County of building: St. Charles County
Location of building: N 6th St. & Lewis St., NW corner, St. Charles
Built: 1889
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Architectural Style: Folk Victorian
Original Occupant: John Wilke
Historic District Map
This wheel positioned along side the north side of this historic house. It seem to be a large buggy wheel, and in nice condition. Nothing around it, just the wheel to accent and adorn the house.
"42. 603 North Sixth Street; Folk Victorian; 1889; Contributing
Resting on a coursed rock-faced stone foundation, this 1½-story, painted brick Folk Victorian house has a cruciform plan. The steeply-pitched hip roof has intersecting cross gables on each slope, and it
is trimmed with a full denticulated and modillioned brick entablature with returns. A painted brick chimney with corbelled cap straddles the ridge of the hip and a plain interior end chimney is on the west end of the rear ell. A pedimented gabled dormer is on the south slope of the hip roof and on the west slope of the southern gabled wing. The walls of the dormers are finished with roofing shingles and the 1/1 double-hung wood windows are framed by fluted pilasters with plinth blocks and bracketed capitals. Each dormer has a richly molded entablature and in the tympanum is a jigsawn ornament. In the northern bay of the 2-bay façade is a ½-glazed, 2-panel Queen Anne wood door
with colored glass along the perimeter of the glazing, and there is a single-light transom. The door and window openings throughout the house are segmental arched and have radiating voussoirs and lug sills, and above the windows and transom are panels with incised foliated patterns. The 1-bay portico has a wooden deck and stairway, balustrade with turned balusters, turned posts and pilasters resting on paneled pedestals, corner brackets supporting a frieze with plain square spindles, and a steep hip roof trimmed with scroll brackets. To the south of the door is a 1-story box bay with a bellcast truncated hip roof trimmed with a plain entablature, and there are paired 1/1 double-hung wood windows on the east façade and single windows on the side elevations. Between the paired windows is a molded mullion with plinth blocks. In the upper half story is a 1/1 double-hung wood window.
The east elevation of each side-gabled wing holds a 1/1 double-hung wood window. The eastern end of the south elevation has a 1/1 double-hung wood window and in the southern wall of the gabled bay
is a 1-story polygonal bay with 3 windows and a bell-cast, truncated, polygonal roof." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1889
Style/Design: Folk Victorian
Although this address is not listed in the 1891-92 city directory, according to the plaque in the front yard the house was built in 1889 for John Wilke for his retirement. He came from Hanover, Germany, in 1834 and in the 1850s established a successful farm in Portage Des Sioux Township (now Orchard Farm). In 1902, in order to pay his heirs, the house was sold to the highest bidder, Henry Kettler, a family friend. The house remained in the Kettler family for almost 80 years.
"Resting on a coursed rock-faced stone foundation, this 1½-story, painted brick, Folk Victorian house has a cruciform plan.
The steeply-pitched asphalt hip roof has intersecting cross gables on each slope, and a painted brick chimney with corbelled cap straddles the ridge of the hip and a plain interior end chimney is on the west end of the rear ell. A full denticulated and modillioned brick entablature with returns trims the roof. A pedimented gabled dormer is on the south slope of the hip roof and on the west slope of the southern gabled wing. The walls of the dormers are finished with
roofing shingles and the 1/1 double-hung wood windows are framed by fluted pilasters with plinth blocks and bracketed capitals. The dormers have richly molded entablatures and in the tympanums are jigsawn ornaments. In the northern bay of the 2-bay façade is a half-glazed, 2-panel wood door that appears to have colored glass along the perimeter of the glazing, and the door is topped by a single-light transom. The door and window openings throughout the house are
segmental arched with radiating voussoirs and lug sills, and above the windows and transom are panels with etched foliated patterns. The door opens onto a 1-bay portico that has a wooden deck and stairway, balustrade with turned balusters, turned posts and pilasters resting on paneled pedestals, corner brackets supporting a frieze with plain square spindles, and a steep hip roof trimmed with scroll brackets. To the south of the entrance is a 1-story box bay with a bellcast truncated hip roof trimmed with a plain entablature, and there are paired 1/1 double-hung wood windows in the east elevation and single windows in the side elevations. Between the paired windows is a molded mullion with plinth block on the top and bottom. In the upper half story is a 1/1 double-hung wood window. The east elevation of each side-gabled wing holds a 1/1 double-hung wood window. The eastern end of the south elevation has a 1/1 double-hung wood window and in the southern wall of the gabled bay is a 1-story polygonal bay with 3 windows and a bell-cast, truncated, polygonal roof trimmed with a full entablature.
"This 83’x95’ corner lot is elevated above the public sidewalks that span both street frontages. A concrete sidewalk with four steps leads from Sixth Street to the portico, where it then turns forks to extend down the sides of the house. A Versalok retaining wall spans the southern lot line, and it is pierced by a concrete stairway with 8 steps. A wooden privacy fence encloses the rear yard. There are no outbuildings." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase IV, PDF pages 186-189