Property Record
315 E LAKE ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Caleb Shearer-Cristy House |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 29843 |
| Location (Address): | 315 E LAKE ST |
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| County: | Waupaca |
| City: | Waupaca |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1891 |
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| Additions: | 1892 |
| Survey Date: | 1998 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | GEORGE OTIS GARNSEY; GEORGE OTIS GARNSEY |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Shearer-Cristy House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 12/22/1983 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| 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, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. The house was designed by Chicago architect George Otis Garnsey, who was the editor of National Builder magazine. Plans for this house were illustrated in a supplement to the first volume of the National Builder magazine dated 1885. The house is identical to another Garnsey house built by David Simes on Somonauk Road in Sycamore, Illinois. The Clawsen house in Broadhead (record # 0089685) was also designed by Garnsey. This gorgeous expression of Victorian elegance was actually built from a pattern book. The prototype appeared in May 1885 in a supplement to The National Builder, a house-building trade journal edited by Chicago architect George Otis Garnsey (1840-1923). The architect had already established his reputation among builders and architects in 1881, when he published the American Glossary of Architectural Terms, a standard reference work in the late nineteenth century. But The National Builder offered an ingenious new way to promote Garnsey’s practice. The monthly periodical offered advice to builders, advertised architectural services and supplies, and provided full plans and specifications for his own designs, including that of the clapboard Shearer-Cristy House. Garnsey clearly liked to play with the multitude of forms, patterns, and textures that made up the eclectic vocabulary of the Queen Anne style. Like others working in this idiom, Garnsey eschewed smooth wall surfaces, so fishscale shingles run underneath the hipped roof, a ribbon of rectangular panels defines the base of the walls, and a circle-in-square motif embellishes the gabled porch and the balustraded balcony above. Garnsey also used towers, porches, and bow windows to constantly interrupt the house’s wall planes. Most impressive is the three-story circular tower to the west of the entrance, complete with an ornate gabled hood that looks somewhat like a fancy birdhouse. A second turret, on the eastern corner, terminates with a two-stage onion-dome roof, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis finial. Details like these are unusually lavish for a pattern-book building. Notice especially the elaborately carved wooden window head with its knob finial, embracing the stained-glass transom over the front parlor window. Inside the house, the front vestibule opens onto a grand staircase with richly carved newel-posts, paneled walls, and a balustrade that repeats the circle-in-square pattern found on the exterior. The first-floor parlor, sitting room, dining room, and alcove correspond to the house’s bays, towers, and beveled corners. The house was originally built for Caleb Shearer, who owned a planing mill and a lumber company. That may explain the richness of the wooden details. But apparently after experiencing financial troubles, Shearer left Waupaca around 1900. The house, vacant until 1907, was bought by Joseph E. Cristy, owner of a local dry-goods store. Later owners include Carroll Cristy, Mrs. Carroll Cristy/Hutchinson and Kathleen Cristy Marceil. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |