The Fred and Lucia Farnham House is a historical house in
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
,
Wisconsin. The
Italianate style home was designed, and constructed in 1867, by Columbus architect and carpentry contractor Richard D. Vanaken.
It was initially inhabited by Fred and Lucia Farnham. Fred Farnham (—1871), who was born Frederich F. Farnham in
Vermont, was raised in
Canada, and the state of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
At the age of 25-years-old, , he moved from the latter location to Columbus, where he joined his three sisters.
Farnham became a prosperous merchant in the city. He married Lucia Marsh of New York, in 1850. Farnham and James Allen, Lucia's brother-in-law, then became business partners and ran a highly successful produce and wholesale store. The profits from the store allowed Fred Farnham to build his new house at a corner lot on West James Street, a significant street in Columbus. The two-story house has a
cruciform plan main block, with a small kitchen wing in the back, similar to other Italianate houses in Columbus.
Historic listings
The house was added to Wisconsin's State Register of Historic Places on April 17, 2009, and the United States
National Register of Historic Places on July 30, 2009.
The Fred and Lucia Farnham House's architect and builder, Richard D. Vanaken, in collaboration with architect
Edward Townsend Mix
Edward Townsend Mix (May 13, 1831 – September 2, 1890) was an American architect of the Gilded Age who designed many buildings in the Midwestern United States. His career was centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and many of his designs made use ...
, also designed Columbus'
High Victorian Gothic and
Italianate style Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parsonage, first built in 1878. This site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, in the year 2009, as well. These two site listings are among 15 other historical sites located in the city of Columbus which are listed in the state and federal registers (as of May 4, 2010).
Additionally, Fred Farnham initiated the construction of an Italianate style building on 111 East James Street, for his and his brother-in-law's produce business usage, .
This building, first known as the ''Farnham Block'', and later the ''Schaeffer Block'', was placed in both the state and federal registers in 1992, as a
contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
to the
Columbus Downtown Historic District
The Columbus Downtown Historic District is located in Columbus, Wisconsin.
History
The district is the old commercial heart of town around the junction of Dickason Blvd and James St, including many cream brick buildings built by Richard Vanake ...
's listing.
Gallery
References
External links
*
National Register and State Register of Historic Places, Division of Historic Preservation, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin Farnham, Fred and Lucia, House; Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, reference number 09000580
Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory Farnham, Fred and Lucia, House, Columbus, Columbia, Wisconsin, reference number 3481
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnham, Fred and Lucia, House
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin
Italianate architecture in Wisconsin
Houses completed in 1867
Houses in Columbia County, Wisconsin
Columbus, Wisconsin
National Register of Historic Places in Columbia County, Wisconsin