Property Record
214 HIGH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | TOAY AND ALLEN BUILDING |
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| Other Name: | MONTGOMERY WARDS CATALOG SALES AGENCY |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 71458 |
| Location (Address): | 214 HIGH ST |
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| County: | Iowa |
| City: | Mineral Point |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
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| Year Built: | 1860 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19821993 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Commercial Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stone - Unspecified |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Mineral Point Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 7/30/1971 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | DESIGNED IN THE COMMERCIAL VERNACULAR AND ITALIANATE STYLES, THIS TWO-STORY RETAIL BUILDING WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1860. (SEE BIB. REF. A). IT FEATURES A RECTANGULAR SHAPED PLAN CONFIGURATION, A STONE FOUNDATION, A STONE EXTERIOR, A STONE AND METAL TRIM, AND A FLAT ROOF. A METAL CORNICE IS EMBELLISHED WITH A PRESSED PATTERN, WHILE BENEATH IT ON THE SECOND FLOOR, SIX-OVER-SIX WINDOWS ARE FRAMED BY STONE LINTELS AND SILLS. ANOTHER, BRACKETED METAL CORNICE APPEARS ABOVE THE STOREFRONT. THIS STRUCTURE SHARES AN INTERIOR STAIRWAY WITH THE ADJACENT AND RELATED EAST-SIDE BUILDING, AT 210 HIGH STREET (MAP CODE 43/28, 43/18). 210 AND 214 HIGH STREET WERE PROBABLY BUILT AT THE SAME TIME. 214 HIGH STREET IS IN GOOD CONDITION. THIS BUILDING WAS KNOWN HISTORICALLY BY SEVERAL NAMES, INCLUDING PHILLIP ALLEN & CO., THE TOAY AND ALLEN BUILDING (SEE BIB. REF. A), THE JOSEPH CLOTHING STORE (SEE BIB. REF. B), THE CITY BLOCK STORE, AND THE JOHN GRAY BUILDING (SEE BIB. REF. C). FROM 1860 TO 1871, THE STRUCTURE HOUSED A GROCERY, AND FROM 1884 TO 1894, IT HOUSED A BOOKSTORE. (SEE BIB. REF. A). A DRUG STORE CONDUCTED BUSINESS AT THIS SITE FROM 1884 TO 1917, AND WAS COMBINED IN 1917 WITH PRIDEUX AND BLISS AND THE TRIBUNE OFFICE. THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNATED LOCALLY, BECOMING PART OF THE MINERAL POINT LANDMARK DISTRICT IN 1972. 2012- "Constructed by John Toay and Phillip Alen, Sr., stone masons and plasterers who emigrated from cornwall together in 1842. They were business partners for several years and built several other Mineral Point buildings, including the railroad depot. The original stone cornices and original decorative window treatment of this building and its neighbor to the east, along with the enclosed staircase between them, gave the effect of one commercial block. The pressed metal cornices on both buildings were added and the decorative lintels were removed some time after 1900. Businesses at this site were the City Store; the Mineral Point Tribune (upper); Joseph Bros Clothing; Fred Pischell Musical Instruments (2nd); J. J. Hansom Bookstore; Healy & Bray Meat Market; Alice Collins Style Shop & Beauty Parlor; Bossert's Ben Franklin; ERA Realty; and Freeze Frame Photography." -from "A Field Guide to Mineral Point" by Nancy Pfotenhauer of the Mineral Point Historical Society, 1st Edition, 2012, Little Creek Press. |
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| Bibliographic References: | “Architecture/History Survey: Reconstruct USH 151: Dodgeville To Belmont.” WHS project number 92-0510IA/LT. October 1993. Prepared by Great Lakes Archaeological Research Center (GLARC). A. MINERAL POINT, TAX RECORDS, 1840-1900; SANBORN INSURANCE MAP, CITY OF MINERAL POINT, WI., (NEW YORK: SANBORN MAP CO., 1884-1929); TAYLOR AND WILLITS, MINERAL POINT, IOWA COUNTY [MAP] (CHICAGO: TAYLOR AND WILLITS, 1871); "MINERAL POINT TRIBUNE," 6 JANUARY 1869. B. "NATIONAL DEMOCRAT," 23 SEPTEMBER 1868; "MINERAL POINT TRIBUNE," 6 JANUARY 1869. C. "NATIONAL DEMOCRAT," 28 FEBRUARY 1878; MINERAL POINT, TAX RECORDS, 1840-1900. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |