| Additional Information: | DESCRIPTION
THis one-story red brick school building has a square from and raised basement. The hip roof has wide overhanging eaves whith brackets. Windows are paired single lights with modern glasing, flat arches, and stone sills. The projecting entry pavilion features a stone plaque and two stone madallions which read "Holstein School" and "19" and "30" respectivly. The entrance has double doors that are modern replacements for the originals. They are topped with an awning and decorated with brick surround with stone ornaments. A brick beltcourse that is decorated with stone tabs separartes the first floor and raised basement. A small one-story addition projects from one side of the building.
ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING SIGNIFICANCE
Mequon has a number of late nineteeth and early twentieth century schoolhouses that served many rural school "districts" in the city. Most of the oldest school buildings are not extant, but this school and the others are an outstanding group of later schoolhouses. This building is of particular interest because it features Craftsman detail in the roof and in its general form and massing. Its high level of integrity adds to its significance. Adaptively reused, it has had only minor remodeling.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
This small schoolhouse was built in 1930. Prior to school consolidation in the 1960s, Mequon had a number of small rural school districts that served the city's school children. Schooling in Mequon began as early as 1839 and by the turn of the century years, there were a number of small schoolhouses in the city. The construction of these small school buildings continued to serve the community until school consolidation made them obsolete.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Because this school building represents the developement of educational facilities in Mequon prior to the consolidation movement, it is significant for the history of the education in the community. The high level of integrity of this and other small school houses in the city adds to its significance.
Was Mequon Hairsquare in 1986.
2023: This property consists of a Craftsman-influenced, brick-clad, one-room school that was built in 1930 and a two-story, frame office addition completed in 2019. Regarding the former, it rises one story from a raised basement level and is topped with a hipped roof; a brick chimney runs along the building’s north wall. A central, hipped-roof and single-story entrance projection features a round-arched opening with a modern wooden door and sidelights with transom. The area above the doorway includes an incised stone inset that reads “Holstein School,” while a stone roundel on the left side of the door is incised with “19” while the roundel to the right reads “30,” together identifying the school’s date of construction. Original three-light fixed windows are located along the basement level, while the main-floor windows are replacements. To the south and east, windows along the basement and main levels have been downsized and modern fenestration installed, including a door that opens onto the modern wooden deck. The modern, gabled, two-story addition to the north is connected to the original block via a two-story “hyphen.” The walls of the addition are largely sheathed with cedar siding and the roof is covered with standing seam metal.
Designed by University of Notre Dame graduate and Racine architect, William J. Redden, this school was built in 1930 to replace a previous log-constructed school building. It was the last of four schools to be completed in the rural township school system in the 1920s. The subject school closed after the 1959-1960 school year. Thereafter, the building was used in a variety of capacities over the years, including as an art studio, architectural firm office, marketing firm office, consulting group office and a hair salon. In 2014, the property was purchased by Chris Doughty, president and owner of Gentian Financial. Five years later, a two-story addition designed by Groth Design Group of Cedarburg was added to the north side of the building, to serve as the “Investor Center,” which accommodates educational seminars and client events. |
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| Bibliographic References: | [a] Plat Maps for the city of Mequon, 1867-1980, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin, or the Archives at the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.
[b] Taxs Rolls for the city of Mequon, 1857-1930, on file at the library, Mequon, Wisconsin.
[c] Field observation based on architectural and historical information.
[d] Information from the owner of the property.
[e] Information from the building's datestone or inscription.
[f] Freistadt Historical Society, Freistadt and the Lutheram Immigration, Mequom: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1989.
[g] L. Rehm, Mequon History, on file at the Mequon Historical Society, Mequon, Wisconsin.
[h] C.W. Butterfield, History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Chicago: Western Publishing Company, 1880.
[i] Information from the Mequon Landmarks Commission, Mequon, Wisconsin.
The Daily Reporter, 18 February 1930 (among other issues), reported that the architect for this estimated $10,000 school house for district No. 6 was William J. Redden.
Citations for the 2023 survey information provided in the Additional Comments:
“Redden is Licensed to be Architect,” The Miami (FL) Herald, 26 November 1946, 4; Carol Lohry Cartwright, Donald Silldorff and Sharon C. Robinson, City of Mequon Intensive Survey Report, Prepared for the City of Mequon, Wisconsin (September 1990), 33; National Register of Historic Places, Bigelow School, Town of Mequon, Ozaukee County, WI, National Register #00000851, 8-5; Gary Achterberg, “Mequon’s Gentian Financial Growing,” GM Today, 5 February 2019, updated 24 January 2020, Available online at www.gmtoday.com/business/mequons-gentian-financial-growing/article_d22a6082-9c21-5700-9af8-f729fa648b95.html, Accessed January 2024; Chris Doughty, current owner of Gentian Financial at 12740 N. River Road, Mequon. |
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