The Samuel and Nina Marcus House was design by Chicago architect Morton L. Pereira and constructed in 1921. The house is defined by its stucco exterior, multi-pane casement windows, steeply-pitched roof with overhanging eaves, shaped rafter ends, and projecting gable beams. It is an excellent representative of an early twentieth-century Craftsman residence that clearly reflects the style’s foundation in the English Arts and Crafts movement.

Sam and Nina Marcus came to Spring Green shortly after 1916 to manage the Marcus family’s third department store in the Wisconsin River valley (the first two were located in Muscoda and Viola, with an eventual fourth in Boscobel). After ensuring the success of the new H. Marcus & Sons store, Sam and Nina Marcus hired family friend Morton Pereira to design a new home for them a block east of the family business. The Marcuses chose a popular “California bungalow” design, having become familiar with the style during their visits to Nina’s family in Los Angeles. The Marcus family continued to live in the house only until August of 1927 when the rural economic downturn that prefaced the Great Depression forced them to sell the house and convert the upper floor of their department store to a private apartment. Since that time, the Marcus House changed hands a number of times serving both as a private home and later as offices for a neighboring bank. The house stands as an excellent example of the Craftsman style as well as a reminder of the sacrifice the Marcus family made to see their business through the Depression.

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