Property Record
524 BLUFF ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Lathrop-Munn Cobblestone House |
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| Other Name: | Lathrop-Munn Cobblestone House |
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| Reference Number: | 16958 |
| Location (Address): | 524 BLUFF ST |
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| County: | Rock |
| City: | Beloit |
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| Year Built: | 1848 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1981 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Greek Revival |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cobblestone |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Lathrop-Munn Cobblestone House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 8/22/1977 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | Cobblestone Buildings of Rock County TR |
| 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. Also a contributing resource in the Bluff Street Historic District. Th Lathrop-Munn house, built ca. 1848, is a one and one-half story, 26 foot by 30 foot cobblesone house, built in a Greek Revival style with gabled roof and returned cornices. The house is one of two of the best preserved cobblestone houses in Beloit, and is architecturally significant as an example of that type of construction, now rare (only six extant examples are recorded), which was imported to Wisconsin by settlers from New England and New York. The Lathrop-Munn House is noteworthy for the fine matching of smooth pebbles creating a striped pattern of tan and black across the facade of the house. The walls are only one foot thick - suggesting the possibility of brick infill - with three or four courses of stones. Selection of color is more random on the south side, but here too stones are well matched for size and shape. The larer and more irregular stones were reserved for the north side. Throughout, they are set in rows in mortar which is raised in pronounced horizontal ridges between the courses of stones. Mortar bands also surround the buff limestone quoins and lintels. Rough-cut limestone was used for the foundations, water tables, and quoins; the heavy straight lintels were tooled to create a dotted texture. Additions do not seriously detract from the cobblestone fabric of the building. The Lathrop-Munn House was built on Lot 104 of Hackett's Additionon the west side of the Rock River. In 1848, pioneer businessman John Hackett sold the lot for $700, with the house possibly already constructed, to Frederick A. Lathrop, who apparently then retained ownership until 1864. In the latter part of the 19th century the house was owned by an inventor and a physician, and in the first half of the 20th century by a plumber. In August, 1977, the Lathrop-Munn House was entered in the National Register of Historic Places. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) NRHP Nomination Form, 1976. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |