Property Record
1612-1614 E KANE PL
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Elias R. Calkins Doublehouse / Welser / Wilson |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 107137 |
| Location (Address): | 1612-1614 E KANE PL |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1875 |
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| Additions: | 1894 1889 |
| Survey Date: | 1986 |
| Historic Use: | duplex |
| Architectural Style: | Early Gothic Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | James Douglas |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Calkins, Elias A., Doublehouse |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 1/18/1990 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 12/12/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| 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. Excellent example of Victorian double house in nearly original condition. Note original verge boards, bay windows, dormer, and window surrounds. Probably best example of its type in the city. With its angular bargeboards and handsome window and door moldings, the Calkins is Milwaukee's finest surviving Gothic Revival doublehouse. Typically built for middle- or upper-class occupants, the doublehouse was one of the first multiple-unit housing types to appear in Milwaukee. It consisted of two side-by-side multistory residences, each with a separate entrance, but sharing a common wall. The city's earliest doublehouses (MI004) were built downtown and designed to resemble row houses. By the 1870s, doublehouses in prosperous new suburban neighborhoods increasingly resembled large single-family residences to blend in with the surrounding mansions; and the Calkins House is a good example. Except for the twin doors, little exterior evidence hints that the Calkins is two houses. The single jerkinhead dormer on the attic story cleverly disguises the fact that the dormer is split between two residences. Elias Calkins at various times owned and edited publications in Milwaukee, Madison, St. Paul, and Chicago. He built this doublehouse while working as the editor of the Milwaukee News. Architect James Douglas designed so many residences in this neighborhood, it was nicknamed “Douglasville.” |
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| Bibliographic References: | Tax Program. 1904 Milwaukee Blue Book. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |