| Additional Information: | 2020-2024 Targeted Resurvey of Sheboygan recommendation write up:
This small, one-story, front-gabled commercial building features a brick-clad Boomtown front finished with a barrel tile pent atop a rectangular section finished with tilework that has been painted white. To either side of the recessed central entrance, its original display widows have been downsized with wooden infill and modern slider windows installed. The same wooden infill covers what is assumed to be a transom. The side walls are covered with what appear to be asbestos shingle siding.
Assessor’s information cites a 1910 date of construction for this building; however, between available Sanborn maps and city directory information, the building could date to as early as 1903. In any case, the first fully confirmed owner of the building was painter and decorator Henry J. Elvers who began his own painting business in 1908. Born in Sheboygan in 1886, Elvers attended both Longfellow and Franklin schools. He, as well as his brother Arthur, trained in arts and decorating in Europe. As of 1912-1913, the siblings were working together as Elvers Bros., providing painting and decorating services and they formally incorporated as such in 1920. Henry died in 1956 and brother Arthur, who had retired in in 1954, died in 1965. Henry’s son Alvin ran the company until his death in 1968, at which time the building was still used as a paint store. The following year, James Richter, who managed the paint store and painting contracting division of the business, purchased the painting and decorating division, renaming it the James Richter Painting and Decorating Co., and was located at 1118 S. 13th Street. The subject building, which housed the paint store, was sold in 1969 to Otto Klunck, a painting and decorating contractor.
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| Bibliographic References: | Citations for the 2020-2024 Targeted Resurvey of Sheboygan:
Assessor’s information for 1320 S. 13th Street; Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Sheboygan, Wis., 1903; Sheboygan City Directory, 1910; “Decorating Concern Has Incorporated,” The Sheboygan Press, 12 April 1920, 6; “Decorate Your Residence in Vacation Time this Summer,” The Sheboygan Press, 29 July 1933, 9; “Henry J. Elvers,” obituary, The Sheboygan Press, 16 October 1956, 8; “Arthur Elvers,” obituary, The Sheboygan Press, 6 July 1965, 14; “Former Elvers Officer Starts Painting Firm,” The Sheboygan Press, 26 July 1969, 7; Announcement of James Richter Painting and Decorating, Advertisement, The Sheboygan Press, 28 July 1969, 16; Jan Hildebrand, “Elvers Family Stayed Behind When Patriarch Moved Here,” The Sheboygan Press, 19 October 2003, 35. Although not fully confirmed, the building appears to perhaps have been moved in 1913 from the northwest corner of Georgia Avenue & S. 13th Street to its current location, Adolph Treder to Henry Elvers, et. al. pt. lot 7, block 282, $500, recorded in The Sheboygan Press, 4 September 1913, 5. |
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