Contact: Kara O’Keeffe
608-261-9596
[email protected]
Hartford, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced the listing of the Schwartz Family House in Hartford, Washington County, in the National Register of Historic Places. National Register designation provides access to certain benefits, including qualification for grants and for rehabilitation income tax credits, while it does not restrict private property owners in the use of their property.
The Schwartz Family House is an excellent residential example of the American Craftsman style of architecture in the city of Hartford. The American Craftsman style has its roots in the earlier English Arts & Crafts movement, the latter style of which is known for designs inspired by English vernacular architecture, typically having steep roofs, solid massing, and clear expressions of materials. Its general characteristics of stucco sheathing and an abundance of windows corresponding to room function are exhibited by the Schwartz Family House. Additional exterior detailing of the home includes wooden bracket trim, exposed wooden rafter tails, as well as false half-timber trim—detailing that makes the house a definitive example of the American Craftsman style.
Further underscoring the home’s Craftsman styling is its interior, which retains a significant degree of original features including wooden floors and trim throughout—including a bracketed wooden plate rail and a hand-painted landscape mural in the dining room—as well as Arts & Crafts stenciling in the entrance foyer and an ornate plasterwork ceiling in the living room and library. Since its construction in 1915, virtually no alterations have been made to its exterior, along with little alteration occurring on its interior. The Schwartz Family House, which was owned and occupied by the Schwartz family for fifty years, has no direct stylistic comparable located within the city limits of Hartford, thus further distinguishing its local architectural significance.
We gratefully acknowledge the Fuldner Heritage Fund which paid for the preparation of this nomination. This endowed fund, created through a generous donation by the Jeffris Family Foundation and administered by the Wisconsin Historical Society, supports the nomination of historically and architecturally significant rural and small town properties.
The register is the official national list of historic properties in America deemed worthy of preservation and is maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Wisconsin Historical Society administers the program within Wisconsin. It includes sites, buildings, structures, objects and districts that are significant in national, state or local history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.
