The Port Washington Downtown Historic District is the largely intact remainder of the old commercial downtown of

Port Washington, Wisconsin Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore east of Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area 27 miles north of the City of Mil ...

, United States. It consists of about 40 contributing buildings built from the 1850s to the 1950s in various styles. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2000 for significance to both architecture and the history of commerce. With Port Washington was founded in 1835, when Wooster Harrison and several other land speculators laid out a town on the sheltered slope where Sauk Creek flows into Lake Michigan. After some early growing pains, it became a village in 1848, and in 1851 740 ships docked at the pier. By 1853 the population was 1500. In 1873 the village was reached by the Milwaukee, Lakeshore and Western Railroad. In 1882 the city incorporated, and in 1889 the Wisconsin Chair Co. was founded, which was the major employer for many years. Here is a sample of interesting buildings in the district: * The 1854 Barnum Blake building at 201 N Franklin St is a 2-story brick building in

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

, but its round arches seem to fit the

Rundbogenstil (round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particular ...

designs then fashionable with German immigrants in Milwaukee. * The Wisconsin House Hotel at 308-312 N Franklin St is a 3-story Italianate brick hotel built in 1855. By 1885 a saloon occupied the north half and a harness shop the south. The 1-story section to the south was added in 1926. * The Theodore Nosen Building at 329-333 N Franklin St is a 3-story brick

Federal Style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

building, built in 1857. * The 1891 Michael Bink saloon at 231 N Franklin St is a very intact 2-story Queen Anne-styled building with a two-story corner turret topped by an onion dome and a

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

. * The 1891 Wilson Hotel at 200-202 N Franklin St is a 3-story Queen Anne building, also with a corner turret and final. * The Martin Zimmerman saloon at 114 N Franklin St is built of concrete block, with a

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

influence. * The First National Bank at 122 N Franklin St is a Neoclassical bank designed by William Hilgen of Cedarburg and built in 1909, covered with white

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

tiles. * The Matthew Schumacher

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

Co. at 302 N Franklin St is a 1-story

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building built in 1930. It was designed by Edgar Berners, a native son of Port Washington and a partner in Foeller, Schober & Berners of Green Bay. * The Schanen office building at 125 E Main St was designed in

Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

-style by Foeller, Schober and Berners and built in 1942. It housed William F. Schanen's law office and the Ozaukee Press, which was run by his son. * The Smith Bros. Restaurant at 100 N Franklin St is a late

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

building designed by William J. Ames of Milwaukee and built in 1954.

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

, who went on to become a U.S. Senator and Governor of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and found

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, once practiced law in the district.

References

External links

{{National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Geography of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin