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Property Location
| Location (Address) | 711 NEPCO LAKE RD |
|---|---|
| County | Wood |
| City/Village | |
| Township | Grand Rapids |
| Unincorporated community | |
| Town | 22 |
| Range | 6 |
| Direction | E |
| Section | 32 |
| Quarter Section | NW |
| Quarter Quarter Section | SE |
Property Features
| Year Built | 1939 |
|---|---|
| Additions | |
| Survey Date | 1992,2021,2024,2024 |
| Historic Use | house |
| Architectural Style | Side Gabled |
| Structural System | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material | Cut Stone |
| Architect | |
| Other Buildings On Site | |
| Demolished | No |
| Demolished Date | |
| Additional Comments | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation. This one and a half story side gabled house features a rectangular shaped plan configuration, a concrete foundation, a stone exterior, a wood trim and an asphalt shingled multi-gabled roof. A basement is included in the architectural design as well. In 1939, a 12'x 20' garage was added. Other structures related to this residence include a wall, a gate and a barbecue. Description of Complex: The Griffith State Nursery is located south of the City of Wisconsin Rapids off of State Highway 13 in Wood County. This is one of three forest tree nurseries currently operated by the DNR. This nursery is quite large and consists of 17 structures built prior to 1945. The unique feature of this nursery is that it includes a manager's residence, directly across the street from the nursery. This nursery is divided into two primary areas, one being the main office/storage complex, and the other being the "Side Camp." The main office/storage complex consists of the manager's residence (11/20, 1939), a root cellar (11/19, 1937), a cold storage building (11/11, 1938), an ice house (11/10, 1937), a pump house (11/2, 1936), and storage buildings (11/12, 14, 15, 25, 1936). All of these buildings are constructed in a similar fashion, except for the cold storage building, using ambussen green drop siding and white wood trim. The window-less cold storage building is an astylistic utilitarian building constructed with poured concrete walls with art-deco style corner piers. The only other building of this sort was found in the Burle River State Forest, and was also constructed into a hill, presumably for insulation purposes. The pump house is located on Nepco Lake and provides the water needed to irrigate the seedlings. The buildings are all in excellent condition. This area of the nursery is also the area where many retaining walls and drainage ditches (11/17, 24) have been constructed, all in excellent condition. The other identifiable area is the "Side Camp," which is situated at the northern part of the nursery. The structures in this camp include two large storage buildings both constructed in 1936, and two minor storage buildings built in 1941 (11/8) and 1936 (11/7). These four storage buildings are also constructed with aubussen green drop siding and white wood trim. The fishery storage (11/5, 1936) and warden storage (11/6, 1936) buildings are the two most important buildings in this area, because they frame a service courtyard which is privately accessible from Griffith Avenue. These buildings also have low pitched shed dormers, a unique detail of Griffith Nursery. These structures are also in excellent condition and are very well maintained. The other structures on the Griffith Nursery site are situated at prime crossroads between the stock fields. They presumably provide very accessible storage capabilities for the individual stock fields that are planted with different tree species. In addition, they are also constructed with aubussen green drop siding and white wood trim, and are also in excellent condition. All of the structures at Griffith State Nursery are very similar and in excellent condition and have been considered as a potential Historic District. June 2021: swinging gates have been removed from stone piers at entrance; stone walls along pave drive are heavily overgrown; stone planter piers near garage side of house remain but wooden planters have been removed; stone stairs leading down to barbeque are heavily overgrown; barbeque not visible. The interior of the house contains a kitchen, dining room, sunroom, living room, bedroom/office, and hallway on the first floor and three bedrooms upstairs. 2024: The Manager’s Residence was constructed in 1939. Nursery manager William Brener helped design the home, which he resided in with his family until his retirement in 1961. It was used by his successors and has been vacant since 2014. The property is accessed by a paved and circular driveway that has stone entrance gates and retaining walls. The one-and-one-half-story Cape Cod style house has a rectilinear footprint and concrete foundation. A one-story garage extends from the west (side) elevation; it is topped by a second story balcony with a simple balustrade. The first story exterior walls are clad in a stone veneer and the second story gable ends are clad in wood siding. The side-gabled roof is covered in asphalt shingles and has front-gabled dormers on the façade (north elevation). Fenestration includes six-over-six, double hung, wood windows. The garage has a paneled wood door with a row of single-light windows at the top. There is a secondary entrance on the east (side) elevation. The door surround has pilasters, dentils, and a broken pediment. To its east is a diamond-paned window and a stone chimney. |
| Bibliographic References | A. DNR Site File # 00539-00548, 00551-00555, 00557, 00560, 00561. B. Wisc. DNR PUBL-FR-042 87. C. Date of construction source: DNR. |
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
| National/State Register Listing Name | Not Listed |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date | |
| State Register Listing Date | |
| Contributing | Yes |
Architecture & History Inventory
The Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory (AHI) is a digital source of information on historic buildings, structures, and objects that have been surveyed by the State Historic Preservation Office in Wisconsin. Each property has a digital record providing basic information about the property and images.
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For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier.
The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.
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