The Max Petersen House, also known as the Petersen Mansion, is a historic building located on the west side of

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, United States. It has been individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. In 2004 it was included 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 ...

in the

Marycrest College Historic District Marycrest College Historic District is located on a bluff overlooking the West End of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The district encompasses the campus of Marycrest College, which was a small, private collegiate institution. The school became ...

History

Max Petersen was the son of J.H.C. Petersen, who was an immigrant from the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

, which was then in the

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...

. with He eventually established a retail store in Davenport. His sons entered business with him and they took over the business in 1892. The business continues to exist as the Von Maur department store. Max was the oldest of the three brothers, and he had Davenport architect

Frederick G. Clausen Frederick George "Fritz" (Friedrich Georg) Clausen (1848–1940) was a Danish-born architect who came to the United States in 1869 and founded an architectural practice in Davenport, Iowa. The firm that he founded, presently named Studio 483 Archi ...

design a Queen Anne style home for his family in 1888. Bishop

Henry Rohlman Henry Patrick Rohlman (March 17, 1876 – September 13, 1957) was a German-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Davenport in Iowa from 1927 to 1944 and as coadjutor archbishop and archbishop of the Archdi ...

of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport commissioned the Rev. Thomas V. Lawlor from

St. Ambrose College St Ambrose College is a Christian Brothers' Roman Catholic boys' grammar school in Hale Barns, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. It was founded in 1946 by Dr Joseph Robertson. In 2012 the school became an academy, and was completely re-b ...

to look for property to start a college for women. In 1937 he acquired the property, which was then called Clifton Hill, for $50,000. The donors for the project included members of the Petersen family. The property included the house and . Marycrest College was established on the property in 1939, and the Petersen home initially became the sister's residence. Over the years it served other functions for the college. After the college was disbanded in 2002 it was acquired by Chris Ales and became part of the Marycrest Senior Campus.

Architecture

The 2½-story house is basically square in shape, however, it is narrower and a little lower in the back. The

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

structure rests on a rock-faced stone foundation. It is capped by a high hip roof. Both the east and west sides of the house feature projecting gable ends. A turret with a conical roof is located on the southwest corner of the main façade. The southeast corner features a rectangular shaped corner bay with a second floor porch and its own hipped roof. In the center is a tall projecting tower. Single story porches with flat roofs are located on the front and east sides of the house. At the roofline is a narrow

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. Three

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

s encircle the house flush with the brick surface. Decorative elements are restrained. They are mainly found on the large dentils on the cornice, the turned

Eastlake Eastlake may refer to: Places ;Australia * Kingston, Australian Capital Territory, formerly called Eastlake ** Eastlake Football Club, an amateur Australian Rules Football Club named after that location ;United States * Eastlake, Lake County, C ...

post and punched frieze on the second story porch, and a wall

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 ...

on the central tower that has an elaborate projecting sill and triangular pediment.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Max, House Houses completed in 1888 Queen Anne architecture in Iowa Houses in Davenport, Iowa Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Davenport, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa