Property Record
505 THOMPSON ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Cottage School; First Ward School |
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| Other Name: | |
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| Reference Number: | 56356 |
| Location (Address): | 505 THOMPSON ST |
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| County: | Columbia |
| City: | Portage |
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| Year Built: | 1917 |
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| Additions: | 1937 |
| Survey Date: | 19922016 |
| Historic Use: | school – elem/middle/jr high/high |
| Architectural Style: | Neoclassical/Beaux Arts |
| 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: | Solar panels along roof; bands of windows; concrete belt course; 6/6 window lights; entrance vestibule with sediment, denticulated frieze, pilasters, and glass front; bell tower with conical roof. Built by the Northern Construction Company. 2016 - "This school building was constructed in 1917 with an addition in 1937. Although it currently functions as an apartment building, the Georgian Revival-style school historically had a two-room plan. The one-story building has added height resulting from a tall foundation. The rectilinear structure supports a gable-on-hip roof, with the long axis of the roof oriented parallel to Thompson Street. It is sheathed in asphalt shingles and pierced by a broad brick chimney stack at its center. The building is expanded by a small flat-roof addition on the rear elevation, and an entrance pavilion on the façade. Projecting from the entrance pavilion is a front-gable portico, with a concrete deck and square wood columns. The exterior of the building is clad in a brick veneer, with a concrete watertable dividing the first story and foundation. Brick on the first story is a lighter hue of red than that on the foundation. Wall decoration includes inset panels on the façade and decorative brickwork on the north (rear) elevation. A broad entablature extends below the eaves. The facade entrance consists of paired wood doors within the portico; they are topped by a denticulated shelf molding. Windows appear to be historic-period wood sashes. Flanking the door are two eight-over-eight double-hung windows, each resting on concrete lug sills and topped by a soldier course of bricks. Corresponding foundations windows are two-over-two with narrow horizontal lights. Fenestration on the east and west (side) elevations include strings of five, tall six-over-one windows. Some of the lower sashes have been replaced by smaller one-over-one sashes. A second entrance is on the rear of the building, accessed by a concrete run of stairs. The rear one-story addition has a flat roof with a tall parapet on its east and west sides. A shallow pent extends along its north elevation, and shelters a pedestrian entrance." -"USH 51/Wisconsin St/De Witt St: Southtown-E Pleasant", WisDOT#6918-01-02, Prepared by Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. (2015). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Portage Bicentennial Committee 1976. (B) Sanborn-Perris Map 1929. Joyce McKay, An Intensive Historical Architectural and Historical Survey of the City of Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin (Portage, Wis.: Portage Area Chamber of Commerce, 1993), 203 |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |