The Leonard and Caroline Coates House was constructed in 1868 in an Italianate style. The house was built for local entrepreneur Leonard Coates, who had established one of the earliest and most productive lead furnaces in Platteville and owned a number of other furnaces throughout southwest Wisconsin’s lead mining region.

The Coates House is characterized by its red brick construction and boxy massing, its symmetrical façade with a front door accentuated by multi-pane sidelights and transom, its low-pitched hipped roof with overhanging eaves and decorative brackets; and its multi-pane, double-hung windows with heavy stone sills and lintels. Together, these features render the Coates House an excellent, early representative of Italianate architecture and one of the best examples of the style in the City of Platteville. It is a private home and is not open to the public.