Property Record
1012-1022 WISCONSIN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | John and Louis Ruka Buildings |
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| Other Name: | Schultz Brothers Company |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 28140 |
| Location (Address): | 1012-1022 WISCONSIN AVE |
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| County: | Grant |
| City: | Boscobel |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1876 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1982 |
| Historic Use: | large retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | HABS WI-333. THE STOREFRONT OF THIS TWO STORY STRUCTRUE IS COMPLETELY ALTERED CONSISTING OF LARGE EXPANSES OF GLASS. THE SECOND FLOOR APPERS TO BE THREE DISTINCE STORES. THE SOUTHERN MOST CONTAINS FOUR WINDOWS. ARCHITECTURAL STATEMENT: THE SCHULTZ BROTHERS STORE OCCUPIES WHAT WERE ORIGINALLY THREE DISTINCT STRUCTURES, WHICH ARE UNIFIED BY SIMILAR FENESTRATION AND MASONRY WORK. THE SMOOTH CUT STONE IS REGULARLY COURSED ON ALL SECTIONS OF ALL SECTIONS OF THE FACADE, DIVISIONS ARE MARKED BY QUOINS ON THE SOUTHERN MOST BUILDING, AND BY A VERTICAL CONSTRUCTION JOINT ON THE NORTHERN SECTION. WINDOW OPENINGS ARE ROUND ARCHED AND TRIMMED WITH SMOOTH STONE ARCHES WITH KEYSTONE. ALUMINUM PANELS CLOSE ALL WINDOWS ON THE SECOND STORY. THE NORTHERN 26 FEET ON THE PRESENT STRUCTURE WAS CONSTRUCTED IN THE 1870'S AND OWNED AND OPERATED BY JOHN AND LOUIS RUKA AS A HARDWARE STORE (B). THIS SECTION CONTAINS FOUR WINDOWS ON THE SECOND STORY; ABOVE WHICH RUNS A CORNICE. THIS CORNICE, WITH ALTERNATING BRACKETS AND FRIEZE PANELS ALSO EXTENDS ACROSS THE CENTRAL BLOCK. THIS CENTRAL 52 FOOF SECTION, WAS BUILT BY JOHN AND LOUIS RUKA IN 1876 AND LEASED TO SPIEGELGERG BROTHERS AS A GENERAL STORE (B). DISPOSED ACROSS THE FACADE ARE SIX WINDOW OPENINGS. THESE ORIGINALLY PROVIDED LIGHT TO RUKA HALL. THE SOUTHERN 26 FEET LACKS THE CORNICE AND IS FURTHER DIFFERNTIATED BY THE QUOINS. THIS BUILDING WAS CONSTRUCTED IN THE LATE 1870'S BY FRED SCHEINPFLUG AND OPERATED AS AN UNDERTAKING ESTABLISHMENT AND FURNITURE STORE. AFTER APPROXIMATELY FIFTY YEARS IT WAS PURCHASED BY BILL HALL AND BECAME THE UNIQUE CAFE. IN 1969, THE RUKA FAMILY PURCHASED THE BUILDING, MERGED IT WITH SCHULTZ BROTHERS. THE STOREFRONTS HAVE BEEN OPENED UP ENTIRELY AND ARE NOW GLAZED. STYLISTICALLY, THESE BUILDINGS ARE DESIGNED IN THE ITALIANATE TRADITION, AND ARE SIGNIFICANT AS AN EXAMPLE OF A PERIOD AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION. HISTORICAL STATEMENT: JOHN AND LOUIS RUKA WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE ERECTION OF THESE STONE BUILDINGS AND ARE COMMEMORATED BY AN INSCRIPTION/DATE PLAQUE ON THE BUILDING. THE RUKA BORTHERS EMIGRATED FROM GERMANY IN THE 1850S FOLLOWING BRIEF STAYS IN PENNSYLVANIA AND LANCASTER. THE RUKA FAMILY BEGAN A BLACKSMITH SHOP, LATER OPENED A HARDWARE STORE AND DEVELOPED THE RRUKA BORTHERS MFG. CO. (1879), AS WELL AS A BRICKYARD (1879). THE RUKA BROTHERS MFG. CO. PRODUCED WAGONS AND CARRIAGES IN A FACTORY WEST OF WISCONSIN AVENUE (DEMOLISHED) (D). THE RUKA BROTHERS WERE PIONEER BUSINESSMEN AND INSTRUMENTAL IN THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF BOSCOBEL. THIS TRADITION OF BUSINESS INVOLVEMENT CONTINUED IN THE SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS. IN ADDITION TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BUILDINGS DUE TO THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS, THE RUKA HALL WAS A MAJOR GATHERING PLACE AND CULTRUAL CENTER THROUGHOUT THE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES. 1992- "This very fine rectilinear plan Italianate style commercial building was built in two parts, both of which were originally identical in design but not in width. The larger of the two buildings (1018-1022 Wisconsin Ave.) was built as a double store by John and Louis Ruka in 18'/6, and it is two-stories in height and rectilinear in plan and measures 50-feet-wide by 85-feet-deep. Early photos show that the original first story of this building's east-facing main facade had stone pilasters at either end and one in the center. Identical storefronts were inserted in the two openings these pilasters framed and they each consisted of a deeply recessed, canted central entrance flanked by display windows on either side and surmounted by a transom band. The second story of the Ruka Building is very similar to the second story of the Scheinpflug Building just described, being clad in regular coursed dressed ashlar stone. It is slightly taller than its neighbor, however, it does not have quoins, and it is topped by an elaborate wood and metal cornice that has an overhanging crown molding supported by large brackets, a paneled frieze, denticulation, and small console blocks placed below the soffit of the crown molding. This story is six-bays-wide and each bay contains a single semi-circular-arched window opening of the same size and design as the ones on the Scheinptlug Building. These openings also originally held six-over-six light windows, which in this case helped light the single large space known as "Ruka 's Hall" that originally occupied most of this story. The Ruka brothers built a less wide two-story rectilinear plan addition (1012 Wisconsin Ave.) immediately to the north of their original building (1018-1022) at about the same time. It is identical in design but less wide, being 30-feet-wide by 85-feet-deep. Early photos of this addition suggest that it originally had a first story that was a mirror image of that of the Scheinpflug Building, with a second story entrance door located to the right of a storefront that consisted of a centered, recessed entrance that was flanked on either side by display windows. 'fhe second story of the addition is identical in every way to that of the larger building except for being four-bays-wide instead of six, and it is crowned by a continuation of the same elaborate cornice that crowns the larger building. Like the Scheinpflug Building, both the Ruka brothers building and its addition was altered when the first stories of all three buildings were interconnected in 1969, and they were also remodeled recently when the 1969 remodeling was updated. 'l'his last remodeling left most of the first story of the addition covered in the same yellow brick that was used on the Scheinpflug Building and it too was decorated with blind semicircular-arched openings (three) outlined in brick. New display windows with yellow brick bulkheads replaced the storefront of the larger building, a new recessed entrance opening was created, and the three united storefronts were all sheltered by a flat-roofed canopy and the transom lights of the original storefronts were covered by a continuous signboard. Oespite these remodelings, though, the high quality ot the original design of the Ruka brothers building and its addition is still evident. Restoring the original six-over-six light second story windows would substantially improve their appearance." - Prepared by Timothy F Heggland (1992). |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. INSCRIPTION ON BUILDING, DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: PLAQUE. B. NANCY RUKA SWENSON, BOSCOBEL, 1982. C. HISTORY OF GRANT CO. 1881 P. 796-797. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |