306 4th St N
Stillwater, MN 55082, USA

House

According to historical maps, this well cared for American Foursquare was built between 1904 and 1909. The two-and-a-half-story, frame home has a rock-faced concrete block foundation, clapboard siding and a hipped roof with flared eaves. American Foursquare refers to the form of the house. Foursquares typically have a simple box shape, are two or two-and-a-half stories in height, with a four-room floor plan, and were popular in the United States from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. While many were built with a low-hipped roof with deep overhang, a large central dormer, and a full-width porch with wide stairs, most foursquare forms borrowed details from other styles, including Prairie, Craftsman, Classical, or even Victorian detailing. This house is an excellent example of a Colonial Revival foursquare, as exemplified by the two-story pies on the corners of the house; the Composite columns, balusters, and brackets found on the front porch; and by the pedimented gable roof dormers on all elevations that have circular diamond-paned windows and one-over-one double-hung windows with diamond panes in the upper sashes. The house retains its original form, including the small one-story rear addition, screened-in porch on the southwest corner, and canted bay window on the north elevation. Despite the elaborateness of its design, little is actually known about its early history. After the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church moved locations in 1930, the congregation used this home as their parsonage. Reverend Ernest C. Benson resided here in the 1940s, and Reverend Norman P. Wold lived here in the 1950s.