Property Record
325 KENTUCKY ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | John Graef Building |
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| Other Name: | Milwaukee Mutual Insurance Office |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 50022 |
| Location (Address): | 325 KENTUCKY ST |
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| County: | Door |
| City: | Sturgeon Bay |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1902 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1982 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | Unknown |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Third Avenue Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/6/1983 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | This two-story brick commercial structure is quite well maintained and has one of the few intact storefronts within the District. The handsomely proportioned facade has a broad contral window at the second story, flanked by narrower ones, and is crowned with a pressed metal cornice. It is one of the few unaltered commercial buildings within the District and, as such, is an excellent example of a once common building type and architectural style. This building appears to have been as an annexyt to 160-164 Third Avenue (A) Its present appearance dates from this alteration and for this reason, the later date is used. In 1893 John Graef acquired part of lot 6 from O.E. Dreutzer. The value of Graef's property immediately doubled to $3,k000. Steady improvement occured from 1893-1898. After 1899 the property was significantly altered, raising its total value to $5400 in 1902, with a building valued at $3600. John Graef was a business associate of A. N. Wegener. Together they operated a cigar rolling business located in the North half of the double commercial block (160-164 North Third) directly West of this site. This single storefront commercial building appears to have been built earlier and substantially remodeled as an annex to this larger commercial block in about 1902. It was linked to the larger building and the first story was used for a meat market. Notes from Stanley Green, 10/82: When John Graef wisxhed to provide for an annext at the rear of his building (164 N. 3rd), he owned only the north half of the lot and Charles Greisen the osuth half. The Greisen building (160 N. 3rd) was a hundred feet long and the Graef building only 75 feet in length, so it was impossible for the annex, whose frontage was slightly more than 20 feet to have a depth of more than 25 feet - certainly not the fifty feet indicated on the map on page 41. The annex to the Greisen building (331 Kentucky Street) in 1912 covered the vacant portion of the entire eastern end of the lot. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. Sanborn-Perris Maps of Sturgeon Bay 1898-1904. B. Tax Roll-City of Sturgeon Bay. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |