118 West 5th Street
Eyota, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Coan House

Statement of Significance:

The Goan House is significant as one of the best-preserved representatives of the Victorian domestic architectural design extant in Olmsted County. Although the house exhibits prominent hood moldings more reminiscent of Italianate style, the elaborate woodwork prominently featured on the north (front) gable end facade is largely characteristic of the Eastlake style. Among the more ostentatious nineteenth century home designs in Olmsted County, the Victorian Picturesque styles, particularly the Eastlake, do not appear as frequently as the Italianate; the Coan House is a relatively rare example. Its position in the residential area of the small trackside community of Eyota has rendered it a highly visible local landmark. Constructed slightly more than two decades after Eyota was platted on the Winona and St. Peter Railroad, the house is evidence of the adaptation of popular styles in even the smallest agricultural shipping centers of the county. The Coan family, who are believed to have built the house, owned it from 1888 until the 1940s, but the family's specific role in early Eyota has not been determined.