Property Record
1135 S MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Eli R. Cooley House |
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| Other Name: | William Kuehneman House |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 11099 |
| Location (Address): | 1135 S MAIN ST |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Racine |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1851 |
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| Additions: | 1853 |
| Survey Date: | 1975 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Greek Revival |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | Bradley, Lucas |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Cooley, Eli R., House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 4/11/1973 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Southside Historic District |
| National Register Listing Date: | 10/18/1977 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| 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. FLUTED DORIC COLUMNS SUPPORTING PEDIMENTED PORTICO. PILASTERS. HABS WI-153. O. JENNINGS LIVED HERE IN 1858. E.C. DEANE LIVED HERE IN 1893. ALSO LISTED IN THE SOUTHSIDE HISTORIC DISTRICT. South Side Historic District Walking Tour Guide, 1993: Cooley was a hardware merchant and one-time mayor. Original house on site built around 1850 by John McHenry, a grocer. In 1942 William and Amanda Kuehneman bought the house and carefully restored it. "The home at 1135 South Main is considered perhaps the best remaining example of a Greek Revival house in Wisconsin. Built sometime between 1851 and 1854 for Eli Cooley, a hardware dealer and Racine's third mayor, tradition holds that the architect was Lucas Bradley, though there is no recorded evidence of a Bradley design. A two-story main section is flanked by symmetrical one-story wings. Fine classical details include a Doric portico, wood pilasters and graceful moldings. The columns, leaded glass used in the entranceway, and marble fireplaces inside were brought to Racine by boat from factories in the East. Some distinguished Racine families have occupied the home over the years. One owner, U. S. Circuit Judge Charles Dyer, is said to have "played host under his roof to virtually every prominent personage in the area during the 1870's." A thorough and careful restoration of the home was done by the Kuehnemans in the 1940's, and the structure looks today very much as it did when it was built." Renewing Our Roots: A Guide To Racine, Wisconsin, Central City, Southside, Preservation-Racine, 1977. |
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| Bibliographic References: | ZIMMERMANN, RUSSELL "THE HERITAGE GUIDEBOOK" (HERITAGE BANKS 1976). Racine Landmarks brochure, 2003. Racine Southside Historic District Walking Tour, 1990. Racine Landmarks Preservation Commission, South Side Historic District Walking Tour Guide, 1993. Perrin, Richard W. E.,Historic Wisconsin Architecture, First Revised Edition (Milwaukee, 1976). Renewing Our Roots: A Guide To Racine, Wisconsin, Central City, Southside, Preservation-Racine, 1977. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |