UW-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management Conducts Architecture/History Investigations For Proposed Fire Station

In February 2023, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Cultural Resource Management was contracted to conduct architecture/history investigations for the New Platteville Fire Station Project. These investigations were designed to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The following information and attached file serves to document the results of this investigation.  Click here to view the full report.

Project Description and Area of Potential Effect
The proposed project consists of the construction of a new fire station at 155 W. Lewis Street in the City of Platteville, Grant County, Wisconsin.  The work will require the demolition of the existing O.E. Gray Learning Center building on this site. Given the project description and its potential to impact the project area, an Area of Potential Effect (APE) was established to include all properties within and adjacent to the proposed construction site. All built resources within this APE that were at least 40 years old and possessed a degree of historic integrity were examined for potential historical significance.

Literature Review
Prior to the field survey, UWM-CRM conducted a literature review that included searches of the Architecture History Inventory (AHI) in the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Database (WHPD) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Seven (7) properties were identified in WHPD, all of which had been previously surveyed in 2005 as part of a city-wide intensive survey of historic and architectural resources. No NRHP listed properties were identified.

UWM-CRM also contacted the Platteville Historic Preservation Commission and the Grant County Historical Society to notify the organizations of the proposed project and to solicit input regarding potential historic resources in the project area. As of February 15, 2023, neither organization has responded with any questions or concerns.

Field Survey
A field survey of the project APE was conducted on February 6, 2023. The field survey confirmed that the proposed project site currently contains a mid-twentieth-century public school facility (constructed in 1953 and currently serving as an early learning facility and senior center), a paved parking lot, and a large grass lawn. The project site is located in a residential neighborhood comprised largely of single-family homes constructed between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century. A notable exception is the St. Mary’s Catholic Church complex, located across W. Adams Street from the proposed project site.

All 7 previously surveyed properties were resurveyed and WHPD records were updated with current photos and descriptions. In addition to these 7 buildings, 2 properties that had not been previously surveyed were identified as meeting current State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) survey criteria. These resources were surveyed and new WHPD records were created. The 1953 school building on the project site was not surveyed due to its lack of architectural distinction, largely resulting from its diminished integrity (resulting from the insensitive downsizing of most windows, the brick infill of the surrounding wall space which accounts for the majority of the exterior surface of each elevation, and the construction of a later entry addition to the west elevation).

Of the 9 surveyed properties, 2 were identified as potentially eligible for NRHP listing:

St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 130 W. Cedar St.
Constructed in 1966 in a distinctive Contemporary style, St. Mary’s Catholic Church is characterized by its semicircular plan with a long, low rectangular mass fronting the building, its distinctive use of dalle de verre windows at multiple locations, its use of integrated planters along the front elevation, and its folded plate roof between the main building mass and an attached rectory/office. The building is considered potentially eligible for NRHP listing under Criterion C: Architecture as an excellent representative of mid-century Contemporary church design that is particularly distinctive within the context of Contemporary architecture in the city of Platteville. An associated school building is located immediately across N. Court Street from the church; this building is not considered to be a contributing resource to the church as it pre-dates the church building and retains a diminished degree of integrity due to a series of later additions.

Horace and Hilda Burnham House, 490 N. Elm St.
The Burnham House was constructed in 1934 in a Prairie School style following a design by Madison architect Allen J. Strang. The building is rectangular in plan and features a stone and brick exterior, a repeated use of brick string courses, and a symmetrical façade with a front entrance accentuated between cantoned piers with a flat awning above. The building is considered potentially eligible for NRHP listing under Criterion C: Architecture as a good residential example of early modern design in Platteville.

Summary and Effects Recommendation
A total of 9 properties were surveyed within the project APE. Of these, 2 were identified as potentially eligible for NRHP listing: St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 130 W. Cedar Street and the Horace and Hilda Burnham House at 490 N. Elm Street. No NRHP-listed properties were identified within the project APE.

The proposed fire station development is not considered to constitute an adverse effect to either of the potentially eligible buildings. The fire station will replace a one-story, mid-century public-school facility that is currently used as a community building serving as a senior center and early learning facility. The proposed building will be two stories in height and in keeping with the scale of buildings in the surrounding neighborhood (the area immediately surrounding the project site contains one- and two- story houses constructed between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries as well as a large mid- twentieth-century church building and its associated school, both of which rise to a height of two stories and occupy large footprints). Although the proposed fire station’s exterior plans have not yet been finalized, known elements of its design include red brick walls with stone and cast stone accents in keeping with the aesthetic of other city facilities; a flat roof with parapets over the main building mass; a fire training tower with a sloped roof that rises approximately 10 feet above the primary roofline; and three arched apparatus bay doors. The proposed fire station will be located on a lot that has historically been dedicated to community use (a public school building has stood on the eastern end of the lot since the nineteenth century with the existing school building standing at this location since its construction in 1953, and the western end of the lot has served as open playground space since 1953). The open western end of the lot will remain as open space reserved for possible water retention or future expansion, and the new building will be largely confined to the space already occupied by the former school building and the existing parking lot.

The settings of both potentially eligible properties will continue to be largely residential with a small number of community and religious buildings. None of the features that render either building eligible for National Register listing will be removed or altered as a result of the proposed project. Although the fire station, when fully operational, may produce intermittent noise levels higher than that produced by the activities contained within the existing community building, neither of the eligible buildings identified within the project APE will be rendered ineligible for NRHP listing as a result of any foreseeable sound elements produced by the fire station or its associated equipment.

In conclusion, the architecture/history investigations identified 2 potentially eligible resources within the project’s Area of Potential Effect, and the proposed fire station development is not considered to constitute an adverse effect to either property.