Property Record
424 N PINCKNEY ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Carrie Pierce House / Alexander A. McDonnell |
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| Other Name: | Mansion Hill Inn |
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| Reference Number: | 16106 |
| Location (Address): | 424 N PINCKNEY ST |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Madison |
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| Year Built: | 1857 |
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| Additions: | 1985 1938 |
| Survey Date: | 1991 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Romanesque Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Sandstone |
| Architect: | August Kutzbock; Samuel Huter Donnel |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Pierce, Carrie, House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/18/1972 |
| 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. THE MAP CODE IS 070914407048. The Alexander A. and Francie McDonnell-George and Carrie Pierce House, now the Mansion Hill Inn, was built in 1858 according to a design by Donnel and Kutzbock. They fashioned it in the mode of the Rundbogenstil, a round-arch style then popular in the German states, characterized by a combination of Romanesque and Renaissance motifs. The McDonnell-Pierce House features a pair of gabled wings with bay windows flanking the entrance, arched windows with prominent caps, and a fancifully bracketed octagonal belvedere. A torch motif at the cornice, arched tracery in the windows, and multiple corbel courses create an exuberant exterior. Supposedly the interiors were modeled after Donnel's designs for rooms in the old capitol. Madison Historic Landmark: 5/18/71. "The Mansion Hill Inn is a fine extant Romanesque Revival house built in 1857-58 for Alexander A. and Francie McDonnell. It was designed by the architectural partnership of Samuel Hunter Donnel and August Kutzbock. The ornate stonework closely parallels that of the second capitol in Madison, for which McDonell was the contractor in 1857-59, Donnel and Kutzbock the architects, and the same Prairie du Chien sandstone the same building material. Many of the decorative details on the house are said to be duplicates of designs used in the old state capitol building. The house may well be the finest domestic example of the German Romanesque revival remaining in the United States. Among the former residents of the house were Rebecca and J. H. Garnhart, owner of the Garnhart Reaper Works; Orasmus Cole, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who married Garnhart's widow; and Sarah Fairchild Dean Conover (sister of Governor Fairchild), who was influential in civic, social, and political activities. During the latter half of the 19th century, the house was the scene of many elegant social events. George and Carrie Pierce used it as their residence and boarding house from 1906 to 1938. The Alexander Company converted it to a luxury hotel in 1985." Madison's Pioneer Buildings: A Downtown Walking Tour, 1987. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Wisconsin State Journal, 4/2/1967, section 6, p. 1. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. Sandstone and Buffalo Robes: Madison's historic buildings, third edition, 1975. Madison's Pioneer Buildings: A Downtown Walking Tour, 1987. Madison Houses 1836-1915 by Jill Moore Marx 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. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |