Property Record
119 S CHURCH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | EDWARD C. WOLFRAM HOUSE |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 68271 |
| Location (Address): | 119 S CHURCH ST |
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| County: | Jefferson |
| City: | Watertown |
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| Year Built: | 1919 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 1999 |
| Historic Use: | house |
| Architectural Style: | English Revival Styles |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | Clare Hosmer |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' 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. This was the home of Edward Wolfram, president of the Wolfram Shoe Company, during the 1920s. The Wolfram Shoe Company began in 1911 in the old Woodard and Stone cracker factory on N. Water St. It had some success, but by the late 1920s, it was having financial difficulties. Edward Brandt and Earl Quick of the Brandt Automatic Cashier Company orchestrated a takeover of the company, which failed because of the Great Depression. A large 20th century Tudor Revival styled house, this cream brick house has multiple steep gable roofs and multiple roof dormers with varied roofs as well as a steep hip roofed southwest bay. A two-story stuccoed flat roofed bay window ornamented with false half-timbering, multipaned window groups, exposed rafter ends and a steep gable projecting entrance with round arched door are additional Tudor Revival features found on this large irregular picturesque house design. A sun porch is located on the west elevation. The Wolfram house is significant under criterion C as an example of the Tudor Revival in Watertown. Among the best of the Tudor Revival styled house popular in the 1920s and 1930s in Watertown, this large house exhibits the multiple steeply pitched gabled forms (and an unusual hip roofed bay) associated with the Tudor Revival as well as a few Tudor features carefully placed only to suggest the style such as the stuccoed bay window with half timbering, the round arched entrance door. Other significant residential examples of the style, located in the proposed Richards Hill Historic District are the houses at 1326 Thomas (35-16), 901 Richards Ave. (35-3), 1333 Livesay Place (34-13) and 904 Charles St. (34-16).ards Ave. (35-3), 1333 Livesay Place (34-13) and 904 Charles St. (34-16). Otis E. and Clarabel Hoffman lived in this house. Otis worked as Vice President for the Brandt Automatic Coin Cashier Company. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Watertown City Directories 1919-1945. Watertown Public Library. An entry in the Milwaukee Daily Reporter (20 May 1918) cites C.C. Hosmer as the architect of a brick on frame home for E.C. Wolfram in Watertown to cost $10,000. Architecture and History Survey. August-September 1999. Prepared by Daina Penkiunas, Museum Archaeological Program, SHSW. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |