| Additional Information: | Two-story brick and stucco Prairie School house with broad roof overhang, window band placed directly under overhang, stucco panels with brown trim separating upper and lower stories, porte cochere on west side with second story enclosed porch, one-story screened porch on east side, window bands on upper and lower story, brick piers breaking strong horizontal lines of design, and entrance on east side of north wing.
One of the earliest known examples of Merman's Prairie School houses (also Frank Schwalbe house at 1420 Madison Street) the McMillan House is a significant representative of Merman's irregular shaped Prairie designs. About 1914, at the age of 24, Otto Merman designed the house for his friend Dan McMillan. Merman also designed the porte cochere and an addition in 1918.
After 1900, and despite the crash of the lumber industry, wealthy residents continued to seek out this neighborhood. But Queen Anne mansions gave way to modern residences. Prominent local architects again led the way, with Percy Dwight Bentley and Otto Merman introducing the long horizontal lines of the Prairie style. In 1914 Merman, working as Bentley’s draftsman, designed the two-story Daniel and Mary MacMillan House (1222 Cass St.). Its angular, graphic qualities echo those of fellow Prairie architect William Drummond’s work on the Ralph Baker House in Wilmette, Illinois, executed the same year. Its core is organized in horizontal bands: a brick strip forming the lower walls, then a ribbon of rectangular windows, then a strip of wood-trimmed stucco composing the upper walls, then another ribbon of windows under a wide-overhanging, hipped roof. Like many of Merman’s designs, this one shows pronounced asymmetry: a one-story solarium juts from the rear of one side elevation, while a large two-story wing with a porte-cochère projects from the other side. MacMillan, a personal friend of Merman’s, ran an automobile-gauge company, one of the factories that helped sustain La Crosse’s prosperity after lumbering’s demise. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Wright's La Crosse City Directory (Milwaukee: Wright Directory Co., 1915, 1917).
(B) La Crosse City Tax Records, ARC Murphy LIbary, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 1913-1916.
(C) Dr. L. Crocker, Department of Art, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
(D) Commission List, P. Nelson and Co., La Crosse, Wisconsin.
(E) La Crosse Leader Press, 25 March 1914.
(F) Crocker, Leslie. Buildings of La Crosse through Time. La Crosse Public Library Archives Department: La Crosse, 2015.
(G) Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
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