The house also has interest as the home of August Needham, a lumber merchant who contrinuted to the overll development of the commercial activities of the community. built in 1860 for Gustav Werlich, this brick house displays the concave mansard roof and arched dormers associated with the French Second Empire style and Italianate influenced bracketed overhanging eaves on the main block. Flat, straight window lintels, double leafed entrance door with transom window and stained glass also are features of the house. A rectangular bay window with mansard roof and spindle porches on the main block and on the west wing featuring dentil trimmed, straight sided mansard roofs supported by turned posts were added to the house during a remodeling project in 1910. A one and a half story wnig with one-story rear addition is located on the west side of the house. The Werlich house, later known as the Needham house, is significant under criterion C as an example of the French Second Empire style. One of the less significant examples among the seven extant Second Empire styled houses in the city, this house displays the characteristics of the style including the mansard roof and arched dormers as well as the Italianate influenced brackted overhanging eaves. Other significant examples of the Second Empire style in the city are the Stone house at 300 So. Washington (54-36), the Cody house at 114 No. Church (54-9), the Globe Milling House at 623 So. 12th (35-30), and the Mulberger house at 311 South Washington (54-32). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Evelyn Ruddick Rose, Our Heritage of Homes, (Watertown Historical Society, 1980), p. 55. (B) Watertown City Directories, 1866-1930, Watertown, Wisconsin Public Library. (C) C.W. Butterfield, The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Chiccago: Western Historical Co., 1879, p. 629. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |