Property Record
426 S CENTRAL AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | |
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| Other Name: | Marshfield Auto Electric |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 55535 |
| Location (Address): | 426 S CENTRAL AVE |
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| County: | Wood |
| City: | Marshfield |
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| Year Built: | 1920 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2007 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Twentieth Century Commercial |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | This 1920 building is designed in the Early Twentieth Century Commercial style as were many automobile-related buildings in the 1920s. This property includes living space on the second floor, expressed visually by the two projecting bay windows. The Early 20th Century Commercial style is marked by its simplicity of form, concrete detailing, and frequent relationship to automobile services. This building is an excellent example of the style. The simple massing of the red brick body of the building is horizontally rather than vertically oriented. The first floor is occupied by a storefront divided into glass display space, a main store entrance, an apartment entrance, and a garage bay for automobiles. The shaped parapet roof line capped with tile coping crowns the second story. Surface details are executed in cream brick and concrete. The projecting bay windows with horizontally divided top sash are an unusual feature for this style, and are more reminiscent of second story residential space in Victorian era commercial buildings. This 1920 garage is a fine example of the Early 20th Century Commercial Style. It remains relatively unaltered. The first floor has suffered changes in the boarding-up of the garage bay and the store front transom. Excessive but reversible signage detracts from the aesthetic character of the building. Built in 1920 as a garage, this building had a capacity of twenty cars. The first occupant of the building was the Meiner-Peil Automobile Company; it appears that this building was constructed for their use. The Meiner-Peil Auto Company advertised in the 1921 Marshfield City Directory "Dealers in Dodge Brothers motorcars, Stewart Motor Trucks", and included that they were a "Westinghouse Battery Service Station" and had an "Expert Repair Department." In 1928, the company was at the same location, but by 1946, the building was occupied by "Auto Electric Service", a repair and supply shop rather than a new car dealer. This building is one of the only remaining first generation automobile garages on Central Avenue. The property at 550 South Central Avenue was also constructed as a garage, but was converted to a bowling alley in 1946, and has since lost much of its integrity. A very large garage existed at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Central Avenue, but is no longer extant. Physically, this property still expressed its original use as a garage. THIS BUILDING WAS NOT REPHOTOGRAPHED FOR THE 2005 SURVEY. 2007 - Survey report lists Berg Brothers Manufacturing as the first occupants of the building |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sanborn Insurance Maps: Marshfield, Wisconsin - 1884, 1887, 1891, 1898, 1904, 1912, 1925, 1946, 1960. (B) Marshfield City Directories |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |