Property Record
14053 N WAUWATOSA RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | John Reichert Farmhouse |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 13513 |
| Location (Address): | 14053 N WAUWATOSA RD |
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| County: | Ozaukee |
| City: | Mequon |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1885 |
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| Additions: | 1886 |
| Survey Date: | 1985 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Reichert, John, Farmhouse |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/1/1982 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | SCROLL CUT BARGEBOARDS IN GABELS. ELABORATE SCROLL CUT ENTRANCE PORCH W/IRON CRESTING ON ROOF. STAINED GLASS DIAMOND WINDOW. 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 State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. DESCRIPTION "The former John Reichert farmhouse is a two-story, cross-plan frame building with small decorative porches in its northeast and northwest angles. Gable ends facing east and north are filled with decorative struts and wood cutwork, crowning trompe l'oeil bay window below. A gravel drive along the north side of the house serves the frame "carriage house" (garage and loft) several yards from the northwest corner of the house. Situated among tilled fields in the outskirts of the city of Mequon, the recently-restored house appears today as it might have when newly-constructed nearly a century ago. "A coursed, rusticated stone foundation supports the building, and recently-replaced wood shingles cover the cross-gable roof. Windows, generally a pair per story on each face of the gable arms, are symmetrically disposed; delicate denticulated entablatures or profiled moldings cover the double-hung sash. Imbricated shingles above and below paired windows on the east and north gable end suggest bays, trimmed with flat wood brackets, saw tooth moldings and circular medallions. The small front and rear porches are composed of saw-tooth and finial-trimmed pierced valences supported by thin capital-trimmed posts. Iron cresting trims the half-deck of the front porch roof, and a simple balustrade guards the north side. The simpler rear porch is open is open. Both have flat baluster patterns wood skirts. They are trimmed with a center saw-cut molding, and framed by flat 'bracketed' molding. A single diamond-shaped window (boared with small Queen Anne panes) appears in the closed bay (inside vestibule) of the front porch; and a single oculus lights the interior stair from the west side of the south gable end. Interior chimneys rise from the ridge of the west (rear) and east (front) arms of the building. A one-story shed-roof addition is included in the southwest angle. "The interior decoration is modest; a beveled-glass transom over the paneled door in the vestibule and stenciled baseboard along the enclosed stair are the sole elegant notes. The original simple door and window moldings and wood floors (maple on the first story and pine plank on the second.) are intact. Remodeling has been restricted to the kitchen, and conversion of one small bedroom (of the four on the second floor) to a master bath. "Constructed in 1980, a compatible carriage house (garage and storage loft) is located several yards northwest of the house. Likewise covered with clapboards and wood shingle roof, the one and one half story structure is fitted with the same double-hung windows denticulated entablatures that appear on the house. Frames over the garage door on the south side and loft door on the east side are mitered. A pair of gables rise form the south slope of the gable roof, and a small louvered cross-gable cupola with weather vane marks the ridge. The one story shed roof extension to the rear (north) is lighted by a diamond shape window on the east side. Although the building visually enhances the site, its recent construction prevents technical inclusion in the nomination. "Of the original buildings associated with the house, only a small shed to the north remains; it and the surrounding eight acres of the original farm now belong to the other owners. (A barn once located on the property was demolished in 1970s.)" ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING SIGNIFICANCE "Preserved into the twentieth century with full [historic material] and recently restored to excellent condition, the John Reichert Farmhouse, a frame stick style design, is the Mequon area's best representative of its period of construction. Although the decoration of the two-story house is restrained and abbreviated, the effect is more elaborate than that of the typical Queen Anne farmhouse of the period. A compatible 'carriage house' (garage) to the rear strengthens the visual and period quality of the site, although its recent date of construction (1980) prevents its technical inclusion in the nomination. "The building, presumably the second on the site, dates to the ownership of John Reichert. Various owners of the previous building and property, and the house itself, were among the earliest or well-know settlers of the area. Jusse Hubbard, who owned the property in the 1840s, was described as...an early settler in Mequon...and ...prominent in county affairs during the early days...subsequent owners the Corcorans were in the town...; and later owner Joseph Reichert (late 1880s-1890s) was elected Superintendent of the Schools during his residency in this house. The house was designated as a Mequon Landmark in 1981. |
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| Bibliographic References: | ZIMMERMANN, RUSSELL "THE HERITAGE GUIDEBOOK" (HERITAGE BANKS 1976) From the Nationa Register form prepared by Diame H. Filipowicz December, 1981. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |