Property Record
NW CORNER OF EXHANGE ST AND CENTER AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | LAUBE BUILDING |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 67975 |
| Location (Address): | NW CORNER OF EXHANGE ST AND CENTER AVE |
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| County: | Green |
| City: | Brodhead |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
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| Year Built: | 1900 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1984 |
| Historic Use: | small office building |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Exchange Square Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/15/1984 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | The last and largest structure to be built on Exchange Square, the Laube Buliding is a visual focal point for the entire downtown commercial district. Constructed of red brick and rising three stories, the building is distinguished by a two-story cylindrical oriel tower which surmounts the main entrance. The tower is crowned with a conical slate roof and cresting and its shaft features molded and decorative panels. The entry below is framed with rusticated stone piers, stone lintels cap each window, and a stone course runs across the top of the transom above the store windows, contrasting with the smooth and brightly colored brick. Each corner of the building is anchored with a brick pier, and a parapet on the south side facade breaks up the monotony of the fenestration. The cornice of the building is treated with decorative brick work in an exaggerated saw-tooth pattern. Although it reflects none of the Italianate detailing of the other buildings on the Square, the Laube building does share the same facade lines and scale. The largest building on the Square, the Laube building was testimony to the city's prosperity at the turn of the century. Built by Charles and Sebastian Laube sometime between 1893 and 1900, the building provided retail and office space to the city's professional and business community. The building was also an early home of the Bank of Brodhead (established in 1896) which eventually purchased the entire building in 1915. The bank still owns the structure today. The Laube Brothers were successful Brodhead businessmen, involved with the Manager Opera House, the Laube Hardware Store, the Laube Wagon and Carriage Works, and -- together with their in-laws, the Gombar family -- several pieces of Brodhead real estate. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) 1900 Sanborn-Perris map. (B) Brodhead Independent Register. June 21, 1956. (C) Wally Ekum Abstract Co. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |