The Robert Wagner House is an historic building located in

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

. It was designated as a Rock Island Landmark in 1984, individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, and became part of the Broadway Historic District on the National Register in 1998.

History

Robert Wagner was the son of George Wagner who owned Atlantic Brewery in Rock Island. He received his education from the University of Iowa and the United States Brewers' Academy in New York City. After completing he studies, he worked as a foreman in his father's brewery before joining his father to manage the business. In 1892 the three breweries in Rock Island consolidated to form the Rock Island Brewing Company. Wagner served as its president for three decades. After Prohibition he entered banking and served as the president of American Trust and Savings Bank and People's National Bank.

Architecture

The Wagner home was designed in the Neoclassical style by

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 ...

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 ...

and was built in 1904. It features a three-bay front façade with a central entrance, a balcony, and a two-story

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

. The pediment above the porch is supported by pairs of fluted Ionic columns. Bracketed

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

extend along the

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 ...

below a deep overhang. Larger brackets support the entrance balcony. Galleries with turned spindles and urn-shaped finials flank the entrance. The gallery on the north is extended to form a porte cochere. On the north side of the home is a beveled and leaded stairway window. A two-story bay on the south side features a “bottle glass” window. On the interior, the grand staircase features a semi-circular balcony. Original mechanical devices in the home include a speaking tube, doorbell system and a corner light system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Robert, House Houses completed in 1904 Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Buildings and structures in Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island Landmark National Register of Historic Places in Rock Island County, Illinois Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Houses in Rock Island County, Illinois Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Illinois