Property Record
45 N STEVENS ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Rhinelander Telephone Exchange Building |
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| Other Name: | Rhinelander Telephone Company |
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| Reference Number: | 81325 |
| Location (Address): | 45 N STEVENS ST |
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| County: | Oneida |
| City: | Rhinelander |
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| Year Built: | 1928 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1995 |
| Historic Use: | telephone/telegraph building |
| Architectural Style: | Art Deco |
| Structural System: | Brick |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 45 North Stevens Street Rhinelander Telephone Exchange Building This two-story, masonry, Art Deco building was erected for the Rhinelander Telephone Company in 1928 (1929 Sanborn Map of Rhinelander; Rhinelander telephone books). The building is finished with glazed cream brick. Slender, two-story brick pilasters articulate the front facade, and there is decorative brickwork in a herringbone pattern between floors and at the parapet. The building is trimmed with smooth-faced stone, including on the foundation, a coping, lintels and sills, and panels above the centrally-placed front entrance. The panel immediately above the door reads: "Telephone Exchange," and the stone panels above depict old-fashioned, standing (daffodil-shaped) telephones. The Rhinelander Mutual Telephone Company was established on April 4, 1901, and began service in October 1901. The directors included Webster E. Brown and Frank Parker, and the officers were S. S. Miller, C. C. Bronson, Arthur Taylor, and M. H. Raymond (History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties, p. 119). For many years, the telephone exchange was located in the old Merchants State Bank building at 7 North Brown Street (which see). That building was destroyed by fire in December 1925, and construction of this building followed. There are two additions to the north-facing (side) facade of the building, one of which dates from 1956 (datestone). Neither has openings on Stevens Street. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |