The Brisbois House, also known as the Bernard Brisbois House, is a historic house located on St. Feriole Island in
Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin. Built circa 1840, the stone house is one of the
oldest in Wisconsin. It was once thought to be built in 1808 by early settler and fur trader
Michael Brisbois, but in the early 1920s, historians learned that it was built by his son after his death. The house is a
National Historic Landmark and is now owned by the
Wisconsin Historical Society.
Appearance
The Brisbois House is two-and-a-half stories tall and built from locally extracted gray
limestone. The front facade has five
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
s, with a central entrance and two pairs of windows on either side. Fluted
Doric columns flank the front entrance, and molded trim forms the rest of the doorway; the lightness of these features reflects a
Federal influence. A front porch, a later addition, covers the entrance with a
pediment supported by columns, which match the doorway. A
gable roof
A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
with chimneys at either end tops the house. A wooden addition was placed on the south side of the house in 1905, replacing a platform which wrapped around that side.
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History
The Brisbois House was traditionally thought to have been built in 1808 by Michael(Michel) Brisbois, an early settler and fur trader of Prairie du Chien and one of the city's first prominent businessmen. Brisbois owned the plot of land the house is built on.
In the 1950s the Wisconsin Historical Society determined that the house was built after Bisbois's death in 1833. According to the investigation, Michael's son
Bernard Walter Brisbois Bernard Walter Brisbois (October 4, 1808 – June 15, 1885) was an agent for the American Fur Company.
History
Bernard Brisbois was born in Prairie du Chien, Illinois Territory in 1808, to Michel Brisbois, a French-Canadian voyageur, and his seco ...
most likely built the house for himself and his widowed mother circa 1840. While a building of the house's style and permanence would have been uncommon in the early 1800s, it fits the 1840s pattern of more elaborate homes being built for wealthy Prairie du Chien residents. It is one of the most well-crafted extant homes in the city which dates from before 1850, and it is one of the oldest standing stone houses in Wisconsin. The house was documented by the
Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934, purchased by the Wisconsin Historical Society circa 1955, and designated as a
National Historic Landmark in 1960.
See also
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Wisconsin
*
List of the oldest buildings in Wisconsin
*
References
External links
*
{{National Register of Historic Places
French-Canadian culture in Wisconsin
National Historic Landmarks in Wisconsin
Historic American Buildings Survey in Wisconsin
Houses in Crawford County, Wisconsin
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
Houses completed in 1840
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
1840 establishments in Wisconsin Territory
National Register of Historic Places in Crawford County, Wisconsin