Property Record
220 OLD PIONEER RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Darling, Keyes and Ann, House |
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| Other Name: | THE POSTILION |
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| Reference Number: | 16567 |
| Location (Address): | 220 OLD PIONEER RD |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
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| Year Built: | 1850 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2011 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 1988: This two-story Italianate house features a low-pitched hip roof with wide overhanging eaves. Windows are tall and narrow with two over two-light double-hung sashes. They are decorated with fine architrave moldings. The main entrance is a double door with round-arched lights decorated with an arched transom and a simple arched overhang. The low-pitched hip roof, tall windows with architrave moldings, and the overall form and massing of the building are elements of the style. Sitting on a very large lot, this house is an elegant representative of the style. 2011: Previously identified as the Mason Darling House. 2010-2011 Intensive Survey Info: Rectangular in form, this two-story house with a truncated hipped roof rises from a stone foundation. The home's entrance (north) elevation features a central, double-door entry topped with a transom and sheltered by a shaped hood with brackets. Symmetrically arranged windows with six-light storms and a full wooden surround are found along each of the two levels. A pair of stone entrance markers, as well as electronic gate, identify the driveway along E. Pioneer Road and two more modern buildings (1965; 1969) are found at the rear of the property. The subject property--which was part of a larger parcel--was purchased by Dr. Mason Darling in 1841. Dr. Darling is essentially referred to as the father of Fond du Lac. Six years later, the land was sold to his son Keyes and in 1850, it was transferred to Ann Bowman, who would that year become Mrs. Keyes Darling. Born in 1824, Keyes worked as a broker along side his father and, in circa 1856, they opened a bank by the name of Darling, Wright & Co. The subject structure is believed to have been built in the early 1850s; however, the 1860 census does enumerate the Darlings as living in the City of Fond du Lac proper (although it is possible that they could have also had a #28;country#29; home). By 1870, however, Ann is noted as living in the Town of Fond du Lac and, presumably, in the subject house, along with her younger son John. In 1885, Ann sold the property to Edwin Galloway and, in 1899, the 10 acres upon which the house sat was sold to Herbert O. Lewis. By its sale in 1915, the house was situated on 6 acres. In 1949, the property was sold to John & Liane Kuony, who had come to Fond du Lac in 1947.The Kuonys opened a tea room and interior decorating studio in the subject house, after which a full restaurant (The Postilion) was opened and, eventually, a renowned School of Culinary Arts developed in the early 1980s. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Madame Kuony also developed the Postilion line of gourmet foods, as well as opened restaurants in Greenbush and Milwaukee. She died in 2005, ten years after her husband John. In 2009, the house was designated as a local landmark. The house was built by the Keyes Darling family in the early 1850s. Although the home's exact date of construction is not fully confirmed, and despite the removal of ironwork cresting and an earlier, open front porch, it does stand as a very good, early and highly intact example of the Italianate style of architecture. |
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| Bibliographic References: | FOND DU LAC REPORTER 7/22/1993. FOND DU LAC TALKING HOUSES AND HISTORIC PLACES BROCHURE, FOND DU LAC CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU. City Directories. Sanborn Perris Maps. Tax Rolls. Carol Cartwright, City of Fond du Lac Intensive Survey Report, Fond du Lac: City of Fond du Lac, 1992. See 2010-2011 Intensive Survey for citations for material below. Marjorie Kinas, who was born in the home in 1927, did indicate (in 2011, after the survey was complete) that the house formerly had a full-width front porch and that metal cresting used to be on the rooftop. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |