| Additional Information: | The two story brick 22 x 40 William Hoffman Building was erected in 1899 and adjoined the Hoffman Brothers meat market on East Oak Street. At this time, the value of the property increaed from 450 dollars to 2,500 indicating that it was a substantial brick structure. In this new building, the first tenant was the Bennett Cigar Factory.
W.C. Hoffman was the brother of George Hoffman, a prominent butcher in Sparta. George Hoffman came to Sparta in 1876, where he began to learn the butcher trade from O.D. Stevens. Later, George Hoffman became associated with his brother William and together they acquired the William Potter butchershop on Water Street. By 1888, the Hoffman Brothers had moved to East Oak Street because they advertised that they were opposite the American House Hotel. On East Oak Street, they dealt in meat, fish, poultry. They also noted that they had a superior ice box for preserving meat in warm weather. In 1890, Hoffman Brothers butchershop moved into a new building at 117 East Oak Street, where they did business until sometime after 1904.
The Bennett Cigar Factory did not remain in business at this address for very long. Thereafter, the William Hoffman Building was divided and occupied by a number of businesses. They included the Hoffman Barbershop and Flock Brothers Plumbing (circa 1903-1904), and Roy McComber's barbershop, an unknown shoe shop, and an insurance office run by Evan Lewis (circa 1911-1916).
By 1922, one half of the building continued as a barbershop, while the other half was a cobbler shop. By 1931, it was simply listed as stores for both sides of the building.
The William Hoffman Building gains local significance under Criteria A in association with Sparta's Industrial Theme. Topics under this theme of importance include Plumbing Industries (Flock Brothers Plumbing an important early firm in Sparta's history) and Miscellaneous Small Businesses and Light Industries (Bennett Cigar Factory). In addition, the William Hoffman Building gains local significance under Criterion B because the building was erected by William Hoffman, a longstanding successful and prominent owner of a butchershop next door to this building. The name Hoffman appears on several other buildings in the community of Sparta.
This two-story, three-bay building is a commercial vernacular brick building characterized by a recessed facade flanked by capped applied pilasters that are ornamented by white stone accents. The facade is characterized further by a wide cornice of ornamental brick work. The cornice is divided vertically by short applied brick pilasters that have corbel stops and are topped by white coping. Contrasting chisled white stone lintels and sills accent the three windows on the upper story of the red brick facade. A contemporary facade with a recessed central entrance is located on the lower story.
This turn of the century commercial building has been altered by the addition of metal windows on the second story and by the addition of a contemporary storefront in a manner unsympathetic with its historic character. Originally designed as a double store, the interior space has been consolidated into one commercial space.
This commercial vernacular building was constructed in 1899 as rental property for William Hoffman. This vernacular brick block, 22 ft x 40 ft, replaced a afrme building on the site used earlier as Hoffman's Meat Market before he moved to his new building constructed on the adjacent lot at 117 east Oak in 1890 (MP35/21). Originally Hoffman rented the west store of his new brick building to the Knudson Shoe Repair, and the remainder of the building to the Backer and Mueller Cigar Manufactory, which was sold soon after to the Grant and Greene Cigar Factory and still later to the F.A. Bennett Cigar Factory, all in the same year, 1899.
The William Hoffman Building is significant under Criterion C as a well-preserved example of the commercial vernacular building form. Among the best of four fairly well-preserved examples of the commercial vernacular building form in the proposed Water Street Historic District, this turn of the century building is characterized mainly by ornamental brick work instead of historic ornament associated with a particular style. Other well-preserved examples of the commercial vernacular form are the buildings located at 113-115 East Oak (MO35/21), 211 South Water (MO36/35), and 138 North Water (MO35/34). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sanborn Insurance Maps 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931.
(B) City of Sparta Tax Records, 1882-1930.
(C) Sparta Herald Aug. 5, 1890; April 11, 1899; June 20, 1899; July 4, 1899; Aug. 22, 1899; Jan. 9, 1900.
(D) City of Sparta Property Tax Rolls, 1870-1940.
(E) Sparta City Directory, 1903-1904. Sparta: R.C. Glover, Publisher, 1904.
(F) City Directory of the City of Sparta, Wisconsin. Sparta: compiled and published by E.B. Bell, 1916.
(G) Monroe County Democrat, April 14, 1899.
(H) Koehler, Lyle P., From Frontier Settlement to Self-Conscious American Community: A History of One Rural Village (Sparta, Wisconsin) in the Nineteenth Century. Evansville, Indiana: Unigraphic, Inc., 1977, p. 64.
(I) Ellsworth, C.S., Views in and Around Sparta, Giving a Brief History of the City and Setting Forth its Advantages for Manufacturing and as a Place of Residence, Together with some Account of its Celebrated Magnetic Mineral Water. Portage, Wisconsin: Register Printing Company, 1888, p. 42.
(J) Barney, Tyler Davis, A History of the Growth of Sparta, Wisconsin, 1850 to 1890." B.A. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, 1922, p. 41.
(K) Gregory, John G., West Central Wisconsni: A History. Vol. 2, Indianapolis: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1933, p. 451. |
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