John T. Cyphers House
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The John T. Cyphers House is a historic house in
Lakeland, Minnesota Lakeland is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,796 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Lakeland was platted in 1849. The 1849 Captain John Oliver House, 18 ...
, United States. It was built in 1858 using an early form of concrete poured around undressed rock. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 for having state-level significance in the theme of architecture. It was nominated as a rare Minnesota example of Northern European-style masonry, particularly unusual in a logging region with plentiful lumber.


Construction

Early Lakeland settler John T. Cyphers read an article in an 1855 edition of the ''
St. Paul Pioneer Press The ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey County, Minn ...
'' suggesting a concrete mixture as a building material. This mixture, known at the time as "grout", comprised lime, sand, mud, and gravel. In 1858 Cyphers began constructing a house for himself using this method. He formed the core of the walls with small, undressed boulders. He outlined the two-foot-thick walls with wooden frames and poured in the grout. The principle walls were all built this way, but above the first story the gables, roof, and
dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
s are all wood.


Description

The John T. Cyphers House is a small, one-story cottage with a lower wing projecting from the rear. The main entrance is centered on the long west façade, flanked symmetrically by a pair of windows on either side. Directly above the windows are two dormers projecting from the roof, mirrored by another two dormers facing the rear. The house is largely plain, but there are
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
decorations in an arch above the door, arched windows on the gable ends, and rusticated wooden trim. Much of this trim is covered up by modern roofing material, and the carved bargeboards are gone. A 20th-century owner recoated the outer walls to prevent spalling of the original grout.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Minnesota This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Minnesota. It is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Minnesot ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyphers, John T., House 1858 establishments in Minnesota Gothic Revival architecture in Minnesota Houses completed in 1858 Houses in Washington County, Minnesota Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Minnesota