The Poeschel House - 1840 - Hermann, MO - Dated Architectural Structures Multifarious on Waymarking.com

County of house: Gasconade County
Location of house: E. 3rd St, middle of block, N. side of street, Hermann
Built: 1858-59/alt. c. 1890, c. 1920
Architectural Style: Federal Center Hall

"121 East 3rd Street, Engel Baumann House, 1858-59/alt. c. 1890, c. 1920, Contributing (survey #70)
Outbuilding: Smokehouse, contributing
This 2-story house has a parapeted side-gable roof with chimneys integrated in the end walls and sits on a stone foundation. The three-bay façade has a central two-leaf entrance with diamond-pain transom window. To either side are flat-arch window openings filled with modern replacement windows. The second floor has a central door providing access to the single-bay balcony. The door and balcony are flanked with flat-arch replacement windows. The house is built into a slope and a set of concrete stairs runs alongside the house from the sidewalk to the back yard or side entrance. Near the alley is a small brick smokehouse that adjoins the shed at 119 E. 3rd St." ~ NRHP Nomination Form

"There is a possibility that the upper story predates the lower as is the case with many houses on East Third street between Market and Schiller streets. Michael Poeschel definitely had a building on the site in the 1840s. In 1858-9 Engel Baumann either tore down the earlier building or incorporated it into the present building. Baumann gave no occupation in the 1860 census, and gave a reported wealth of $2,000 in real estate and the then large sum of $2,000 in personal property. In 1870 he described himself to the census-taker as a "window sash manufacturer."

"The 1869 birdseye view by Ruger shows an open rear porch and a one-story detached outbuilding. Both are probably contemporary to the main building. The open porch to the east is post 1917. Window sash on the façade is ca. 1890.

"General description: Two and one half story rectangle shaped building constructed of brick laid in common bond resting on a rock faced coursed ashlar stone foundation.

"setting: Like its neighbors to the west the house rests virtually at the sidewalk on the façade. The site was literally scooped from the hillside which rises to the north. The rear entry is at ground level at the second story level. The house is about one foot from the neighboring house to the west though the brickwork is joined at the first story level and open above. On the east there is a flight of stone steps beginning at the sidewalk and rising to the second story level piercing a stone retaining wall at the sidewalk which is approx. eight feet high. At the corner of the building flanking the steps is a stonework pilaster with a tooled and bordered shaft, moulded stone capital with another tooled and bordered stone above it. The base of the pilaster is beveled at the upper surface and has the same surface treatment. The threshold (flush with the stone retaining wall) is a large stone with tooled and bordered face. Flanking the stone steps is a stone parapet wall with smooth stone cap." ~ DNR Historic Survey  PDF page 428