Property Record
757 & 757 1/2 EUCLID AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | CHARLES RAU HOUSE |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 81538 |
| Location (Address): | 757 & 757 1/2 EUCLID AVE |
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| County: | Rock |
| City: | Beloit |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1891 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19812015 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Rau, Charles, House |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 1/7/1983 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | Multiple Resources of Beloit |
| Additional Information: | The Charles Rau house rises two stories plus attic and is built on a cross-plan composed of intersecting gabled units covered with clapboard siding and decorated with wooden ornament. Among the most notable features of the house are the entry porches on the south elevation which feature turned posts with knobs, similarly turned horizontal members just below the porch roof (in simulation of Victorian furniture design) and a vaiety of supporting brackets. The square bay window on the south facade is surrounded by small panes of leaded glass, framed by turned colonettes, and surmounted by a pent roof. Above the pent roof, a "blind balustrade" connects the bay to the pair of one-over-one sash windows separated by mullions with corbeled moldings. Other windows of one-over-one sash are surrounded by architraves with blocky wooden ornament. The steeply pitched pent roof over the side entry seems to extend the plane of the main gable, a familiar motif in Beloit. In the porch gable, a basketweave design reflects Stick influence. The east bay window which projects more dramatically from the house, has diagonal panels of Stick work with molded decoration. Curved brackets support the eaves, and corner boards frame each unit. The house is sided in a clapboard sheathing with extremely narrow clapboarding in the pedimented gables. Distinguished by the variety of its ornament, the Charles Rau house is architecturally significant as an outstanding example of late ninetenth century frame residences in Beloit. Reflecting a vernacular builder's style that draws freely upon elements of the Queen Anne and Stick style prototypes, the house is noteworthy for the highly decorative machine-produced wooden ornament which contributes variety and visual appeal to the house. Although other elements of the house are familar, this ornament is among the best-preserved and elaborate in the city, according to the 1980 Beloit Intensive Survey. The house at 757 Euclid was built in 1891 by Charles Rau, a Beloit businessman. Rau, the son of a German cabinetmaker, owned Charles W. Rau and Company, a furniture store located at 313 Bridge Street - and that fact may explain the quality of the ornament on his home. Another man, Charles Frederick Rau, was also in the furniture business in Beloit at this time, and it is uncertain if the two were related. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Beloit Tax Rolls, RCHS Archives. (B) History of Rock County, 1908, p. 822. (C) Beloit City Directory, 1891. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |