415 SEYMOUR ST | Property Record | Wisconsin Historical Society

Property Record

415 SEYMOUR ST

Architecture and History Inventory
415 SEYMOUR ST | Property Record | Wisconsin Historical Society
NAMES
Historic Name:First Ward School
Other Name:Longfellow School
Contributing:
Reference Number:51356
PROPERTY LOCATION
Location (Address):415 SEYMOUR ST
County:Marathon
City:Wausau
Township/Village:
Unincorporated Community:
Town:
Range:
Direction:
Section:
Quarter Section:
Quarter/Quarter Section:
PROPERTY FEATURES
Year Built:1894
Additions: 1990
Survey Date:19832018
Historic Use:school – elem/middle/jr high/high
Architectural Style:Queen Anne
Structural System:
Wall Material:Brick
Architect: Henry J. Van Ryn
Other Buildings On Site:
Demolished?:No
Demolished Date:
NATIONAL AND STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
National/State Register Listing Name:Not listed
National Register Listing Date:
State Register Listing Date:
NOTES
Additional Information:1983: Decorative chimneys and cupola add to picturesque massing affiliated with Queen Anne. In banded windows embodies concepts of Chicago Commercial Style. Also shows evidence of Jacobethan.
Longfellow School is one of two schools by Van Ryn dating to 1894 - the oldest schools in Wausau. The school is significant as the work of a master, and as embodying distinctive characteristics representing school design of the period. Basically Queen Anne in conception, Longfellow also shows the technical advance of the skeletal frame which allowed additional glazing - light being a necessary feature in school design. Further, in the stone coping and particaular trim work employed, the school shows affinity with ideas of the Jacobethan Revival - a style specifically used for institutional buildings of this time.

2018: Significantly large 1990 addition completed by Sauter Seaborne architects, Appleton.
Bibliographic References:(A) Central Wisconsin, Nov. 24, 1894. Aucutt, Hettinga & Jansen, "Wausau Beautiful" (2nd ed., 2010), 183. City in the Pinery, A Guide to Wausau's Historic Architecture, The City of Wausau, 1983. City in the Pinery, A Guide to Wausau's Historic Architecture, The City of Wausau, 1984.
RECORD LOCATION
Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin

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