Property Record
108 N WASHINGTON ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL |
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| Other Name: | LANCASTER HOUSE |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 45502 |
| Location (Address): | 108 N WASHINGTON ST |
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| County: | Grant |
| City: | Lancaster |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1884 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1976 |
| Historic Use: | lodging-hotel |
| Architectural Style: | Second Empire |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | Yes |
| Demolished Date: | 1990 |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | THIS HOTEL, WHICH WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1884, HAD A SQUARE PLAN CONFIGURATION AND A RED BRICK EXTERIOR. (A). IT WAS DESIGNED IN THE SECOND EMPIRE STYLE WITH A CHARACTERISTIC MANSARD ROOF LINED WITH GABLED DORMERS. DECORATIVE ARCATED WINDOWS AND STONE LINTLES ADDED TO THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BUILDING. ALL WINDOWS USED IN THE MAIN ENTRANCE WERE ALUMINUM. SUBSEQUENT ADDITONS HAD BEEN MADE TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN. OWNER MEL QUINN DEMOLISHED THE HOTEL TO BUILD A GROCERY AND PARKING LOT IN ITS PLACE. BEFORE ITS DEMISE, THE THREE STORY BUILDING WAS CONSIDERED TO BE IN GOOD CONDITION. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE SECOND EMPIRE STYLE, THE FORMER GRANT CENTRAL HOTEL IS A PIVOTAL ELEMENT OF THE COURTHOUSE SQUARE HISTORIC DISTRICT. THE LARGE THREE STORY STRUCTURE IS CAPPED BY A MANSARD ROOF, THE STYLISTIC HALLMARK, WHICH IN THIS INSTANCE IS PUNCTUATED BY GABLED DORMERS, CONTAINING PAIRED SEGMENTAL AND ROUND ARCH OPENIGNS. SIMILAR WINDOWS, OCCURRING IN BOTH PAIRS (ON THE SOUTH FACADE) AND SINGLY (ON THE EAST FACADE) APPEAR ON THE BUILDING'S FIRST AND SECOND FLOORS. STONE ACCENTS, SUCH AS KEYSTONES AND SILLS, MARK THESE APERTURES AND PROVIDE A STRONG CONSTRAST TO THE REDDISH-COLORED BRICK WALLS. A BRICK CORBEL TABLE WHICH EFFECTIVELY SEPARATES THE THIRD STORY FORM THOSE BELOW IS ALSO FEATURED. ON THE GROUND LEVEL ARE THE MAIN ENTRANCE (EAST FACADE) AND THREE STOREFRONTS (SOUTH FACADE) WHICH HAVE BEEN ALTERED. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: ACCORDING TO HOLFORD'S COUNTY HISTORY, THE GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL (NOW THE LANCASTER HOUSE) WAS ERECTED IN 1884 BY C. HORSTMAN WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF THE HORSTMAN HOUSE, 112-114 EAST MAPLE STREET, 42/27. THE LARGE SECOND EMPIRE HOTEL IS LOCATED AT THE CORNER OF A CITY BLOCK THAT HORSTMAN INTENDED TO MAINTAIN AS A PARK. HOWEVER, THAT PLAN WAS NEVER CARRIED OUT AND AFTER A FEW UNSUCESSFUL YEARS THE BUILDING ITSELF WAS IN THE "HANDS OF MR. HORSTMAN'S CREDITORS." (A). FROM 1891 UNTIL 1894, WHEN THE SANBORN MAP RECORDED THE GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL AGAIN IN OPERATION, THE KEELEY INSTITUTE OCCUPIED THE BUILDING. (A,D). LANCASTER'S KEELEY INSTITUTE WAS ONE OF SEVERAL OPERATING THROUGHOUT THE NATION IN THE LATE 1880'S AND EARLY 1890'S. DEVELOPED BY DR. LESLIE E. KEELEY OF DWIGHT, ILLINOIS, THE INSTITUTE WAS KEELEY'S ANSWER TO THE ASYLUM OR SANITARIUM WHICH HISTORICALLY HAD PROVIDED TREATMENT FOR ALCOHOLISM AND DRUG ADDICTION. IN 1880, THE ILLINOIS PHYSICIAN ANNOUNCED THAT "AFTER YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS, THE FACT HAD DEVELOPED THAT DRUNKENNESS AND THE USE OF OPIATES WHICH HAD HERETOFORE BEEN RECOGNIZED AS VICIOUS HABITS, IF NOT CRIMES, WERE DISEASES ONLY, AND AS SUCH AMENABLE TO MEDICAL TREATMENT AND CURE." (E). KEELEY'S CURE, A SECRET PREPARATION CONTAINING THE CHLORIDE OF GOLD AND SODIUM, WAS ADMINISTERED FOUR TIMES DAILY BY INSTITUTE DOCTORS AND ACHIEVED REMARKABLE SUCCESS (MORE THAN 225,000 PEOPLE CURED IN FIFTEEN YEARS) ACCORDING TO THE HISTORIANS OF DWIGHT, ILLINOIS. (G). IN LANCASTER, THE INSTITUTE WAS OPERATED BY DR. A. B. BAILEE AND SOMETIME LATER BY DR. A. H. BARBER. (F). IN 1912, THE BUILDING WAS KNOWN AS THE FARWELL HOTEL AND IN 1927 AS THE WRIGHT HOUSE. (B,D). A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE HOTEL IS FEATURED IN THE SOUVENIR OF LANCASTER. (C) "On the northwest corner of Maple and Washington Streets was the Grand Central Hotel. Built in 1884 by Henry Hortsman, the hotel advertised that "Two dollars will cancel your board bill every day." It was razed in the 1990s." Lancaster's Historic Courthouse Square |
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| Bibliographic References: | SEE PRAIRIE DU CHIEN COURIER EXPRESS, 6/20/90. A. CASTELLO HOLFORD, HISTORY OF GARNT COUNTY, WISCONSIN (LANCASTER: THE TELLER PRINT, 1900), P. 412. B. 1905, 1912 SANBORN PERRIS MAPS. C. SOUVENIR OF LANCASTER, 1900. D. 1894, 1899, 1927 SANBORN PERRIS MAPS. E. DUSTIN AND WASSELL, EDS., HISTORY OF DWIGHT, FROM 1853 TO 1894 (DWIGHT, ILLINOIS: BY AUTHOUR, 1894), P. 131. F. GRANT COUNTY INDEPENDENT, 11 SEPTEMBER 1958, P. 1. G. DUSTIN AND WASSELL, P. 132. Lancaster's Historic Courthouse Square, Lancaster Historic Preservation Commission, 2006. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |