Property Record
1119 LINCOLN BLVD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Dan and Myrtle Bleser House |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 58210 |
| Location (Address): | 1119 LINCOLN BLVD |
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| County: | Manitowoc |
| City: | Manitowoc |
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| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1934 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19852017 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | French Revival Styles |
| Structural System: | Unknown |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Lincoln Boulevard Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 3/29/2019 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 11/30/2018 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' titled "Lincoln Boulevard Historic District" 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 large brick home is reminiscent of some aspects of French Electic architecture. The house is relatively unornamented but does include a large recessed entry with stone surround. Two arched roof dormers pierce th front portion of the hip roof. A slight bay features a very large round arched stairway window. There is a brick beltcourse at the second floor window sill level and brick raised panel over the main entrance. A line of corbelling runs around the house just at the eave line. The garage wing extends in front of the house creating a courtyard effect. Brick quoins are fashioned at the corners. This is the only example of this style found in the City of Manitowoc. French Provincial influence. By the time Dan and Myrtle Bleser built their residence, designers had begun to incorporate garages into the fabric of the house. With the end of Prohibition in 1933, Daniel became president of the newly formed Kingsbury Brewing Company, and both he and his wife were automobile dealers. They built this French Provincial house, whose two-story garage wing turns the plan into a splayed L. The severe, massive two-story cream-brick cube is enlivened by gabled dormers and by a segmentally arched entry and window. The house was built in 1933 for Daniel and Myrtle Bleser, both of whom owned automobile dealerships. Daniel was also financially involved in several companies, as well as serving as president of the Kingsbury Brewing Co., which was the first brewery re-established in the City of Manitowoc following the repeal of prohibition. Following her husband’s death in 1939, Myrtle remarried Arthur Barrie. After her son, Lieutenant Daniel B. Bleser, a bomber pilot in the Eighth U.S. Army Air Force, was killed over Ireland in 1944, Myrtle donated the house in his memory to the local American Legion post, who subsequently returned it to her after zoning regulations denied use of the building as a clubhouse. |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. County Tax Rolls. B. Falge, Louis J. C. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. D. “Dan Bleser Killed in Action” Manitowoc Herald Times, February 28, 1944. E. “15 Room Town House Part of Annual Tour” Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, September 21, 1967. Permit for erection of $34,000 residence of D.C. Bleser, head of Kingsbury, in The Sheboygan Press, 31 August 1933. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |