Property Record
106 W FRANKLIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Lanham Funeral Home |
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| Other Name: | Lanham-Kann Funeral Home |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 27931 |
| Location (Address): | 106 W FRANKLIN ST |
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| County: | Monroe |
| City: | Sparta |
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| Year Built: | 1932 |
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| Additions: | 1981 |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | funeral home |
| Architectural Style: | Art/Streamline Moderne |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Otto Merman |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Water Street Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 11/12/1992 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 7/3/1992 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | In 1932, Maurice James Lanaham erected a mortuary and parlors at 106 West Franklin Street just to the rear of the Letson furniture store. The new building had a southern red tiled roof and was two stories in height. Before its construction, there was another structure on this lot, which served as a furniture warehouse and garage for Letson's Furniture store, which was located nearby on the northeast corner of west Franklin and North Water Street. Letson's Furniture on the northwest corner of North Water and West Franklin Streets was the most prominent furniture store in Sparta. Letson started out on this corner sometime before 1871, but in that year a major fire wiped out most of the wood structures there. In 1871, William Letson reestablished a furniture store in a newly constructed large brick structure (not extant), along with a mortuary business. In 1893, William Letson turned both businesses over to his son S.C. Letson. The younger Letson ran the furniture/mortuary business thereafter until 1920, when he turned over the business to Maurice James Lanaham. Lanaham bought the property circa 1925 and remodeled the store. In the early 1930's, the Letson furniture store on North Water Street was destroyed in a major fire. The Lanaham Funeral Home replaced it. The Lanaham Funeral Home gains local historical significance under Criterion A of the NRHP in association with the General Merchandise, Dry Goods, and Furniture Stores topic of the Commerce Theme. The Lanaham Funeral Home was the direct successor to an important previous mortuary at this location - Letson Furniture/Funeral Store. Its period of significance ranges from its erection in 1932 to the present. Today, Lanaham Funeral Home remains an important mortuary in the community. This rust-beige brick Modernistic influenced building is characterized by cubic shapes and flat surfaces exhibiting a notable lack of ornament. A two-story pavilion projecting from the facade, groups of plain rectangular windows and a pair of symbolic medallions in an abstract design that flank the windows on the upper story of the pavilion further characterize the simple shapes and surfaces. A one-story entrance displaying an abstracted round pediment over the centrally located door and a pent roof that follows the shape of the entrance facade projects from the main block. A brick garage fronting on West Franklin Street is attached to the west elevation. A stucco covered one-story addition with plain rectangular windows with three vertical lights is located on the east side of the building. The Lanham Funeral Home has been altered by the addition of the concrete and stucco one-story addition, 20 feet x 44 feet, constructed on the east side of the funeral home in 1981 and by the replacement windows on the one-story entrance. Constructed on land composed of fill from the bed of the old mill pond on Beaver Creek [present creek banks established at the turn of the century], this 1932 building was designed by La Crosse architect Otto Merman as a funeral home for Maurice J.Lanham. Lanham purchased his undertaking and furniture business from S.C. Letson in 1920. This business, under the proprietorship of W.C. Letson and his father William, occupied this corner at Franklin and North Water [the business formerly fronted on Water] at least by 1874 when Letson [William] and Evans operated a planning mill and furniture store on the site. Letson built a two-story frame warehouse on the site of the present funeral home in 1904. The Lanham Funeral Home is significant under Criterion C as the only example of the Modernistic styles of architecture in the commercial district. The Lanham building, characterized by the cubic shapes and flat surfaces of the Art Deco style, also displays the streamlined smooth wall surfaces and curved decoration around the entrance typical of the Art Moderne style. This building, as the only representative of the 1920s Modernistic style, is an important element in the proposed Water Street Historic District. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Historic name, date of construction: City of Sparta property tax rolls. (B) City of Sparta, Community Development Office, Building Permit File. (C) City of Sparta, Wisconsin, Tax Records, 1870-1940. (D) Sanborn Insurance Map 1884, 1889, 1894, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1930, 1931. (E) Property Owner Interview, Sept. 1990. (F) Sparta Herald 3/21/1874; 7/12/1904; 6/1/1920. (G) "Sparta-Up-To-Date," Souvenir Supplement of the Monroe County Democrat, June 30, 1899:27-28. (H) Gregory, John G., West Central Wisconsin: A History. Indianapolis: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1933, Vol. 3: 173-174. (I) Monroe County Democrat, 3/24/1871. SPARTA-MONROE COUNTY DEMOCRAT, 1/21/1982. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |