Property Record
7 RICE AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Frank Boutin, Jr. House |
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| Other Name: | The Mansion |
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| Reference Number: | 1416 |
| Location (Address): | 7 RICE AVE |
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| County: | Bayfield |
| City: | Bayfield |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1908 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1983 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Bayfield Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/25/1980 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Boutin, Frank, Jr., House |
| National Register Listing Date: | 12/27/1974 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | RICHLY DECORATED INTERIOR INTACT BRICK 1ST FLOOR,CLAPBOARD 2ND & WOOD SHINGLED UPPER [Date Cnst:(A)] NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY-NOMINATION FORM: Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance: The Frank Boutin Jr. house was built in 1908. It is a two-and-one-half story house built with materials differentiated carefully by level. The foundation is of rock-faced brownstone ashlar indigenous to the area, as are column pedestals and stairways at this level. The first floor has beige brick with smooth brownstone trim. The second floor has narrow clapboards. The attic story is shingled. The house is typical of the rambling and complicated Queen Anne tradition stylistically. The mass is picturesque with a round, three-story tower at the southeast corner of the house overlooking the town and Lake Superior below. A rambling porch on the south and on square brownstone pedestals. These columns are trebled and arranged in a "L"-shaped plan at the 90 degree corners. The roof has complex intersecting gables with pedimented dormer windows. A Palladian window is found in the south gable end, and three windows in the east gable recall this motif. The original and current appearance of the house are similar. Currently, all singled and clapboarded vertical surfaces are painted yellow, and the wood trim and porch are white. The roof, recently resurfaced, has sawn cedar shingles. The interior is extremely handsome, richly detailed, and is original. The current owner is restoring the interior and maintaining the integrity of the exterior. Statement of significance: The Boutin house was built by Frank Boutin Jr., part of the second generation of a pioneering Bayfield family. Frank Boutin Sr. was a native of Canada who settled in Bayfield in 1870 and became successful in the lumbering and fishing industries. His son, Frank Jr., had one brother and several sisters, and eventually left the community to follow the lumber industry west. After building this house he lived in it only a few years before selling it to leave town. The house has historical significance for its association with a pioneer Bayfield business family which was instrumental in the development of the community. It is a tangible manifestation of the lumbering wealth of a family key to Bayfield's establishment and growth. Architecturally, the house is a superb example of the Queen Anne style and, further, exemplifies how the style lingered in relatively remote areas of the United States even into the twentieth century. (By contrast, it was built the same year as was Frank Lloyd Wright's Gilmore house in Madison.) Of the three large Queen Anne houses remaining today in Bayfield, this house stands out as the best preserved and the most representative of the style. NRHP # from Bayfield Historic District: 80000106 |
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| Bibliographic References: | [A] NRHP NOMINATION FORM (B.) Tull Royden, DIGNITY AND DESIGN: A WALKING TOUR OF BAYFIELD, Bayfield Chamber of Commerce and the Sigurd Olson Institute of Environmental Studies, Bayfield (1974). (C.) BAYFIELD PRESS, Frank Boutin Sr. obituary, August 4, 1911. (D.) Paul Turner, interview June 6, 1974. Brownstone & Bargeboard, A Guide to Bayfield’s Historic Architecture, Whitney Gould and Stephen Wittman; Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin System. 1980. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |