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Center Avenue Historic District

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c. 1885–c. 1930. Roughly bounded by Center and Cedar aves., and 7th and 3rd sts.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this neighborhood was the fashionable place to live in Merrill, and its eclectic collection of twenty-three houses reflects changing tastes between 1882 and 1930. The Queen Anne James Ladd House (c. 1890; 300 N. Center Avenue), built during the city’s lumber-milling heyday, has an asymmetrical plan and patterned shingles cut in fish, wave, and sawtooth shapes. The wraparound porch features large arched openings, scroll work, and a spindle balustrade. A modest example of Prairie Style is the S. S. Stein House (c. 1915; 615 N. Center). The brick veneer at the first story extends to the sills of the second-story windows, making the stuccoed upper-floor wall appear as a smooth stripe. This gives the building an emphatic horizontality, amplified by the rows of windows, flat hoods over the entrances, and the overhanging hipped roof. The H. H. Heineman House (c. 1925; 1206 E. 6th Street) is a grand Beaux-Arts classical residence built for the president of the Heineman Lumber Company. The two-story curved portico with fluted Corinthian columns and a rooftop balustrade directs visitors to the entrance. Beneath the portico, sidelights and a segmental pediment frame the door. A two-story sunroom extends from the east side of the building.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Data

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Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Center Avenue Historic District", [Merrill, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-LI5.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 317-317.

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