| 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.
Building was originally located at 1063 Fourth St. Two rooms wide (with window bay), two rooms deep (with rear addition) and one story with attic, the simple clapboard sided Colley Road structure is small in scale but incorporates a surprising number of features typical of much larger victorian homes. Cross gables, a side bay, a front veranda, and Stick style ornament relieve the monotony of an otherwise symmetrical and simple plan, and echo the tendency of larger homes of the era toward irregular massing and profile. But it is the applied ornament era which contributes most strongly to the house's character. The steeply pitched central gable features decorative bargeboards with dentils and a gable ornament with lattice stick work between the king post and the collar beam, pierced circular mill work, and collar braces. The same motif is repeated on the broader side (east and west) gables with corner brackets at the end of the gable. A veranda, with low-pitched hipped roof, extends across the front (south) facade, supported by unornamented posts and knee braces of large dimensions with circular "donut" trim running beneath the eave. Plain sash windows with unornamented frames are placed simply and symmetrically on the facade and a louvered opening punctuates the central gable. The bay window on the east facade features a bracketed, hipped roof, a pair of sash windows, and basket weave stick detailing in the lower panels. A broader frieze runs around the house beneath the eaves and corner posts articulate the building's edges. The blocky and rectilinear detail contributes a decorative scheme that enlivens the facade without becoming effusive.
Although simple in plan and unabashedly vernacular in spirit, the small frame cottage at 1701 Colley Road is architecturally significant as the outstanding remaining example of the worker's housing known locally as Brasstown Cottages, which were built in Beloit in the last quarter of the 19th century. Reminiscent of the Carpenter Gothic cottages of mid-century and the Stick style-like vernacular common to Beloit later in the 19th century, cottages like this one grafted elements of the picturesque on to diminuitive frames to create a Victorian house, complete (in this excellent example) with box bay window. Here, the result transformed a nondescript rectanular cottage into a home of Victorian character and charm. Numerous Brasstown Cottages, nearly identical to this one, were built in the 1880s often in Beloit's west side neighborhoods, not far from several of Beloit's large industrial concerns. The average Brasstown cottage built at that time was originally assessed at $200, making them affordable for some of the city's growing industrial worling class. Perhaps the most visible concentration of these homes was found near Fourth Street and Merrill Avenue. It was the proximity of that location to the ill-fated Union Brass and Architectural Company (c. 1892-1895) located on Fourth Street, which probably resulted in the name "Brasstown Cottages." Although many of these houses still exist - their nearly uniform profile readily discernable despite frequent alterations - most have been stripped of their original character. However, this home at 1701 Colley, moved sometime in the mid-20th century from an unknown location to a neighborhood of modern suburban scale, clearly remains the least altered, best preserved, and most distinguished example of the type and thus is nominated to the National Register as a significant example of its type and period of constructopin. Situated close to the street (as are those in their original location), the nature of the move did not seriously threaten the historic context or character of the building.
The history of this house (or its original owners) is not clear. Tax records do indicate that the structure was moved sometime around 1943. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Beloit City Tax Rolls, 1880-1890, Rock County Historical Society Archives, Janesville, WI.
(B) Foote Map, City of Beloit, 1891, Rock County Historical Society Archives, Beloit Daily News, Sept. 25, 1986.
(C) Beloit Daily News, July 18, 1986. |
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