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Property Location
Property Features
This building is significant for local history under National Register criterion A because it was the long-time location of Pritzlaff Hardware.
There were four hardware stores in Watertown that achieved prominence and longevity in the community. They were the Kusel Hardware store, the Winkenwerder Hardware store, the Geschke Hardware store, and the Pritzlaff Hardware store. Of these, Kusel's main store is the most significant. However, Kusel's main store has been demolished and only the building where their branch store is still extant. That makes the other three hardware stores somewhat more significant as the extant hardware businesses that were the most prominent and successful in the community.
This building also contributes to the overall development of commerce in the Main Street Commercial Historic District, because it housed retail businesses throughout its history.
Built by George Marquardt in the early 1860s and owned by the Pritzlaff family from the 1870s until the 1920s, this cream brick building is a simple vernacular building dominated by a large dentil trim projecting cornice. The three-bay three-story facade is divided vertically by full-length applied brick pilasters. The recessed panels in the facade are topped by rows of corbelled brick and characterized by rectangular windows with straight flat stone lintels.
The appearance of the Marquardt building has been altered by the replacement of the window frames with wood panels and the application of paint to the exterior surface. A large two-story flat roofed addition attached to the main structure along with a one-story structure is located at the rear of the building.
The George Marquardt building historically known as the Pritzlaff Hardware Store is a vernacular building exhibiting the influence of the Italianate style. Although this building is not architecturally significant, the Marquardt building contributes to the historic architectural character of the Main Street Commercial Historic District. Although altered by the replacement of the windows by wood panels and by the remodeled storefront, the historic Pritzlaff Hardware Store has retained its architectural character.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
Architecture & History Inventory
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