September 22, 2014 at 4:06 p.m.
Tour of historic homes highlights Rhinelander's past
Tour of historic homes highlights Rhinelander's past
By Kayla Thomason-
One of the stops on the tour was a mediterranean-style house, located at 306 Dahl St., built in 1923 by Solon and Mathilda Sutliff.
"(Sutliff) was a businessman in Rhinelander for many years. He had a building materials business and so a lot of materials that he used in the house was sort of ahead of its time," said Pat LaPorte, who has owned the house for 20 years.
LaPorte is the third owner of the house and used the building's blueprints to remodel it to its former glory.
"It's a treasure, it is the only house in Rhinelander that is on the National Historic Register," she said.
Kathi Hoganson was one of approximately 50 people who took the tour. She said she found the woodwork in LaPorte's house interesting. She was also impressed by the tile and gorgeous carvings in the wood fireplace.
Another home on the tour was 231 E. Rives St.
"This house was built by the first district attorney in Rhinelander - so nice and close to the courthouse," said Ann Zenk, owner of the home.
Zenk has lived in it for seven years and is the fourth owner.
The square parts of house were built in the late 1880s/early 1990s. The wraparound porches and bowed windows were added in the early 1900s, according to Zenk.
A lot of the original wood trim, stained glass windows and a cook stove are still a part of the home.
"I loved the unusual chip work on the woodwork, it is something I have not seen, really beautiful," said tour participant Sally Latimer.
Surprisingly the old wood stove still works and heats up the three-season room quite nicely.
"[The house is] fun, it's not quite as fancy as some of the other ones but it's very original and probably one of the older houses," Zenk said.
The house was remodeled and painted in Victorian colors to bring it back to its original style.
"I think that the fact that you can kind of see the progression through the decades, without it being jeopardized in a sense, where they may have added walls but they still kept the integrity of the remaining walls or they added to make sure the woodwork was incorporated with that is really impressive," said tour participant Maggie Steffen.
Another home on the tour, 4 Oneida Ave., has wood floors, high ceilings and brighter colors.
"It's a lovely place with lots of wonderful windows and light, it's a very uplifting place to be," said tour participant Susan Anderson.
An interesting feature is two of the bedrooms have sinks, which were installed when indoor plumbing was introduced.
"There's only been two families that have owned this property (and it has) a lot of original woodwork," said Christy Schneider. "Nothing's been painted."
The house has a horse hitch attached to the side of it as well as the original horse barn.
"What I like most of all the old homes is the beautiful woodwork and the beautiful doors and the original floors, all of the craftsmanship that you don't see in new houses today," said tour participant Shirley Sowinski.
Those who took the tour were grateful to the homeowners for sharing their homes.
"I just am so thankful to all the people that opened their homes to us because I've always wanted to see some of these homes and it just was a great opportunity to do that," Sowinski said.
"[The Historic Home Tour] is just wonderful and if this can grow it would be great for the community," Hoganson added.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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