Property Record
61 N LAKE SHORE DR
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | VILLA HORTENSIA |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 64410 |
| Location (Address): | 61 N LAKE SHORE DR |
|---|---|
| County: | Walworth |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Linn |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 1 |
| Range: | 17 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 3 |
| Quarter Section: | SE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | NW |
| Year Built: | 1906 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1984 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | Spanish/Mediterranean Styles |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Stucco |
| Architect: | Howard Van Doren Shaw |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
|---|---|
| National Register Listing Date: | |
| State Register Listing Date: |
| Additional Information: | Villa Hortensia (Pier 61), the former home of Hortense and Edward F. Swift of the meat-packing dynasty, Swift and Company. Edward wanted a palatial summer house, so he hired architect Howard Van Doren Shaw of Chicago, who had already created a number of luxurious lakeshore residences. The mansion’s stuccoed walls, bracketed clay-tile roof, and formal composition express the Italian Renaissance Revival mode. On the two-story symmetrical facade, setbacks and projections are defined by fenestration and ornament. Inside, a vaulted gallery opens onto a sunken living room, a library, and a billiard room, and a circular staircase leads to a large second-floor gallery overlooking the back lawn. |
|---|---|
| Bibliographic References: | GAGE. Walk, Talk and Gawk: A map and guide of the Lake Geneva shore path. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |