Eli R. Cooley House | |
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| Location | 1135 S. Main St. Racine, Wisconsin |
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| Coordinates | 42°43′8″N87°46′55″W / 42.71889°N 87.78194°W Coordinates: 42°43′8″N87°46′55″W / 42.71889°N 87.78194°W |
| Area | 0.15 acres |
| Built | c. 1852 |
| Architect | Lucas Bradley |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 73000273 |
| Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 |
The Eli R. Cooley House is a Greek Revival-styled house built in the early 1850s in Racine, Wisconsin. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 [1] and has been described as "Wisconsin's finest remaining Greek Revival residence." [2]
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is located 22 miles south of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city had a population of 78,860, making it the fifth-largest city in Wisconsin. Its median home price of $103,625 makes it one of the most affordable cities in Wisconsin to buy a home. In January 2017, it was rated "the most affordable place to live in the world" by the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, which is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state is divided into 72 counties.
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. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
The Cooley house was begun in 1851, designed by Racine-based architect Lucas Bradley. The front of the 2-story central block especially resembles a Greek Temple, with its portico consisting of four colossal fluted Doric columns supporting a simple entablature and pediment. A 1.5 story wing extends from each side of the main block. The corners are trimmed with pilasters, and the windows are tall, 3x4 panes. The house is clad in clapboard. A tall masonry chimney rises from the central block and one from the end of each wing. All is symmetric except the entry door, which is offset to the left. [2]
Lucas Bradley (1809–1889) was an American architect in Racine, Wisconsin. He designed the Eli R. Cooley House in Racine, Wisconsin, the John Collins House, George Murray House and Racine College.
Greek temples were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, since the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the respective deity took place outside them, within the wider precinct of the sanctuary, which might be large. Temples were frequently used to store votive offerings. They are the most important and most widespread building type in Greek architecture. In the Hellenistic kingdoms of Southwest Asia and of North Africa, buildings erected to fulfill the functions of a temple often continued to follow the local traditions. Even where a Greek influence is visible, such structures are not normally considered as Greek temples. This applies, for example, to the Graeco-Parthian and Bactrian temples, or to the Ptolemaic examples, which follow Egyptian tradition. Most Greek temples were oriented astronomically.
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 cultures, including most Western cultures.
Inside the front door is a hall which runs from front to back. The north wing holds a drawing room with a white marble fireplace, plaster cornice, and wooden door and window frames. The rest of the first floor contains sitting rooms, a dining room, and kitchen. Bedrooms are upstairs. [2]
A cornice is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element – the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown.
The house was built by John McHenry, a grocer. Eli Cooley lived there; he was a hardware merchant and third mayor of Racine. O. Jennings lived in the house in 1858, and E.C. Deane in 1893. Judge Charles E. Dyer also lived there. [1] By 1942 the house was in "deplorable condition," [2] when William and Amanda Kuehneman bought it and carefully restored it. [1]
Charles E. Dyer was a United States federal judge.
