408 South Washington Avenue
St Peter, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Sarah and Thomas Montogomery House

Statement of Significance:

The Montgomery House is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criterion C: Architecture, as an excellent example of the Italianate style applied to residences. Stylistic features of the Montgomery House include decoratively bracketed eaves under a low hipped roof; tall, narrow windows with elaborate arched hoods; and decorative bracketing and square columns on the open porch. The period of significance for the Montgomery House is its 1874 date of construction. The house was designed by a “Mr. Glover” for the Thomas Montgomery family. Montgomery, an Amiy major, sewed as an attorney dealing with real estate, collection, and insurance with his partner T.G. Carter.' The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) inventory identifies 10 Italianate houses in St. Peter built between 1854 and c. 1880, including the Montgomery House. The Montgomery House compares favorably to the other Italianate examples in St. Peter and is a distinctive, intact example of brick construction. The property contributes to the local context of “Residential Development, 1854- 1945,” detailed in St. Peter's Historic Contexts: Final Report of a Historic Preservation Planning Report.

Historic Context Residential Development in St. Peter
St. Peter’s residential areas were platted with wide streets and large parcels to make room for the potential growth as the state government center, though this vision was never realized. Residential lots were originally laid out on a skewed grid system oriented toward the Minnesota River, so lots in the earliest part of town have a northeast southwest orientation. As additions were acquired, the grid shifted away from the river to orient true north and south. By 1870, the city’s residential area was found along Washington, Front, Locust, and Broadway Streets, but soon grew beyond these limits. By the 1880s, the city had grown due to its status as a commercial center and seat of county government, boasting a population of about 4,000 in 1884.

Housing, such as the Montgomery property, that stood in the area around Minnesota Avenue - St. Peter’s main commercial street - allowed ready access to goods and services. Late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential units were primarily detached, single-family dwellings with carriage houses or other outbuildings to the rear of the lot. Some lots included housing for livestock before St. Peter passed an ordinance prohibiting this. The houses were generally constructed of wood frame or locally produced brick. St. Peter boasted a wide variety of residential architectural styles, including Italianate, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Queen Anne.

Italianate Architecture
Tuscan and sixteenth century Italian palazzo designs influenced the Italianate style popularized in the United States between 1850 and the early 1890s. Italianate styling was common in the Midwest - including Minnesota - and growing cities along the northeastern seaboard, although rare in the South due to economic conditions during the style’s popularity. It was a style shared by both wealthy and middle-income homebuilders of the time. Expensive houses were custom designed by an architect and had decorative features hand produced by craftsmen, and features found on the less expensive properties were factory produced and available through lumber yards and mail order catalogs.

The Italianate style was extremely popular for both residential and commercial buildings and was readily adaptable to an urban setting with narrow street frontages. In Italianate houses built on narrow residential lots, ornamentation was concentrated on the principal elevation, resulting in an elaborate, and sometimes flamboyant, appearance. It was common to employ ornamental details, such as brackets and columns in pairs. Low-hipped roofs with broad eaves emphasized the massing of the building below. The style is also marked by tall, narrow, windows that usually have an arched hood over them, and in some high-style cases, a cupola or tower.’ The Montgomery House displays many of these characteristic features, including a low roof, bracketed eaves, square porch columns, and narrow windows under arched hoods.

The Montgomery House compares favorably to other examples of the Italianate style in St. Peter and is distinctive for its brick construction. The SHPO inventory identifies 10 Italianate houses in St. Peter, including the Montgomery House. Of these, four exhibit brick construction, five are frame with clapboard or artificial siding materials, and one has a stucco exterior. Two Italianate style residences in St. Peter have been listed on the NRHP in 1983. The Henry A. Swift House at 820 Minnesota Avenue South, completed in 1857, has both late Federal and Italianate style features, including massing, hip roof, and paired brackets. The Frederick A. Donahower House at 720 Minnesota Avenue South is a two-story, brick Italianate style residence completed in 1865 and embellished by a dominant eave line supported by a combination of dentils, modillons, and paired brackets. Four of the 10 surveyed Italianate residences have been recommended as not eligible for the NRHP because modern alterations have diminished their historic integrity. The Montgomery House is a well-preserved example of a nineteenth-century Italianate residence in St. Peter.

The plans for the construction of the Montgomery House were described in the St. Peter Tribune on May 27, 1874, as follows: “The main building which the Major proposes to erect will be 27x31 feet, two stories high with addition in the rear 21x8, one and a half stories high, and one-story addition 16x10 feet. It will be frame with brick outside walls and sheathed on both sides of the studding. The plan shows a very convenient as well as a handsome dwelling and the cost will be among the thousands.