Property Record
1517 COMMERCIAL ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Dowe Clothing Store |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 72452 |
| Location (Address): | 1517 COMMERCIAL ST |
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| County: | La Crosse |
| City: | Bangor |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
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| Year Built: | 1898 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19922020 |
| Historic Use: | retail building |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Bangor Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/11/2022 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 2/18/2022 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | This two-story Queen Anne commercial building was constructed in 1898. It is rectangular in plan with red brick walls and a flat roof; the building shares party walls on both sides. The front elevation faces north and is asymmetrical in plan due to an off-center entrance. The building’s storefront features a bank of shop windows with a wood-paneled bulkhead wall below and an iron lintel with regularly spaced rosettes. Two recessed glass and wood doors are located at the eastern end of the façade (one door provides access to the shop interior while the other provides access to the second-floor residential space); the doors are separated by a fluted iron column with narrower, matching columns on each side. A more ornate iron column serves to anchor the eastern corner of the shop window. A canvas awning spans the width of the storefront between the shop windows and iron lintel (this was added sometime after 1992). The second story contains a central three-sided oriel window (containing a picture window with single-pane transom in the center and 1-over-1 windows in each side) with single 1-over-1 windows on each side of the oriel. Both individual 1-over-1 window feature stone sills and lintels. An ornate metal cornice caps the façade and features heavy brackets, dentils, and a decorative rectangular center parapet bearing the building’s year of construction (1898). The Dowe Clothing Store was constructed in 1898 as the second home of Henry Dowe’s clothing store (Dowe had established his first store in 1875). The property was owned and operated by Henry Dowe until his death in 1916, following which Dowe’s son Harry took over the business until his retirement in 1956. At the time of Harry Dowe’s death in April of 1963, the local newspaper noted that the Dowe Clothing Store was “the only business here that never changed location or ownership.” The second floor of the building served as a millinery and corset shop operated by Mrs. R.W. Drowatsky from 1895 through the early twentieth century. In 1926, a train derailment caused considerable damage to the eastern corner of the rear elevation. From 1957 to 1971 the building served as the Vilas Johnson Shoe Store and as the Althoff Shoe Store from 1972 to 1989. In recent years, the building has held a travel agency, a florist shop, a cabinet shop, and a variety of hair and beauty salons. Sometime after 1992, the existing awning was added over the shop window, obscuring the transom windows. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |