Property Record
123 N PRENTICE AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | ASHLAND LIGHT AND STREET RAILWAY BLDG |
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| Other Name: | LAKE SUPERIOR DISTRICT POWER COMPANY GARAGE |
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| Reference Number: | 746 |
| Location (Address): | 123 N PRENTICE AVE |
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| County: | Ashland |
| City: | Ashland |
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| Year Built: | 1893 |
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| Additions: | 1935 |
| Survey Date: | 19822013 |
| Historic Use: | car barn |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 2014 |
| 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, State Historic Preservation Office. Low red brick commercial garage with brownstone trim at base. Some elaborate rectangular brickwork on walls without windows, many of which have blocked in. This building was built originally as the garage for Ashland Lighting and Street Railway. In 1895, Ashland had five miles of single track running six cars eight minutes apart. 2013: This property, which extends from N. Prentice Avenue to N. 3rd Avenue East (adjacent to St. Clair Street), is comprised of an 1893 block along N. Prentice Avenue and a 1967, one-story, metal structure (photo 1E) along N. 3rd Avenue East; the buildings are connected at their respective south ends via a post-1967, one-story, brick-faced and hyphen-like addition. Regarding the eastern, historic portion of the building, it rises from a brownstone foundation and is constructed of brick. The north end of the structure is topped with a gabled roofline with a brick parapet, while the south portion is topped with a flat roof. In addition to the overhead garage door openings, rectangular openings are found throughout the building and are infilled with brick and/or glass block. Detailing is limited to the raised-brick, rectangular ornamentation above the first-floor windows. Completed in 1893, the eastern brick wing originally functioned as the powerhouse and car barn for the Ashland, Light, Power & Street Railway. The Ashland Street Railway was established in 1887, with the first horse-drawn cars running on 2 November 1887. In 1892, the Ashland Lighting Company merged with the Street Railway to form the Ashland, Light, Power & Street Railway and the first street car was reported in the local paper as “having shot out of the barn” in late January 1893. Following a change in ownership in 1901, the facility was purchased in 1922 by the Lake Superior District Power Company. The last street car ran in September 1933; after which the Ashland Bus Company ran busses in the city. In 1935, the subject facility was still manufacturing gas for residential and commercial uses in its northernmost portion, however, the remainder of the building was remodeled for use as a garage and storage facility at an estimated cost of over $23,000. The remodeling efforts included the re-bricking of the entire exterior, as well as the brick and/or glass block infill of the original, round-arched window and door openings throughout the building. The roofline was also modified from a hipped roof to the combination flat and gabled truss roofline. Gas production ceased at this location in 1947. Between 1967 and 1976, a number of improvements, additions and alterations were made to the original building, including the construction of the west garage in 1967. The building has stood empty for at least the last 6-7 years. 2016: No longer extant. |
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| Bibliographic References: | 1903 photograph of the Ashland Light, Power & Railway Co. Building. In Utilities Book #2, On file at the Ashland Historical Museum Research Center, Ashland, WI “By February 1,” The Ashland (WI) Press, 31 December 1892, 3/2. “Is Seven Miles” (Re: Ashland railway), The Ashland Press, 3 December 1892, 1, 1-2. Jane S. Smith and Michael J. Goc, eds., Looking Backward, Moving Forward: Ashland, the Garland City of the Inland Seas (Friendship, WI: New Past Press, Inc., 1987), 42-43. Permit for alteration to garage and repair shop, Prentice Avenue, 7 November 1935, Cost cited as $23,246.16, permit information on file at the City of Ashland. Sanborn-Perris Fire Insurance Map of Ashland, Wis. (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1886, 1890, 1895, 1923, 1946). Although actual permits are not on file between 1961 and thereafter, the city retains monthly summaries of construction, alteration and demolition activities. A review of those monthly summaries identifies no less than five projects on the subject parcel/alterations to the subject structure between 1961 and 1976, Building summary binders located in the Department of Inspection, Ashland City Hall, Ashland, WI. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |