| Additional Information: | 2013 New Holstein Survey results:
This one-and-one-half-story house is sheathed with clapboard and appears to rise from a concrete block foundation. A U-shaped, open porch surrounds the house and is supported by a series of single, wooden columns; a tripartite window grouping is centered along the primary façade and sheltered by the porch. A pair of double-hung windows is located with the gabled peak that features return gables and is also set within the roofline forming a small, upper-level porch. Windows are arranged singly and in pairs throughout the remainder of the house, while a second, enclosed-porch entrance is located off the northwest corner of the house.
This house appears to have been built circa 1917 by Henry H. Greve and utilized as a rental for a short period before it was sold to Nic Stemper, who also appears to have rented out the home. In this case, the ownership of the home is not as important as the fact that the house appears to have been built from plans either directly or derived from “House Plan No. 158” (1913) of the Gordon-Van Tine Co. Indeed, there are some slight variations from Plan No. 158, which could suggest the house was basically patterned after the catalog design, but was perhaps altered at the time of construction. |
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| Bibliographic References: | When reviewing the recommendations properties with Jim Draeger, State Historic Preservation Officer, it was suggested that this house was a Sears design. Bob Bosma, grandson of Alfred & Emma Bosma, also thought that the house was perhaps from a catalog design and recalled seeing a materials list for the house. Unfortunately that materials list could not be located by the time of this report submittal, Bob Bosma, Conversation and email correspondence with Traci E. Schnell, April and July 2013, Notes on file at HRL.
Image of House Plan No. 158 on page 38 of the Gordon-Van Tine House plan book (1913), Image available online at www.flickr.com/photos/ffshoe/7702126844; No. 158 was later known as No. 712 (1921 catalog) and can also be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/ffshoe/7702138354. Because of the nature of the legal description (metes and bounds as opposed to lot and block descriptions), the earliest year to which the property could be easily traced was 1919, H. H. and Christine Greve to Nic Stemper, Warranty Deed, 22 March 1919, 49/101, #15519. The cost of the parcel was $3,700, thus indicating the house had already been built. The local paper accounts for the sale in “Real Estate Deals,” Calumet County Reporter, 7 March 1919, 1/6. Previous to that, in November 1917, the paper reported the marriage of W.F. Voelz and that he would reside in the new H.H. Greve house on Wisconsin Street, Calumet County Reporter, 2 November 1917. Greve appears to have built a few homes, but it seems likely that this is the referenced house for in June 1918, the paper indicated that a new bungalow with all modern improvements was for rent and the contact people were cited as either H.H. Greve or W.F. Voelz. The same issue noted that Voelz was moving to Akron, Ohio, Calumet County Reporter, 21 June 1918, 1/7 and 1/3. The 1920 census indicates that neither Greve nor Stemper resided in the subject home. |
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