| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
This fine Queen Anne residence was a fitting home for one of "Sawdust City's" leading wood-products manufacturers. Builders Adam Bell and Edwin Cole had worked in various aspects of the wood-products industry themselves, evident in their elaborate design. They paid particular attention to the varied details of the front porch: jigsaw-cut bargeboards, latticework, spindlework, fan and sun motifs, and cloverleafs. Even the house’s roofline--a lively medley of gables, combined with an octagonal tower--expresses Gilded Age exuberance. Originally the Morgan House was even fancier than it is today, but some details are gone, including the tent roof and gables crowning the tower, iron finials, a wooden balconet, and an iron crest.
The interior of the house, which is now a museum, testifies to Morgan's love of wood. Bell and Cole built an elegant sideboard of mahogany, oak, and ash for the dining room, and they finished each room with a different hardwood--bird’s-eye maple, cherry, birch, oak, ash, or mahogany. They also crafted spindle friezes over the doorways, elaborate wooden mantels, and ornate built-in bookcases. Some walls are covered in lincrusta, a nineteenth-century material made of a fabric-backed linseed oil mixture that could be embossed--here with floral and classical motifs--to resemble expensive plasterwork.
The house cost almost $12,000 when originally built.
ARCHITECTURAL STATEMENT:
THE MORGAN HOUSE IS A FRAME BUILDING WITH SIMPLE GEOMETRIC DETAIL AND AN OCTAGONAL TOWER ADJOINING THE GABLE.
HISTORICAL STATEMENT:
JOHN R. MORGAN WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE MORGAN COMPANY, AN EARLY SASH, DOOR, AND BLIND MANUFACTURER STILL OPERATIONG IN THE CITY. THEIR PLANT AT SIXTH AND OREGON (OS-4/12) IS ALSO PART OF THIS SURVEY. MORGAN ARRIVED IN OSHKOSH IN 1855 WITH HIS BROTHER, RICHARD. LATER THAT YEAR, THE MORGAN BROTHERS BOUGHT A SMALL SASH, DOOR AND BLIND FACTORY AND HAVE CONTINUED AS A CORPORATION TO THE PRESENT. JOHN RETIRED IN 1889. (B) JOHN R. MORGAN WAS ONE OF THE EARLY INDUSTRIALISTS WHO HELPED TO BUILD OSHKOSH INTO A MAJOR CITY. |
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