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Frontenac Flats

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c. 1896, J. T. Raycraft. 132–140 High Ave. and 9 Brown St.

Frontenac Flats is a rare Wisconsin example of late Victorian apartment design. Raycraft, a local contractor known for his fine woodwork, constructed the two-story building for local real-estate developers George Steele and Edwin Wickwire. Three low round-arched entrances organize the building’s facade. Foliated spandrels of terra-cotta ornament the arches, and this same foliated motif recurs in a frieze below the dentiled cornice. This ornament and the squat arched openings evoke Richardsonian Romanesque, while the oriel windows at the second story suggest Queen Anne influence.

Each of the Frontenac’s apartments was similar in plan. A side entrance hall opened into a parlor and sitting room at the front of the unit and also led to bedrooms and a bathroom, dining room, butler’s pantry, and kitchen at the rear. The sixteen apartments are grouped into fours, two upstairs and two downstairs. Each group shares a central light well, a common feature in nineteenth-century apartment buildings, which provided natural light and air circulation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Frontenac Flats", [Oshkosh, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-WN9.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 227-227.

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