602 WATER ST

602 WATER ST

Eau Claire

Eau Claire

1882

1997

small retail building

Boomtown

Balloon Frame

Drop Siding

Yes

2023

Drop siding covers the walls of the Ottawa House, which stands on the northwest corner of Water Street and Sixth Avenue. A bracketed "boomtown" front distinguishes the main facade of the gable roofed structure. Two double hung sash widnows with plain surrounds punctuate the building's second story, while at the ground level a recessed entrance with flanking display windows is featured. Transoms and panelled kickplates complete the storefront area which is framed by wooden pillars. A corner window also with a transom and kickplate addes interest to the simple design. On the west side of the building is a one story addition and on the east side, additional window openings and an entrance to the second floor and rear of the building where the living area was located.

The interior of the front portion of the structure retains its pressed tin ceiling and wood floor.

Like the John Johnson Saloon, 216 Fifth Avenue, 22/10, the Ottawa House is significant as an illustration of vernacular commercial structure with the characteristics "boomtown" facade. The combination saloon and residence, constructed after the 1882 fire, is located within the city's west side commercial district which centers on Water Street. The Ottawa House and the Johnson Saloon were identified in the intensive survey of the city as the two remaining intact structures of this type.

The "boomtown" facade type of commercial architecture is most commonly associated with the frontier, but the easy-to-construct frame structures were features of nearly every community, particularly during their early years of development. The "false" or "boomtown" front affects a permanence and prestige that contrasted with the modest structure nehind it. Early photos of Eau Claire's business districts contain numerous examples of the building type which has been reduced through both demolition and alteration. Although the Ottawa House and the Johnson Saloon were erected after Eau Claire's formative years, the two buildings are excellent representatives of the early commercial form.

The Ottawa House was first included in the 1885 city directory. The proprietor was Napoleon Lalonde who is listed in the tax rolls as the property owner. Until 1898 the proprietorship remained the same. In that year the Ottawa House was owned by Leon Perrier. The name of the saloon and the names of the owners suggest a connection to Eau Claire's French Canadian population that resided in this section of the city, in close proximately to three large lumber mills for which many of them worked.

As mentioned previously, the Ottawa House was erected after the April, 1882, conflagration. A newspaper article which described the effects of the fire specifically listed Lalonde's saloon as one of the buildings destroyed.

2016- "During the mid- to late-1800s, numerous saloons and rooming houses on Water Street catered to lumber mill workerrs and steamboat passengers. The Ottawa House was a combination saloon and residence constructed after the 1882 fire which destroyed many of the structures in the commercial Water Steet District. Among its recorded owners are Napoleon Lalonde (1885) and Leon Perrier (1898), suggesting a connection with the French-Canadian population that worked in the large mills nearby."
-"Eau Claire Landmarks: Designated Historic Properties in Eau Claire, Wisconsin", Eau Claire Landmarks Commission, P.O. Box 5148, 2016.

(A) 1885 - 1900 Eau Claire City Directories. (B) Tax Assessment Rolls - UW-Eau Claire Area Research Center. (C) Newspaper article available at Chippewa Valley Museum - no date, but retells story of 1882 Water Street fire using April 26, 1882 edition of the Daily Leader. Eau Claire Landmarks booklet published by the Landmarks Commission in 2002.

Ottawa House

Jan 28, 1983

Jan 01, 1989