| Additional Information: | 2019 City of New Berlin survey recommendation write-up:
Rising from a rock-faced, concrete block foundation, this Dutch Colonial Revival-style house features a gambrel roof with a shed-roof dormer. Sheathed with clapboard, the central entrance is accentuated by a small arched-roof, open porch with plain wooden columns which shelters the doorway that is flanked by sidelights. To either side of the entry is a bank of three windows that retain their original three-over-one-light sash, while the roof dormer carries three paired examples, also with three-over-one-light sash, the center pair of which is smaller than the outer two pair. Windows along the entrance elevation all feature non-working, decorative shutters. A three-sided bay extends from the home’s west elevation.
Built circa 1925, the home’s original owners were Norwegian immigrants, George and Ragna Torseth, who were born in 1897 and 1895, respectively. The Torseths arrived in the United States in December of 1923, sailing over on the S.S. Stavangerfjord. The ship manifest listed George’s occupation as a tinner. Less than one year later, the Torseths purchased land in Conrad Park, the first platted subdivision in the Town of New Berlin, and moved into their new home shortly thereafter. As of the 1930 census, George was gainfully employed as a tinsmith. In addition to his wife, the Torseth household included two daughters, George’s brother Svarre and their widowed mother Georgine. In 1936, George became a naturalized citizen. By 1940, brother Svarre had married and was living on the same street, seemingly next-door to George and his family (as Svarre was enumerated immediately after George and his family). No further information could be found regarding the Torseths, aside from their death dates—George died in 1983, while Ragna died in 1991. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Historical & Architectural Resources Survey, City of New Berlin, Waukesha County, Wisconsin prepared by tes | Historical Consulting, LLC, 2019.
Footnotes for the City of New Berlin survey information provided below:
Current assessment information indicates that the house is a duplex. The house may have been built as such and the fact that George’s brother Svarre was enumerated immediately after George and Ragna may indicate that they resided in the same house, but in a separate unit. It is however, possible that the house was altered for duplex use at a later date (perhaps at the time that Svarre married).
Wisconsin, Federal Naturalization Records, 1848-1992, Available online at www.Ancestry.com, Accessed August 2019; John and Hanna Footland to George and Ragna Torseth, Warranty Deed, 1 October 1924, Book 190/Page 228, Document #134325; U.S. Federal Census, Population, 1930, 1940, Available online at www.Ancestry.com, Accessed August 2019. |
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