| 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.
Complete with wooden fence and carriage house, the frame t-shaped, two-story Martindale House has paired wooden scroll brackets with pendents under the eaves of the flat roofs, long floor to ceiling window openings onto the porch, and the cupola typically found in the late Victorian Italianate style. Round arched windows in the cupola, scroll decorated projecting window heads, a three-sided porch supported by clustered slender columnettes on paneled wooden bases, a balustrated second story balcony and a double leafed entrance door with a transom window characterize the main structure. A two-story extension at the rear has projecting window cornice, six over six windows, and a small sleeping porch supported by columns identical to those on the front porch.
Purchases by Stephan Martindale, a realtor and loan agent, in 1869 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the Martindale House, an excellent example of the Victorian Italianate style maintained in its 19th century style and setting, is one of the few houses in La Crosse to have retained its wooden decoration and cupola.
Richard Moffat was the builder. Restored in 1978.
2015- "The Martindale House is the most visible and best-preserved example of high-style Italianate residential architecture in La Crosse. This home displays many of the Italianate stylistic elements including a cubic mass with low-pitched hip roof, broad eaves with paired brackets, wrap-around open porch with classical columns and bracketed eaves, tall narrow windows with ornamental hoods, and probably most significantly, a highly visible cupola with round arched windows and matching hip roof with single bracketed eaves.
Thomas Laverty was a sailor born in England who came to Wisconsin in the late 1850s and started a house on this site in 1859. Laverty fought in the Civil War, and returned disabled from his service and was unable to complete construction of the house.
In 1868, Stephen Martindale III bought the the house from Laverty and completed work on the two-story wood frame home. In 1884, numerous additions and alterations were made to the house including an extension of the north wing and various interior improvements. Stephen Martindale IV took over ownership of the house in 1906. Stephen Martindale IV added central heating, a modern bathroom and electric lighting. The 1906 modernization and alterations were the last major changes made to the home until the restorations of the late 1970s. Katharine Martindale, the third generation of her family in La Crosse, lived in the family home until her death in 1977.
The Martindale House was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and has been well preserved inside and out by a series of owners since 1978. For most of the 1990s the home was operated as the Martindale House Bed and Breakfast and is one of the most photographed historic homes in La Crosse. "
-"La Crosse, Wisconsin: 10th & Cass Residential Historic District Tour", Prepared by Eric J. Wheeler, (2015). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Tax rolls; city directories. Owners of the house include Thomas Laverty (1860-1868); Stephen, Katherine, and Anna Martindale (1869-1918); and Stephen Martindale, Jr., Sophie, and Katherine (2) Martindate (till 1972).
(B) Construction Contract between Richard Moffat and Thomas Laverty dated 27 December 1859.
(C) La Crosse Daily Union, 15 November 1859.
(D) La Crosse Union Democrat, 25 March 1860.
(E) La Crosse Morning Leader, 4 December 1869. |
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