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(Photograph by Michelle Dennis)
The Sanford B. Coulson House, on the southwest corner of Mulberry and Sixth streets in Yankton, is a rare example of Second Empire architecture in South Dakota. Coulson was a co-founder of the Missouri River Transportation Company and moved to Yankton to oversee operations. He hired architect A.E. Cobby to build this one-and-a-half-story house, which is characterized by its mansard roof and prominent central tower, from which Coulson could observe the river and his steamboats to the south.
A wide, curved staircase leads to a full-width porch, whose roof is supported by square posts topped with decorative capitals beneath a frieze with dentils; the uprights of the railing match the details of the support posts. The tower’s entablature also features a dentil course with ornamental brackets; other detailing includes roof cresting with finials. The house has many dormer windows: one on each of the tower facades, and twelve on the main roof. All roofs are clad in wooden fish-scale shingles; the rest of the house has clapboard siding.
The house took seven months to build, at a cost of $10,000. Coulson was active in the financial and social life of Yankton, but after his death in 1896, his family returned to Pennsylvania.
An extensive 2013 restoration included stabilizing porch supports; replicating damaged woodwork on the porch and railings; repairing the siding, roofing, and windows; and refinishing interior walls, floors, and ceilings.