Property Record
306-310 W WATER ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | City Hotel |
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| Other Name: | Montezuma Apartments; New York Hotel; Mansion House |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 80777 |
| Location (Address): | 306-310 W WATER ST |
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| County: | Lafayette |
| City: | Shullsburg |
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| Year Built: | 1846 |
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| Additions: | 1878 1884 |
| Survey Date: | 1982 |
| Historic Use: | hotel/motel |
| Architectural Style: | Italianate |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Clapboard |
| Architect: | |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Water Street Commercial Historic District |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 6/28/1990 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 1/23/1990 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| 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. A two story frame structure of at least three or four structures and additions combined into one facade by means of a common bracketed cornice. Two sloping roof gabled structure with cornice returns placed side by side are still visible at the rear of the building. Minor alterations such as the moving of the entrance from the corner of the building has occurred. This building is architecturally important visually to the commercial district of Shullsburg because it is a large frame building occupying a good share of the block. Although not important as a representative example of architecture, it is the best maintained frame structure in downtown Shullsburg. The City Hotel is significant to the early commercial development of Shullsburg. The hotel is a typical tavern, hotel complex which lodged prospective miners and all others attached to the region. During the 1840s with the great influx of miners there was a great demand for lodgings and entertainment. The New York house was constructed in the 1840s alongside the Montezuma Saloon, also erected in the 1840s. Butterfield said in the Lafayette County History, 1881, that the Montezuma was adjacent to the Lafayette House. But in the research conducted by David Donath for the National register Nomination, argues that Butterfield had gotten the facts mixed up. He bases his arguments on the consensus among a variety of local sources: Behm, "Lafayette County," 15; Rule, "History of Shullsburg;" Luella Simpson et al. "History of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, 1827-1927" n.p., 1927), p. 14. Inspection of the structures also supports such a conclusion. Sometime during the 1860s, the New York House owned by a Mr. Griffin changed the name to City Hotel. An addition was made to the hotel in 1878. In 1891, James Egan, an Irish immigrant, bought the hotel. It is not known when the Montezuma ceased operation and became a part of the City Hotel. A photograph in the Iconographic Collection of the Wisconsin State Historical Society shows the Egan Family in front of the City Hotel, with all three facades joined together and a single facade. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Seq. History of Shullsburg, 1827-1977 (Shullsburg: Badger Historical Society, 1977), p. 65. (B) Pick and Gad, April 17, 1884. (C) Shullsburg Tax Rolls, 1849-1859. (D) David Donath, City Hotel Report. (E) Luella Simpson, et. el., History of Shullsburg; p. 14. (F) Behm, "Lafayette County," 15. (G) Rule, "History of Shullsburg." |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |