| Additional Information: | 1993 - The B in the photo code stands for BKFD.
DESCRIPTION:
This is a late example of the eclectic styles popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Of fieldstone construction, the Davidson residence is highly picutresque in nature, with an irregular plan and multiple gabled roofs and dormers. Massive chimneys and a round entry tower further enliven the design and give it its French Ecletic stylistic designation.
Above the fieldstone first story, gables are covered in a variety of wood finishes, including vertical board and batten and decorative shingles. The door is set behind an ornamental fieldstone arch in the tower wall; the second story of the tower contains a single small window centered above the door. The tower is capped with a conical copper roof, topped with an attenuated weathervane.
The house was noted as having an outdoor kidney-shaped pool in a 1971 sales advertisement. [A].
ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING SIGNIFICANCE:
This property is significant as a late example of a picturesque ecelctic revival style. It is also noteworthy in its use of fieldstone construction.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
This residence was built in 1940 for Arthur Davidson, Sr.
HISTORCIAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Being of recent date, this property does not draw significance from its history.
2024 - Eclectic Revival. One and a half story house with a side gabled roof with stone chimneys, copper details, and asphalt shingles, fieldstone tower and arched entry, board and batten wood siding, and an attached garage. In ground stone pool in the rear.
This roughly 3.11-acre property includes a stone house, a guest house, and at least two smaller outbuildings. None of these four buildings are visible from the public right-of-way, and only the house was visible at the end of a short, private drive.
The primary residence is a late example of the eclectic architectural styles that peaked in popularity in the 1920s and 1930s. The house has an irregular plan. The largest, two-story block towards the rear of the house is side gabled (gables facing towards the northwest and southeast). A pair of slightly shorter gables project from this central block towards the northeast, with a 1-story attached garage northeast of those. The two northeast gables, garage, and a one-story hyphen all intersect at a round tower entry. The hyphen extends from this tower to the east where it meets a one-and-a-half story gabled wing.
Much of the roof is covered with tile that resembles the appearance of wooden shingles, with metal half-round gutters mounted at the eaves. The cylindrical entry tower has a conical metal roof, and much of the attached garage’s hipped roof is flat. An interior stone chimney is near the southeastern gable of the two-story block, and a similar exterior stone chimney is present on the eastern end of the one-and-a-half story gabled wing, situated roughly at the front of the house.
The exterior of the house is primarily clad in a randomly arranged fieldstone. Gabled portions of the exterior are clad in wood—some with clapboards, some with vertical board and battens (the boards having fancy cut lower ends), and some with a combination of the two. Windows all appear to be wooden. In the one-and-a-half story wind, all windows appear to have leaded muntins separating adjacent panes of glass, and here 6/9 style windows appear to be predominant. Here also the windows have wooden lintels, each with carved lower edge details, stone sills, and wooden shutters. The second story of the conical-topped entry tower has a leaded glass window with diamond-shaped glass panes. The primary door below this, set behind an ornamental fieldstone arch, is of leaded glass as well. Elsewhere, wooden windows with wooded muntins appear to be common, with a pair of 4/4 types visible in one of the gables behind and above the attached garage. The garage doors appear to be wooden, with each of the two doors flanked on either side by a turned wooden pilaster.
A side gabled guest house is located across the driveway, north of the primary residence. An in-ground pool, pool shed, and gazebo are to the west and southwest of the primary residence. These resources are not visible from the public right-of-way, nor are they visible from the driveway near Davidson Road.
A historic aerial photograph taken in 1941 shows this house finishing construction at this site. This house was built for Arthur and Clara Davidson as a primary residence on their farm. Arthur Davidson is remembered primarily as one of the four original founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company and the first of the three Davidson brothers to become involved in the hobby that would become a motorcycle manufacturing enterprise.
Mention of this farm first appears in area newspapers beginning around 1936. As noted on the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame website, “Davidson's primary interest outside of motorcycling was raising prize Guernsey cattle at his farm west of Milwaukee. After World War II, Davidson spent an increasing amount of time on his farm and he became well known for his philanthropy.” Arthur and Clara Davidson were killed in an automobile accident on December 30, 1950, a short distance from this house. Subsequent owners of the property include Dr. Samuel Rosenthal, a chief of staff at St. Joseph’s hospital in Milwaukee.
Historic aerial photographs show the surrounding farmland intact into the 1990s, with construction of suburban housing nearby underway in 1995.
The house is an intact example of a mid-twentieth-century eclectic architectural style of exceptional design and materials that retains its integrity in terms of its location, materials, design, association, workmanship, and feeling. Despite the loss of farmland to suburban housing, the setting remains largely intact owing to the relatively large lot, the location of the Davidson house on that lot, and the presence of densely wooded areas around the house that isolate this property from neighboring houses. Although Arthur Davidson was active in farming, he is not best remembered for his farming activities, and this property is not closely associated with his years actively spent furthering the Harley-Davidson company. The Arthur Davidson House at 1809 N Hi Mount Boulevard in Milwaukee (AHI 29099), built in 1915, is extant and listed on the NRHP as a contributing property within the West Washington-N High Mount Boulevards Historic District.
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| Bibliographic References: | [A]. "Exclusively Yours Magazine," June 1971.
[B]. Date of construction source: City Assessor.
2024 - Historic Architectural Survey, Granville CPCN; Cities of Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Waukesha, and New Berlin; Villages of Butler, Lannon, Germantown, and Menomonee Falls; Milwaukee, Washington, and Waukesha Counties, Wisconsin - Stantec |
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