Property Record
2055 W DEAN RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Walter & Catherine Lindsay House |
|---|---|
| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 8815 |
| Location (Address): | 2055 W DEAN RD |
|---|---|
| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | River Hills |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1928 |
|---|---|
| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1980 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | English Revival Styles |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Fieldstone |
| Architect: | Armand Frank |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. ADJACENT GATEHOUSES. 1/2 TIMBERING. ROUND TOWERS. County landmark. This French Norman house looks as though it emerged from a fairy tale. Its architect, Armin Frank, was locally renowned for creating movie palaces that evoked exotic foreign locales. In this vein, he created an estate for industrialist Walter Lindsay and his wife Catherine that suggested medieval Normandy. During the 1920s, the nouveaux-riche favored fantasy houses like this one as a way of articulating their newfound class status, because the style was associated with landed gentry. Frank’s sculptural design is at once stately and folksy. The front offers a formal two-story mansion, replete with medieval references. Fieldstone clads the lower walls, and false half-timbering marks the upper story, where ersatz brick nogging interrupts the stucco infill, enhancing the period flavor. Near one end of the building, where a small ell makes its turn, a squat two-story tower, built of flagstone with a conical roof, and an adjacent oriel with an elongated pyramidal roof draw the eye. At the rear, the building looks like a sprawling farmhouse. Whereas the front presents a two-story rectangle with a side-gabled roof, the L-shaped back varies in heights and roof lines. Frank created the illusion that the building had been added to over the centuries by connecting the main block to the rear wing with a low breezeway and an abruptly truncated a half-timbered cross-gable. This additive look characterized medieval buildings, many of which were erected and enlarged in stages. Frank amplified the medieval appearance by placing a large conical tower at one end, which he ringed with massive vertical timbers, and covering the back wing with a steeply pitched roof. The adjacent gatehouse carries out the French Norman theme. |
|---|---|
| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |