Property Record
1808 WISCONSIN AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 131160 |
| Location (Address): | 1808 WISCONSIN AVE |
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| County: | Racine |
| City: | Racine |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | |
| Range: | |
| Direction: | |
| Section: | |
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| Year Built: | 1918 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2004 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Gabled Ell |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Southside Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 10/18/1977 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/1/1989 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | "Charles S. Wright, a farmer born in Vermont in the early 1800s, owned a farm along Lake Michigan just south of Sixteenth Street. He gave ten of these acres to the newly established Racine College and he platted an extension of Main Street to Wisconsin Avenue shown in the 1858 Map of Racine County by Redding and Watson. This plan would never be realized as Wright died in July 1855. The estate was sold at a Sheriff's sale 5 years later on May 4, 1860. In 1901, heirs of Wright would make a futile attempt to reclaim lands donated to the College. Seventy-five acres of this property, from Sixteenth Street to the College, became Camp Utley, a tented training camp for Civil War soldiers operated from 1861 to 1865. In the winter of 1861, 1500 volunteers from Racine, Rock, Green, and Walworth counties were trained and became the 22nd Regiment, led by William L. Utley. Col. Utley was Racine's first city Marshall, proprietor of the Racine House, the adjutant general of Wisconsin, and a direct descendant of Alexander Hamilton. While serving in Kentucky, Utley heroically refused to give up a young slave boy who had sought his protection. He defied his general and a Kentucky Supreme Court judge and received a $1000 fine which was reimbursed by the U.S. Government. After the war the new owners platted Wisconsin Avenue and Barnstable Street (College Avenue), and the streets west of them on a straight line north and south. Wisconsin intersected Main Street just south of Eighteenth Street, as a result the house at 1808 looks as if it is on the west side of Main Street. Nelson & Company Builders of Racine built the house in 1918 for Walton Hoy and Leone P. Miller. The architect was Edmund Funston of Racine, who also designed the Badger Building at 610 Main Street, the Masonic Temple addition and First Methodist Church, 745 Main Street. Funston combined elements of several American architectural styles to give the house a distinctive presence, while harmonizing with its' neighbors. The Miller house is generally in the Colonial Revival style, because it evokes memories of America's past. The gabled roofs, multi-paned windows and white clapboard siding are reminiscent of New England farmhouses of Cape Cod cottages of the eighteenth century. The third-floor dormers and classical detail around the entryway are Georgian style decorative touches. The overhanging second story on the north side maximizes living space and suggests the garrison houses of the seventeenth century. But the horizontal lines of the clapboard and the clean rectangular lines of the entire house are definitely twentieth century. Noteworthy features int he house that remain today are beautiful hardwood floors, a butler's pantry, raised plaster walls, and a wide staircase that leads to a landing with beautiful Prairie style double leaded windows with opaque glass. Walton H Miller was the grandson of Racine surgeon and distinguished naturalist Dr. Philo Hoy, hence his middle name. His father, William Henry Miller, was the nephew and business partner of Henry S. Durand, whose wife was a Hoy daughter, Jenny. Walton grew up in the house Dr. Hoy built at 902 Main Street. Leone lived down the street at 920 Main, daughter of Leo Peil, president of Racine Hardware Manufacturing Company. The young couple would live with her father until they built their house. Walton was the third generation in his family's real estate company located at 213 Sixth Street. When he became company president he renamed it the W. H. Miller Company and added loan, insurance and investment services to help people own their home. He served as president of the Racine Real Estate Board and a director of the Wisconsin Assn. of Real Estate Brokers. Miller and Leone raised two daughters and four sons, which necessitated adding a sleeping porch at the rear of the house int he 1920s. Three of their sons enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. In the early 1950s, Stuart and Jane Watson became the second owners. The added the front patio and the bowed window in the living room. Watson was merchandising director at S. C. Johnson. Richard P. and Ruth McGuire purchased the house in 1956 and raised three children there. He was the district manager of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and the head of the Wisconsin State Association of Life Underwriters. In 1983 the house was sold to Thomas and Carole Haynes. The current owners, Edgar and Joyce Hoffman, purchased it June 1987. They have done a wonderful job of preserving the beautiful features of the house, in addition to finishing the third-floor attic room which adjoins the original maid's bedroom and bath. They raised 2 children in the house and both were employed by Snap-On Tools. Edgar was Director of Corporate Planning, then CFO of Snap-On subsidiary Sun Electric. In retirement he is adjunct professor of accounting at Concordia College. Joyce was in the Public Relation Department and now runs JGH Communications." --Deborah Yale "Preservation Racine News" Summer 2018, Volume 12 |
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| Bibliographic References: |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |