Property Record
N9938 STATE HIGHWAY 73
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Wandrei Motel |
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| Other Name: | Randolph Motel |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 122187 |
| Location (Address): | N9938 STATE HIGHWAY 73 |
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| County: | Dodge |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Fox Lake |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 13 |
| Range: | 13 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 31 |
| Quarter Section: | SW |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | NW |
| Year Built: | 1953 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 20012018 |
| Historic Use: | hotel/motel |
| Architectural Style: | Contemporary |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 0 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | November 2001-The Randolph Motel was built as the Wandrei Motel in 1953. It is a one-story, astylistic building of concrete block construction and rests on a poured concrete slab foundation. The motel is located at the southeast corner of STH 73 and STH 33 and is V-shaped in plan. Gravel parking areas are available on three sides of the building. The office and the manager's apartment are set at the base of the V, while the motel rooms are located in the wings. The section that contains the office and manager's apartment is semi-circular in shape and finished with random ashlar veneer. A front porch is suggested by the broad, buttress-like piers of random ashlar, which incorporate closed railings and frame a flat roof over the entrance into the office. This detail combines with the broad-eaved, flat roofs of the wings to give the motel a Usonion flavor. Large windows filled with glass block (probably original) flank the door into the office. The street-facing facades of the wings are finished with cream brick. One-over-one, double-hung sash windows and single doors appear in the wings. The Wandrei Motel has 14 units, including the manager's apartment. Many of the rooms are rented on a monthly basis. The units have been updated recently and a communal kitchen has been installed. This motel was erected for Earl and Edna Wandrei in 1953. They had erected a restaurant (demolished) on the property in 1949. It was called the Wandrei Restaurant. As late as 1966, the Wandreis still operated the motel, but the restaurant, then called the Mile Corner Restaurant, was under separate management. The Wandrei Motel is a mid-twentieth century motel building type. In his article, "Motel by the Roadside: America's Room for the Night," John Jakle explains that the earliest version of roadside lodging for automobile tourists was called the "cabin camp." The first cabin camp opened in 1913. There were about 600 cabin camps in the United States by the late 1920s. Cabin camps consisted of individual and two-unit cabins, arranged either in a single row, in two rows, in an L, in a crescent or in a cluster. A central building with a few amenities typically was included. The cabin camp was usually located on the edge or outside of an urban area, where land was inexpensive. The typical cabin camp consisted of 12 or fewer cabins and was operated by a husband and wife who resided on site. Parking was available alongside each cabin. During the mid-to-late-1930s, competition between cabin camps grew and many were improved to attract customers. Cabins were winterized and made larger, incorporating private bathrooms and sometimes a separate kitchen. Many facilities were arranged around open spaces or courts, giving this type of tourist accommodation the name, "cottage court." During the 1940s, new cottage courts were erected as a single structure with contiguous units. Cars were parked in front of each unit. The office and reception area was generally the only separate building and increasingly was included within a larger structure. At first, this new type was called the "motor court," but by the late -1940s it was known as the "motel." Two-story motels, called "motor inns," appeared in the 1950s. In addition to more luxurious rooms, motor inns included a dining room, a gift shop and even a swimming pool. The motor in was expensive to erect and had driven most private owners out of business by the mid-1960s. Motel chains, such as Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson's prevailed thereafter. The Wandrei Motel is a good and intact example of a mid-twentieth century motel. It has 13 rooms, an office, and a manager"s apartment incorporated into a single building. Parking is provided by the door to each unit. Although the interior of the Wandrei Motel has been updated, the exterior retains a high degree of integrity. It should be noted that the project to improve STH 73 proposes to reconstruct the medians, culverts and curb-and-gutter, in-kind and in-place alongside the Wandrei Motel. Online research in 2018 (MAP) found that this building was demolished between 2013 and 2018. |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |