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Home My WebLink AboutForPrintNMainWalkingTour Grand Opera House – 1883 NNOORRTTHH MMAAIINN SSTTRREEEETT HHIISSTTOORRIICC DDIISSTTRRIICCTT WWAALLKKIINNGG TTOOUURR Prepared by the City of Oshkosh Planning Services Division for the Landmarks Commission. Published with support from the Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District. VViissuuaallllyy ssttiimmuullaattiinngg aanndd ssaattiissffyyiinngg,, tthhee bbuuiillddiinnggss sshhooww aa pplleeaassiinngg vvaarriieettyy ooff ddeeccoorraattiivvee bbrriicckkwwoorrkk,, ccoonnttrraassttiinngg ssttoonneewwoorrkk,, mmeettaallwwoorrkk aanndd tteerrrraa ccoottttaa.. RRoouunndd sseeggmmeennttaall aanndd ppooiinntteedd aarrcchheess,, aalloonngg wwiitthh tthhee ooccccaassiioonnaall ttuurrrreett aanndd ggaabbllee ccoonnttrriibbuuttee ttoo tthhee aarrcchhiitteeccttuurraall iinntteerreesstt ooff tthhee DDiissttrriicctt.. 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OOff tthheessee,, mmaannyy wweerree ccrreeaatteedd bbyy nnootteedd OOsshhkkoosshh aarrcchhiitteecctt,, WWiilllliiaamm WWaatteerrss ((11884433--11991177)).. wwiitthh tthhiiss DDiissttrriicctt.. TThhee CCiittyy ooff OOsshhkkoosshh LLaannddmmaarrkkss CCoommmmiissssiioonn hhooppeess tthhaatt tthheessee eexxaammpplleess wwiillll ssttiimmuullaattee aa sseennssee ooff ddiissccoovveerryy,, aapppprreecciiaattiioonn,, aanndd iimmaaggiinnaattiioonn aass tthhee vviieewweerr ssttrroollllss tthhrroouugghh tthhiiss hhiissttoorriicc aarreeaa.. 579 North Main Street The Dimpsey Building Year Built: 1895 Style: Queen Anne This building housed a variety of stores over the years: hardware, meat market, and confectionary, among others. This building features a turreted, canted corner entrance, substantial decorative brickwork, limestone courses, pressed egg and dart decorative metalwork, second store bays, and a gabled façade. 537 North Main Street Gibson Tire Company Year Built: 1925 Style: Modern Broadfront This building was one of two Main Street buildings built by Alenor Gibson, the other is 570 North Main Street. Initially, it housed Gibson Tire Company and from 1961 until 1982 it was Gibson Auto Exchange. This building features a glazed terra cotta veneer enriched with urns, egg and dart, and bead and reel moldings, volutes and a cartouche 522 North Main Street Raulf Hotel/Strand Theatre Year Built: 1927 Style: Neo-Gothic The Strand Theatre, the City’s leading movie palace, opened in 1928 as part of the Raulf Hotel complex. After closing in 1981, the theater space was converted to housing units as part of a complete rehabilitation of the hotel. This building features glazed terra cotta tracery and Jacobean and Tudor elements. 1 2 3 502 North Main Street Wagner Opera House/Methodist Church Year Built: 1874 Architect: William Waters Originally built for William Wagner as an Opera House, it was damaged twice by fire before it could be opened. Wagner sold the property to the First Methodist Congregation, who occupied the building until 1970.This building was initially designed by William Waters in the Italianate style with a bracketed cornice and Mansard-roofed central tower. A major remodeling in 1925 re-styled it as a Neo Classical Revival building by altering storefront, creating tall, round-arched windows on the south façade, and removing the bracketed cornice and central tower. The main Street entrance was altered in 1955 465 North Main Street Rudd G Holden Block Year Built: 1874 Style: Italianate/Gothic Revival This building once housed the Oshkosh Business College before it took up permanent residence in the Bent Block directly opposite of Rudd G Holden Block. This building features brick corbelling, recessed crosses at the cornice, and segmental-arched second story windows on the Church Avenue façade. The use of contrasting brick colors in the second story façade is a signature feature of the High Victorian Gothic, which is rare in Wisconsin. 4 6 501 North Main Street Webster Block Year Built: 1895 Architect: E. E. Stevens Style: Queen Anne This building features a turreted canted corner entrance, decorative brick work and pressed metal. The third story conical-roofed corner turret, removed in the 1950s, was rebuilt in 2003 during a full restoration of the building. 460 North Main Street Bent Block Year Built: 1886 The final home of the Oshkosh Business College, this building offers a clean-lined contrast with its Italianate and Neo-Classical Revival neighbors. A May 15, 1886 account in the Oshkosh Times states, “In appearance it will be imposing, the design being drawn in accordance with the most modern and approved style of architecture.” Restored in 2003, the upper floors have been converted into apartment units. This building features decorative brickwork, patterned stone courses, and stone window moldings. 5 7 448 North Main Street Year Built: Circa 1855 Style: Commercial Vernacular The Commercial Vernacular style of architecture was one of the most common commercial designs in the United States during the mid-eighteen hundreds through the 1940’s. As you can see from the façade, limited ornamentation was integrated using brick work and cast concrete around the windows. For years the building was home to Wilson Music and has been recently renovated to its original form housing commercial on the main floor and residential units on the second floor. 101 Algoma Boulevard Year Built: 1875 Architect: William Waters Style: Italianate, with Gothic Revival elements Harvey B. Dale, influential physician, surgeon and Superintendant of Schools, was an early occupant of this building. Some of the building’s features include Italianate and Gothic Revival windows and hood moldings, pilasters with shouldered triangular pediments, trefoil arch tracery, and keystones embellished with Latin crosses. 401 North Main Beckwith House Hotel Year Built: 1874 Architect: William Waters Style: Italianate Originally a four story hotel designed by William Waters, the upper stories were destroyed by fire in 1880. The owner, Samuel Beckwith, restored the first two floors. This building features decorative brickwork, including recessed crosses at the cornice, rounded and segmental-arched second story windows with ornate metal-shouldered hood moldings. 8 10 9 100 High Avenue Grand Opera House Year Built: 1883 Architect: William Waters Style: Queen Anne, with Italianate elements This Victorian building served as the City’s Opera House until 1936 and as a movie house from 1942 to 1983. The City restored it in 1986. Try to attend a performance or arrange a tour of the authentically ornate interior. This building features gabled shouldered parapet inset with brick and stone in a lattice pattern, decorative corbelling at the roofline, and a patterned brick chimney. 11 NORTH MAIN STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT