The Vogel Place Historic District is a nationally recognized

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located in

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, the city is split into northern and southern halves b ...

, United States. It was listed on 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 1995. At the time of its nomination it contained 158 resources, which included 101

contributing buildings 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 distric ...

, six

contributing structures 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 distric ...

, and 51 non-contributing buildings. with

History

The property that encompasses the Vogel Place Historic District belonged to E.B. and Elizabeth Vogel, from which it derives its name. Upon E.B.’s death the land passed to their daughters. The original plat map was certified by the

Wapello County Wapello County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,437. The county seat is Ottumwa. The county was formed on February 17, 1843, and named for Wapello, a Meskwaki chief. Wapello County ...

recorder in September 1907 and it was filed by the recorder in March of the following year. The daughters started selling lots in 1908. Most of the houses in the district were built in the 1920s and the 1930s. The Ottumwa Electric Railroad served the neighborhood on North Court Street and was an important means of transportation to the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. It was one of the first neighborhoods in the city where a garage was considered an important part of the development. St. Joseph Hospital (1925), a contributing building, was listed as its own historic district on the National Register in 2015.

Architecture

The area covered by the district includes 91 houses, a hospital, a church (non-contributing), a

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 ...

paved street, and four distinctive driveways. The houses are basic middle-class structures that are one to two stories tall. Most of the houses are constructed of wood with a small garage behind the house. There are several houses where the exterior is composed of brick veneer and two houses were built of

concrete block A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Tho ...

. Nearly a quarter of the houses were built in either the

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

or the

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

styles. They were built between 1912 and 1930. The

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style was also common and there are examples of both the

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

and English Cottage versions. Larger homes in the Romantic Revival styles are found along North Court Street while some of the other larger homes from the 1920s were built in the

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 ...

style. There are also five examples of

American Four Square The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last ...

houses on Vogel Avenue.

References

{{NRHP in Wapello County, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Historic districts in Wapello County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Wapello County, Iowa Buildings and structures in Ottumwa, Iowa Bungalow architecture in Iowa American Craftsman architecture in Iowa American Foursquare architecture in Iowa