Property Record
4148 MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Kinsey, Alson and May, House |
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| Other Name: | Holiday Harbor Cottages |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 56912 |
| Location (Address): | 4148 MAIN ST |
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| County: | Door |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Gibraltar |
| Unincorporated Community: | Fish Creek |
| Town: | 31 |
| Range: | 27 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 29 |
| Quarter Section: | |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: |
| Year Built: | 1914 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19922014 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Two Story Cube |
| Structural System: | Balloon Frame |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' titled "Alson and May Kinsey House" exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. The house at 4148 Main Street (Highway 42) rests on land deeded from the United States to Charles and William Claflin on April 24, 1854. A gabled ell house that served as the post office was constructed on this site at an unknown date in the late 1800s. It is no longer extant. This house was constructed in 1914 for Alson and May Kinsey. It was home to the Fish Creek Post Office for the next twenty years, with May Thorp Kinsey as Postmistress during that time. The current living room (the southwest corner of the house) was used as the post office. The house was the second in Fish Creek to have its own gasoline powered generator producing electricity. Jerry La Mere, of Egg Harbor, constructed the stone wall in front of the house. The building now called the "Coachhouse" was constructed about 1925 as a garage. It was modified as a residence cottage by Roy and Virginia Kinsey after they purchased the property in 1950. The cottage closest to the water was moved to the site in about 1932 for May Kinsey. She rented it to summer visitors. It was originally a one room cottage. May Kinsey added to it in 1934, making the current configuration. After Roy (May's nephew) and Virginia Kinsey bought the property they chose a design out of House and Garden and had the third cottage constructed in 1950. Roy and Virginia also owned the Summertime Cafe, which they had purchased in 1938. It is representative of the lifeways of permanent Fish Creek residents. As the home of the local postmistress and the post office it embodies the early twentieth century infrastructure adaptations of the community. It also represents the tradition of adding a guest cottage on an otherwise owner occupied property to augment family income as tourism became more important to the community. This two story cube with prairie style influences was constructed in 1914. The asphalt clad walls are pierced with one-over-one double hung wood sash windows spaced evenly. Fixed sash cottage windows flank the main entrance on the first floor. As the home of the local postmistress and the postoffice it embodies the early twentieth century infrastructure adaptations of the community. It also represents the tradition of adding a guest cottage on an otherwise owner occupied property to augment family income as tourism became more important to the community. Resurveyed March 2014; no visible changes. 2017- "The Alson and May Kinsey House is an American Foursquare residence constructed in 1914. The house has two stories and a hipped, asphalt-shingled roof with overhanging eaves, and wooden clapboard siding. A single-story, gable-roofed addition is located at the rear of the building. The property is located along the waterfront of the Fish Creek Harbor, near the village center. The northern portion of the property contains three detached cottages, one of which was a former garage, that serve as income-producing rental properties during the tourist season. The front elevation faces south onto Main Street, and contains a central entryway under a gable-roofed awning supported by triangular brackets. Fenestration on the first story is not quite symmetrical, in order to accommodate a secondary entrance at the southeast corner of the favade. Window openings are single-paned lights with the original leaded transoms above. Plain wooden lintels surmount the openings. Windows on the second floor are pairs of 1-over-1 double-hung replacements, although their profiles replicate the original windows. A hipped-roof, central dormer on the roof contains a single wide, leaded window. Also notable in the foreground of the front elevation is the stone half-wall that is directly adjacent to the Main Street sidewalk. Anchored by stone pillars, the wall curves inward along the path to the entryway. A wrought iron gate at the west end of the wall opens to a path along the west elevation of the house, while the opening for the driveway interrupts the wall at the east end. Wooden posts at both corners of the southern property line advertise the cottages for rent at the rear. The east elevation of the property contains asymmetrical fenestration, with two 1-over-1 double hung windows on the first story and a smaller casement window to the north. The second story has two 1-over-1 double hung windows towards the northern half of the favade. A flat-roofed entryway is located at grade, and serves as the office entrance for the cottage rentals at the rear of the property. This entrance is flanked by a single carriage light. The west elevation is dominated by a stone and brick chimney that was constructed c. 1935. The chimney is located between the first and second window openings on first story this favade, each being the single-paned windows with original leaded transoms as seen on the southern elevation. The third window at the northwest corner of the building is a 1-over-1 double hung, as are the two windows flanking the chimney on the second story. The north elevation of the Kinsey House faces the summer cottages and lawn sloping down towards the waterfront. A gable-fronted addition with returning eaves, constructed soon after the house was originally built, projects from the northeast corner of the building. A flat-roofed, enclosed porch adjacent to the addition was being renovated at the time of survey. A single plate glass window with a plain wooden surround is the only fenestration on the addition, while the main block of the house contains one 1-over-1 double hung window on the first story and two on the second. Wooden steps lead from the enclosed porch to the backyard. The interior of the house remains much the same as when it was originally built, with original wooden floors and trim throughout. The first floor contains four main rooms and the kitchen addition to the north. While the first floor room at the southwest corner of the building served definitively as the post office, the interior layout suggests that the southeast room adjacent may have also been used as the post office work room. An arch inset into the east wall of the southwest room may have served as a service window to the workroom beyond, although it has since been filled in and used for display. Furthermore, the secondary entrance at the east corner of the southern facade leads directly to a stairwell to the upper story, suggesting that this was the entrance to the private residence above, while the central entryway led to the rooms reserved for the Post Office." -"Alison and May Kinsey House", WisDOT#4140-19-17, Prepared by Kelly Noack, (2017). 2014- "This Two Story Cube house [56912] was constructed in 1914. It is rectangular in plan with clapboard walls and an asphalt-shingled hipped roof. The front elevation faces south and is asymmetrical in plan due to uneven fenestration across the first story. The multi-light front door is sheltered by a cantilevered gable roof. On either side of this are large picture windows with leaded glass transoms. An additional doorway is located near the southeast corner of the façade. The second story contains two pairs of 1-over-1 windows. A hipped-roof dormer projects from the front roof slope; the dormer contains a single leaded glass window. A stone and brick chimney is located on the west elevation. This 1-story Contemporary cottage [56916] was constructed in 1950 following a design out of House and Garden magazine. It is rectangular in plan with board and batten walls and asphalt-shingled shed roofs located at different heights to create a wall with three banks of clerestory windows. The front elevation faces east and is asymmetrical in plan with a single doorway and three single-pane windows. The south elevation contains a screened porch/sunroom. This 1-story Front Gabled cottage [56917] was constructed c.1910 and was moved to its present site in 1932. It is rectangular in plan with clapboard walls and an asphalt-shingled gable roof. The front elevation faces north and is symmetrical in plan. The entrance is sheltered by a gable-roofed three-seasons porch with removable screening. Exposed rafters are visible along the east and west elevations. This 2-story Vernacular cottage [56918] was constructed in 1925 as a garage; the building was modified to serve as a summer cottage in 1950. It is rectangular in plan with clapboard walls and an asphalt-shingled gambrel roof. The front elevation faces south and is asymmetrical in plan with a single front door sheltered by a small shed-roofed entry porch. A red brick chimney runs the full height of the façade and projects through the roofline." -"STH 42: Bluff Lane (Gibraltar) to Country Walk Dr (Sister Bay), WisDOT#4140-19-00, Prepared by Gail Klein, (2014). |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Edward and Lois Schreiber, editors, Fish Creek Voices, An Oral History of a Door County Village, (Sister Bay, WI: Wm Caxton Ltd), 1990. (B) Door County Almanak No. 5: Tourism, Resorts, Transportation, (Sister Bay, WI: The Dragonsbreath Press), 1990. (C) Virginia Kinsey, property owner, telephone conversation with Rebecca Sample Bernstein, 3 February, 1993. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |