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Summary
Derwood and Myrtle Trimbell House
224 Van Ness Street North, Village of West Salem, La Crosse County
Architects: Percy Dwight Bentley and Otto Merman
Date of Construction: 1920
Located on a tree-lined street in the Village of West Salem, about ten miles northeast of La Crosse, the Derwood and Myrtle Trimbell House is an outstanding example of Prairie Style architecture. The house has all the hallmarks associated with the Prairie Style: a low, sweeping roof with broad eaves; masonry cladding that extends all the way up to the second story windows; and a narrow band of stucco at the top of the wall. Inside, the house is generously sized and richly detailed, with five bedrooms, ample built-in furnishings, leaded glass windows, and custom millwork. Many of the rooms are decorated with Prairie Style panelized wood banding and sand finish plaster. True to Prairie Style ideals, the living room hearth forms the symbolic “heart” of the house and is faced in long Roman brick. The fireplace also features a sumptuous overmantel panel containing tiles produced by the well-known Rookwood pottery company of Cincinnati.
The Trimbell House was designed in 1919 by noted La Crosse architects Percy Dwight Bentley and Otto Merman. Bentley and Merman designed some of the most architecturally significant buildings in the La Crosse area in the early twentieth century, and later historians and scholars have recognized Bentley and Merman as master designers of the Prairie Style in Wisconsin. The Trimbell House was one of Bentley and Merman’s last projects together. The house displays the high level of architectural design associated with the firm’s best houses, and its highly intact original interior serves as a reminder of the skilled craftspeople who helped bring Bentley and Merman’s design into reality. The Derwood and Myrtle Trimbell House is an outstanding example of the Prairie Style of architecture designed by master practitioners of that style.
The Trimbell House is a private home and is not open to the public.
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Designations
State & National Registers of Historic Places
The State Register and National Register recognize buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that are significant in national, state, or local history. The State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with the National Park Service maintains the list for Wisconsin and makes the data available to the public for research and education.
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