Columbus WI Trip, pt. 5 - South Ludington Street + Misc

June 2025.

Continuing from North Ludington Street, my last Columbus post will cover the rest of Ludington Street and a couple buildings I couldn’t fit in elsewhere.

Whitney Building/Hotel

Drawing of the 1848 hotel. (Columbus WI Wiki)

One of downtown’s oldest and most prominent buildings, the Whitney Hotel traces its roots to H. A. Whitney, a peddler who moved from Vermont to Columbus in 1845. He built the first iteration of the hotel in 1848, but it burned down in 1857 and was rebuilt in 1858 in the configuration it exists in today. An Italianate design, its curving facade is unusual among rectilinear buildings elsewhere on the street.

c. 1910 view of the hotel. Note the intact cupola. (Columbus WI Wiki)

In the 1950s, the Whitney Hotel was significantly altered. Its storefront was replaced with a more streamlined Modern design and its north facade windows on the first floor were obscured by a sign. At some point either then or afterwards, the rooftop cupola was removed along with the cornice, and the original windows had the same replacement with smaller vinyl ones seen elsewhere in Columbus. The hotel was in pretty shoddy repair in the 1990s, even though it was individually listed on the NRHP in 1982:

(Columbus WI Wiki)

By 1990, the Whitney Hotel was being threatened with demolition. However, the newly founded Columbus Downtown Development Corporation purchased the building in 1991, and it has since been restored with a new cornice and appropriately sized windows. It is used as affordable housing and commercial space today.

West facade, with the restored original storefront:

North facade--you can just make out a faded ghost sign:

The rear lacks the bracketed cornice and hood molds:

111 South Ludington Street

This c. 1900 brick Commercial style building has a Beaux-Arts cornice with modillions. Its storefront has been altered with a stone veneer and shingle overhang.

Bonnett’s Millinery

Another Commercial style composition, this one was completed in 1903. It was built as a millinery (women’s hatmaking) shop by a Mrs. Bonnett, who was married to a tailor. Her grandson owned the building until the 1980s. The stoops are still emblazoned with the company name:

Lien’s Garage

One of the newest buildings downtown, circa 1910, this Commercial style design reflects the change from richly detailed Italianates to simpler architecture influenced by the Chicago School. Built as a garage (the leftmost bay appears to have original hinged doors?), it has been painted and lately ivy is growing across the facade.

Wake Bakery

Another Commercial style design, this one at least has some brick corbelling and a cornice to combat the monotony a bit.

126 South Ludington Street

This highly altered design still sports its denticulated cornice and textured brick panels.

Fuller Building

The NRHP listing notes this 1857 building’s similarity to the Whitney Hotel, as its metal hood molds are almost identical, and speculates they were built by the same person. It has more detailed brick corbelling, though.

Griswold Block

This odd building actually consists of two disparate parts, built in 1868, though they were combined in 1968. It was built by the Griswold family for their general store. (George Griswold also built a house near the library, which I covered in an earlier post.) This store operated until 1915, and various businesses have used the two buildings since. Interestingly, the Ludington Street side housed the city’s first pharmacy, and it remains one to this day, more than 150 years later.

The southern module, which seems to have a bricked-up central window:

The northern unit’s east facade:

It’s odd how the brick cornice is interrupted here, which is unusual among these brick Italianates. That same move continues around the north facade, which seems to have had one of its storefronts bricked up too:

E. Clarke & Julia Arnold House

I apologize for the quality of these next two pictures, since I was lazy and took them out of the window of my car. (To be fair, this is someone’s house that I was creepshotting.) This 1956 house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonian style, which represents his planning ideals for the United States during the mid-century era and adapts the forms of his earlier Prairie style. Like the ranch houses common during the era, this house is very horizontal and low-slung, but it uses much better materials and is designed more intentionally. A 1959 addition for an extra bedroom  was approved by Wright before his death. The house was listed on the NRHP in 2007.

Kurth Brewery

You’ve heard the Kurth name before in these posts, but this building is the only existing part of the brewery. The company was founded in 1859 and by 1914 was producing 100 barrels a day. Much of the factory burned down in 1916, and the brewery ceased operations in 1949. However, this bar to showcase the company’s products still stands, and it is still owned by the Kurth family and operates two days a week.

Sources:

https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a61f3033-cff7-4e0e-b68c-712ef52d0c2b/

https://columbus-wisconsin.fandom.com/wiki/Whitney_Hotel

Columbus WI Trip, pt. 4 - North Ludington Street

June 2025.

This dump post covers Ludington Street north of James Street in Columbus, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, many of these buildings are similar-looking and highly altered, so this entry won’t be as detailed as the ones before. The NRHP listing also fails to elaborate on several buildings as well.

103 North Ludington Street

An odd red (though painted) building in a downtown landscape dominated by shades of buff and tan, this 1852 Italianate supposedly contains an unaltered third floor meeting hall. Certain areas such as the cornices appear original, though they are in poor repair.

Beier & Steinfeldt

Half of this 1856 Italianate (107 N Ludington) has been painted white, which achieves a pretty interesting effect in the sunlight. The light color actually emphasizes the play of light and shadow seen elsewhere on these brickwork facades. Its neighbor 111 N Ludington appears to have been built at the same time, but its facade remains original.

Topps Dry Goods & Grocery

These two different buildings have been united under the same Art Moderne storefront, but they were in fact built by the same store owner. The northernmost (at right) is the typical 1850s brickwork Italianate seen elsewhere in Columbus, but the southern building is an 1886 Commercial style design with a prominent cornice and large second-floor windows (since altered).

133 North Ludington Street

Another typical brick Italianate that has been heavily altered, I didn’t skip this one because of the interesting paint job that has been applied to its facade. Bubbly!

Tremont Hotel

Historic photo of the Tremont Hotel from an unknown year, but the building has been highly altered by this point. (The Historic Tremont)

A three-story Richardsonian Romanesque design, the Tremont Hotel was one of downtown’s grandest buildings at the time of its construction. It opened in 1892 and replaced the “Farmer’s Hotel” on the site. With 28 guest rooms, a ground floor restaurant, and a connection to the Leitch Building’s tavern next door, Tremont Hotel was popular with visitors due to its proximity to Columbus’s train station.

These styles of hotels eventually became unpopular as rooms with ensuite bathrooms became more common. It was likely converted to apartments at this point, and the building was eventually altered, having its first floor windows replaced by tiny ribbons of glass. By the 1990s, the Tremont Hotel was used as low-income housing, still retaining its communal bathrooms. 

In 2014, the Tremont Hotel suffered a fire, which was luckily extinguished by the fire department in time to save the building. Plans for its renovation began as early as 2016, but these never came to fruition. The building was purchased by a group called “The Historic Tremont, LLC” in 2025, which will renovate the former hotel into six apartments with commercial space on the first floor. This work is expected to be completed in summer 2026.

Here is the principal facade of the Tremont Hotel:

Note the red brick walls here, which are accented with red sandstone courses. The facade is divided into three bays by four pilasters. The base features a vaulted portal to the hotel doors inside:

The cornice features pinnacles where the pilasters end and volutes, and the building’s name and date of construction are inscribed into stone panels:

This little alcove is remarkably intact despite the paint. The doors, framing, and tin ceiling are all original features.

I’m unsure if the painted sign is original, because it seems to be in unusually great shape, but it’s still pretty cool:

The other doors have their transoms obscured, but the original doors are there too:

Leitch Building

Historic photo looking south down Ludington Street. The Leitch Building is at right. (The Historic Tremont)

This 1875 Italianate was named after a prominent Columbus businessman, and a saloon operated on the ground floor for some time. Its brick materiality is similar to other buildings nearby, but the segmentally arched windows and cornice are unique here. The beams for the storefront itself are intact, but the remainder has been altered.

The north facade is more regular and divided into four by pilasters. The first floor has been painted white:

124-130 N Ludington

More Italianates, the one on the right being heavily altered with a new storefront and siding on the facade.

Bassett & Davies Block Addition

This richly detailed Italianate completed in 1877 is an addition to its southern James Street partner. You may notice that several features line up with or relate to the original 1873 building, such as the cornice and its pointy eaves. However, it is more elaborate in other areas and remains largely unaltered today.

Storefront detail:

A very rare example of an intact Italianate storefront in Columbus, this one has great pointy arches with stonework that emphasizes the vaulting. The arches are supported by iron Corinthian columns and two pilasters in the middle. Above this first floor is a bracketed cornice. Aside from the doors and likely the windows, this area seems to be almost completely original to 1877.

Second floor and cornice:

The cornice has the same design as its neighbor with corbels and a steeply pitched central gable. Note that the corbels line up with the blind arches’ springers below, which in turn line up with the way the bays are divided across the rest of the facade. It’s subtle, but even elaborate buildings like these can express their construction.

The final Columbus post covers the rest of Ludington Street and a couple other miscellaneous buildings.

Sources:

https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a61f3033-cff7-4e0e-b68c-712ef52d0c2b/

https://www.thehistorictremont.com/tremonthistory

Columbus WI Trip, pt. 3 - East James Street

June 2025.

Continuing eastward from my previous post on West James Street in downtown Columbus, Wisconsin, where it meets Ludington Street, we can explore some more salient historic buildings on the street.

Bassett & Davies Block

This 1873 building is significant because it was associated with two early Columbus settlers, who operated the second general store in the town and eventually constructed this building, featuring interesting pointy eaves and a finely decorated cornice. The storefronts were altered in the 1980s and the windows have also been replaced by smaller ones, but the rest of the building is intact. Subtle piers divide the building into bays, which are reinforced by the bracketed cornice lining up with these divisions.

A prominent double-arched window in the middle centers the James Street facade and draws attention to the gable above. Curiously, the original entrance was not centered, but it was diagonal as it is now.

West facade:

107 East James Street

The NRHP listing conflates this building with its neighbor, but upon further inspection it is a distinctive design. It has an oddly dense cornice compared to its surroundings, but the hood-molded windows and Italianate design are very typical for downtown Columbus.

Farnham Block

The NRHP entry is unclear about this building, so I’m going to assume that it is all one design despite the appearance of the easternmost unit. It originally housed the store of Friedrich Farnham, who was a prominent figure in the local produce business.

This unit above was articulated similarly to the others, so I assumed it was a product of the elevation of James Street changing. What confused me is how the NRHP listing considers this next section at 111 W James to be part of the same building. The bricks, hood molds, and cornice are all different.

The recessed arched windows are very odd and ahead of their time.

Turner & Blumenthal

Though the standing building dates to 1894, William Turner started his marble cutting business on the site in 1867. He was joined by partner Herman Blumenthal in 1878, and their business eventually held multiple cutting sheds and a display yard. The two did stonework for several buildings in Columbus, such as the Brown Block. Turner’s son followed his father’s footsteps, and the company lasted until the 1950s. However, the 1894 building also was used to print the Columbus Republican beginning in 1918.

150-158 E James

These three identical, heavily altered brick buildings may be the Firemen’s Tavern, Columbus’s oldest commercial buildings which were built in 1852. The earliest occupants were a cooper (barrel maker) and tailor, and the interiors were later combined into one boarding house. The Kurth Brewing Company bought the building and rented it to barkeepers to sell Kurth beer until 1946, the name Firemen’s coming from the fire chief owning a restaurant inside. It was open at the time the NRHP listing was written but has been closed since.

Kurth Tavern

This Commercial style building is known as the Kurth Tavern (corroborated by the K on the datestone) and was completed in 1898. The arched portal with decorated springers is notable, as is the pedimented cornice.

The next post returns to the intersection of Ludington Street and James Street and north from there.

Sources:

https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/a61f3033-cff7-4e0e-b68c-712ef52d0c2b/