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Platteville, WI. - The Wisconsin Historical Society placed the Leonard and Caroline Coates House (Platteville, Grant County) on the State Register of Historic Places on May 14, 2021.

Built in 1868, the Leonard and Caroline Coates House is a good and very early example of the Italianate style in Platteville.  The house is easily identifiable as Italianate having boxy, red brick construction with a symmetrical façade; wide overhanging eaves with decorative brackets in the main block; low-pitched, hipped roof; and tall, multi-pane, double-hung wood windows with heavy stone lintels and sills throughout.  Its distinctive front door is accentuated by multi-pane sidelights and transom, and has an unornamented cornice board with heavy eave returns in the west wing; the house retains its center-hall interior plan. 

Leonard Coates arrived in Platteville in 1836 to pursue lead mining opportunities.  He soon owned his own lead furnace and went on to become a prominent citizen serving as Village president, treasurer, County coroner, and Village trustee.  Upon his death in 1894 at age 80, he was long considered one of Platteville’s oldest settlers and mining industrialists.  This home is distinctive in Platteville as the home of an early prominent citizen, and as an early example of the Italianate style.

The State Register is Wisconsin's official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin's heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin.

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org. 

About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.

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