Enlarge

MOSCOW, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Nick and Katherine Engelbert House in the Town of Moscow (Iowa County) on the State Register of Historic Places. The Engelbert House and Grandview, its surrounding folk art environment, are located just west of Hollandale. State Historic Preservation Officer Daina Penkiunas presented the registration certificate to Marilyn and Ricky Rolfsmeyer.

From 1933 until the mid-1950s, Nick Engelbert covered his clapboard house in concrete adorned with local materials and filled the farmyard with more than 30 concrete statues and tableaus. These were embellished with bottles, dishware, stones and seashells, depicting themes that were commemorative, related to family, mythology, animals or simply landscaping elements. Once placed in the yard, the statues were complemented by garden plantings designed by Nick’s wife, Katherine Engelbert.

Grandview is representative of a distinct style of vernacular landscape art that existed in the Upper Midwest from the 1920s through the 1950s. It was substantively restored by the Kohler Foundation in the 1990s and gifted to the Pecatonica Educational Charitable Foundation in 1997. Preservation work has been professionally executed and deliberately intended to return the site to its historic character. Historic gardens are maintained by Extension Master Gardeners.

The Grandview grounds are open to the public free of charge during daylight hours. The house has been converted into a museum and is open by appointment.

The State Register is Wisconsin's official list of state properties determined to be significant to Wisconsin's heritage. The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and the National Register in Wisconsin.

Additional information for the Nick and Katherine Engelbert House is available at:

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI29060

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org.

About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.