Property Record
2065 GENEVA ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Trinity Lutheran Church Parsonage |
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| Reference Number: | 240856 |
| Location (Address): | 2065 GENEVA ST |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Racine |
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| Year Built: | 1925 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2019 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Bungalow |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | Y |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 2019: Trinity Lutheran Church is located on a large parcel on the south side of Goold Street, between Geneva Street and Marquette Street. The brick Neo-Gothic Revival-style church building fronts Geneva Street. It was constructed in 1925 and features corner crenellated square towers, one larger in height with a belfry. Between the towers is a steeply-pitched front gable bay with a large Gothic arch stained glass window on the second story above a series of three Gothic arch entryways. Within each entryway is a pair of heavy plank doors with large strap hinges and a stained glass transom. On the side elevations, between brick buttresses, are Gothic arch stained glass windows. A cross gable at the rear of the church building indicates the interior has a crucifix plan. Attached to the church building to the north is a one-story, brick, modern education wing that was added in 1959. The Trinity Lutheran School has its own entrance, which is located at the building’s northwest corner at the intersection of Goold Street and Geneva Street. The aluminum framed glass doors are recessed beneath a flat roof canopy. The primary façade of the school is along Geneva Street and consists of a continuous band of narrow, full-height aluminum-frame windows sheltered by the overhang of the building’s flat roof. Much of the Goold Street side of the school is a c.2000 preschool addition. South of the church building is a one-and-one-half-story bungalow that has served as the parsonage. It has a rectangular footprint, brick cladding, and a hip with cross gable roof with wood shingles in the gables. Projecting from the south half of the façade is a shorter front gable opposite a recessed porch with a corner brick column. Fenestration includes wood windows with Craftsman-style divided lights in the upper sash. Trinity Lutheran Church was founded in 1905 when a group of members of St. John’s German Lutheran Church (AHI #10925) decided to begin holding services in English. The four founding members included Walter E. Moe, John H. Phillips, Frank G. White and August Balzar. Together with the St. John’s pastor, they organized an English mission congregation on Racine’s north side. A pastor from Illinois was eventually hired and Trinity English Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, was officially formed on February 14, 1905. Initially, English language services were held at St. John’s church until the congregation could afford to construct a building of their own. In the spring of 1906, construction of a new church on Milwaukee Avenue (present-day Dr. Martin Luther King Drive) at Albert Street began. That building was quickly outgrown. Land on Geneva Street was purchased in 1919 and in 1924 the property on Milwaukee Avenue was sold. That same year, ground was broken on the present-day church building. The parsonage was constructed the following year, followed by the education wing in 1959, and a preschool wing c.2000. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |