Property Record
704 E GORHAM ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | William and Anna Collins House |
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| Other Name: | Mendota Lake House B & B |
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| Reference Number: | 16071 |
| Location (Address): | 704 E GORHAM ST |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Madison |
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| Year Built: | 1912 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1984 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Prairie School |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | CLAUDE AND STARCK |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Collins, William, House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 12/3/1974 |
| 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, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. The map code is 0709-132-1501-2 (part). This Prairie School house was designed by Claude and Starck and built in 1912. Madison Landmark: 3/17/75. Built in 1912, it exemplifies the architects’ penchant for fusing Prairie School lines with Neo-Tudor details, creating a distinctive Arts and Crafts idiom. The dark red bricks with deeply raked horizontal joints, the strong shadow cast by the eaves of the gabled roof, and the stone belt courses emphasize horizontality, while English touches include a bracketed balcony with a pierced wooden balustrade and the large gabled dormer with false half-timbering. "Finding successive generations of a family living near to each other was once more common than it is today... the Collins family, whose members built three houses within a block of each other on E. Gorham Street. The first of these houses is located at 646 E. Gorham Street. It was built in 1908 for Cornelius C. Collins and his wife, Anna. Collins was the president and founder of Collins Bros., a manufacturer and wholesaler or wood products. His partner and brother, William Collins, and his wife Dora, built their own house in 1912 at 704 E. Gorham Street (now the Collins House bed-and-breakfast inn). Both brothers hired the well-known Madison architectural firm of Claude and Starck to design their homes. Each house is an excellent and exceptionally well-built example of this firm's Prairie style design. The third Collins family house is the red crick Colonial Revival house at 640 E. Gorham Street, built in 1920 for Robert and Irene Collins Connor, a daughter of C. C. Collins. Both she and her husband were active in the C. C. Collins Lumber Co., a business her father started after he and his brother divided up the original Collins Bros. firm." Old Market Place Neighborhood walking tour guide. Madison Landmarks Commission and Old Market Place Neighborhood Association, 1991. and Architecture Network, Inc., The Arts & Crafts Movement: A Conference, October 23 & 24, 1999. |
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| Bibliographic References: | WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL 2/20/1994, P. 2G. Old Market Place Neighborhood walking tour guide. Madison Landmarks Commission and Old Market Place Neighborhood Association, 1991. Our Lives, March/April 2013 pp. 26-29. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Sandstone and Buffalo Robes: Madison's historic buildings, third edition, 1975. Perrin, Richard W. E., Historic Wisconsin Architecture, First Revised Edition (Milwaukee, 1976). A Celebration of Architecture: Wisconsin Society of Architects Tour of Significant Architecture, 1979. Architecture Network, Inc., The Arts & Crafts Movement: A Conference, October 23 & 24, 1999. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |