| Additional Information: | The I.O.O.F. Auxiliary Building was constructed in 1895. In 1887, Sparta Encampment No. 94, I.O.O.F. acquired this property west of its building on the corner of Water and Oak Streets. The I.O.O.F. built this building as an auxiliary to their adjacent building. On November 15, 1895, they dedicated a new hall in the Heller-I.O.O.F. building and moved their lodge rooms and the dining room to the second floor of their auxiliary building.
The original occupant of the first floor was the Gender Cigar Palace owned most likely by Harry Gender or members of the Gender family. Near the turn of the century, tobacco manufacturing started to become very important to Sparta's economy. One cigar manufacturing company was the Gender Cigar Factory which Harry Gender began in 1884 on West Oak Street. eleven years later, in 1895, the Gender family store moved into a new brick building at 103 West Oak Street. In the first fourteen years of its existence, the Gender Cigar Factory turned out over two million cigars. However, little is known about its history after 1904.
Between 1911 and 1922, Ed Nestigen's grocery store occupied the first floor of the building.
The I.O.O.F. Auxiliary Building gains local significance under Criterion A in association with the topic Fruit and Vegetable Processing under Sparta's Industry Theme and the topic Fraternal Organizations under Sparta's Social and Political Movements Theme. The building's period of significance ranges from 1895 to 1904, when the first floor of the building was occupied by the Harry Gender Cigar Factory. In addition, the building's period of significance extends from 1895 to an unknown end date, when Sparta Encampment No. 94, I.O.O.F. used the second floor for various purposes.
This two-story, Classical Revival influenced, three-bay red brick [presently painted] Italianate styled building is characterized by a projecting iron cornice with bracketed ends. The entablature is decorated by impressed designs including a row of dentils along the frieze of the entablature. The story-and-a-half projecting bay/pavilion located on the upper story of the facade is ornamented also by a projecting metal cornice decorated with brackets, and pressed designs including a row of dentils on the frieze area of the entablature. Small rectangular attic windows accented by a band of corbeled brick along the bottom and a rectangular window with paired windows topped by a transom placed directly over the corbelling along the overhang further ornament the projecting center bay. A contemporary storefront with siding over the transom and a metal and glass recessed entrance is located on the lower story.
This turn-of-the-century building has been altered by the replacement of its original windows with metal windows and by the replacement of the transom window in the center bay with a wood panel. The storefront, originally an iron front with recessed elevated entrance, has been reconstructed in a contemporary manner. A rectangular pediment rising above the cornice inscribed I.O.O.F. has been removed.
Constructed in 1895, using the two walls of adjacent buildings and b uiling only two end walls, by local contractor L.V. Huschka, this building, 25 ft x 80 ft, was built as the I.O.O.F. Auxilliary Building. Designed as a combination retail building and lodge hall by local architect Frank D. Foote, this building's second floor was designed to be an extension of the I.O.O.F. lodge rooms on the second floor of the adjacent building at 101 West Oak (MO36/34) previously purchased by the lodge c. 1887. The commercial space on the first floor originally was rented to the C.C. Gender Cigar Palace from 1895 until 1905 when the cigar store moved to the Olin Building at 125 West Oak (MP34/8).
The I.O.O.F. Auxiliary Building does not meet the criteria of the NRHP for architectural significance becuase of a lack of integrity. Although this eclectic building has retained its iron cornice, its architectural significance has been altered by the replacement of its windows with metal windows and the closing up of a transom window on the upper facade. However, this Classical Revival influenced Italianate building has sufficient historic architectural character to contribute to the Water Street Historic District. Better preserved examples of the Italianate style include the buildings at 117 East Oak (MO35/20), 118 East Oak (MO23/36), 120 South Water (MO23/35) and 144 South Water (MO36/14). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Monroe County History Room, Rt. 2, Sparta, WI, Photograph Collection, Photograph #396, #1428.
(B) Sparta Herald, April 30, 1895; May 7, 1895; May 21, 1895; June 25, 1895; Sept. 3, 1895; Aug. 22, 1905.
(C) City of Sparta Tax Records, 1870-1930.
(D) Sanborn Insurance Maps 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931.
(E) City of Sparta Property Tax Rolls, 1870-1940.
(F) Sparta City Directory, 1903-1904. Sparta: R.C. Glover, Publisher, 1904.
(G) City Directory of the City of Sparta, Wisconsin. Sparta: compiled and published by E.B. Bell, 1916.
(H) Richards, Randolph A., History of Monroe Country, Wisconsin: Past and Present, including an Account of the Cities, Towns, and Villages of the County. Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1912, pp. 277-278 and 309.
(I) Monroe County Democrat Nov. 15, 1895; Jan. 21, 1898. |
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