Property Record
251 W ARNDT ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Hose Company #3 |
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| Other Name: | Sadoff Scrap & Iron storage |
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| Reference Number: | 53376 |
| Location (Address): | 251 W ARNDT ST |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | Fond du Lac |
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| Year Built: | 1932 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2011 |
| Historic Use: | fire house |
| Architectural Style: | Art Deco |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 1988-This former fire station is a two-story Art Deco building with a flat roof. At the corners of the building on the front facade are pilasters made to look like streamlined buttresses. Above the large garage-type fire doors are rows of brick corbelling in a sawtooth pattern. At the corner of the building at the rear is a square tower decorated with narrow grooves and narrow openings that emphasize the verticality of the tower. Tall undecorated pilasters are also placed on the side walls. A one-story ell projects from one side wall but has been covered with a loading dock. There are two stone panels on the front facade with stylized carvings. The vertical emphasis of the streamlined buttresses and pilasters, the multi-colored brickwork, the streamlined tower, and the stylized carvings are all fine elements of the style. This building was constructed to house fire fighting Hose Company #3 and was in use as a fire station until at least the mid 1970s. Today, it is privately owned. This building is historically significant because of its association with fire fighting governmental services in Fond du Lac. The station represents the era when the city was growing and fire fighting stations were needed outside of the downtown. Its modern appearance suggests that the city was advertising in this building that it had a modern fire department. It is also one of the few buildings related to local governmental activities still extant in Fond du Lac. Because of this, this fire station takes on added significance as a resource associated with this important theme. August 2011-the one-story wing to the east has been removed (summer of 2011) and plastered over. 2010-2011 Survey info: This two-story, Art Deco-style fire station is sheathed with brick and includes a one-story wing to the east and a three-story hose tower to the west. A pair of replacement, overhead doors topped with a line of corbeled brickwork are located along the first floor of the building's south elevation, while a series of double-hung sashes (tripartitely and singly arranged) line the second level. Rising for one story and accenting the building's corners are brick pilasters featuring vertical articulation and inscribed stone insets featuring Art Deco-style detailing. Side walls of the two-story block are vertically articulated with brick pilasters with stone caps and which alternate with pairs of windows. The one-story wing includes six-over-one-light windows arranged singly and in pairs. Brown brick, set in the shape of arrows, line the upper edge of the wing. As of final survey review in August 2011, the one-story wing to the east had been removed. The Fond du Lac Fire Department was founded in March of 1848, with the first fire chief, Azro Taylor, having been appointed in 1854. The department worked on a volunteer basis until 1878, when the first all-paid department was organized with four stations. The budget for the entire department that year was $10,000. In 1908, the local paper reported that plans were being made to have firemen at the engine houses both day and night. The subject station was erected in circa 1932 and functioned as Hose Company #3 from that time until 1986, when a new station was built at 855 Western Avenue. The subject station was sold to the Sadoff Iron & Metal Company, who still owns the structure and uses it for storage. The station is just one of two historic-era fire stations that remain in the City; the other one of which is already listed in the National Register of Historic Places. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Fond du Lac City Directories. (B) Sanborn-Perris Maps - Fond du Lac. (C) Fond du Lac Tax Rolls. Although an exact date of construction was not found for the building (the fire department was also contacted), an article from 1986 indicates that the station was 54 years old; therefore, the structure is believed to have been built circa 1932, "Steve Sandberg, "New Station Voted," Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, 11 September 1986, Clipping in the Historical Files at the Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac, WI. Files on this structure are assumed to have been purged when the Fire Department sold the structure, Conversation with Tom Wendt, Division Chief of Fire Prevention, City of Fond du Lac Fire Department, July 2011. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |