931 3rd Avenue Northwest
Faribault, MN, USA

National Register of Historic Places - John Gottlieb Pfeiffer House

Statement of Significance:

The Pfeiffer House Is significant within the context of the period of early settlement (ca. 1855-1875) in Faribault. This period encompasses roughly the first twenty years of settlement and corresponds to the Minnesota State Historical Society’s Early Agriculture and River Settlement context. Within that broad context, the Pfeiffer House is specifically significant as a particularly well-preserved example of the type of vernacular native stone housing built by Faribault’s working class during the early 5cttlement.days.lt is also significant for its association with stone cutter and mason, John Gottlieb Pfeiffer, who is recorded as having built or supervised the building of some of Faribault’s most outstanding native stone buildings.

Faribault’s early settlement period was marked by the rapid influx of a variety of ethnic groups, both Yankee and European, and the establishment of the early local economy. That economy included a mix of local businesses including dry goods and hardware stores, clothing stores, meat and grocery markets, drug stores, boot and shoe shops, a wagon and sleigh building shop, furniture stores, restaurants and saloons, livery stables and blacksmith shops. This period also witnessed the development and the decline of the highly competitive milling (lumber, wool, and flour) industry along the Straight River Valley. Another of Faribault’s earliest industries was the quarrying of stone. The variety of limestone that was quarried in this locale was eventually shipped throughout the region and was used for homes, churches and public buildings. The stone also comprises the building material of some of Faribault’s earliest buildings. Faribault’s later role in the regional economy was nurtured with the arrival of the first railroad in 1865 and the beginning expansion of trade outside the immediate vicinity of Faribault.

The rapid immigration to and formation of an economy in Faribault was owed to a location that initially brought settlers into Rice County via steam travel up the river valleys. As early as 1855, Faribault found Itself at the intersection of an early network of roads including the Lake Pepin, Spirit Lake, Dodd (and St. Paul), and Hastings roads that brought immigrants from all directions. Faribault’s strategic location on the Straight River and at the intersection of new roads, combined itself with an environment of bountiful waterways, hardwood forests, and farmland, and drew settlers who saw the potential for entrepreneurship and a better life.

The arrival of many ethnic laborers in Faribault, among them Irish and Gerroan stonemasons, influenced the design and material of many of Faribault's earliest buildings. Having come from areas in Europe with stone building traditions, these local builders continued to use their masonry skill and sense of design in many of Faribault's most handsome and well-constructed buildings.

The simple plan, modest size and minimal decoration of the Pfeiffer House is typical of the type of early settlement housing built by stone masons in Faribault. Because the house was built ten years after Pfeiffer settled in Faribault, the Federal design, though austere, probably represents the kind of house he aspired to. Although a rather late example, the Pfeiffer House characterizes the Federal style by its box-like plan, low pitched roof, and windows aligned horizontally and vertically in symmetrical rows. There are twelve other extant stone vernacular houses in Faribault, all built by working class families after an initial period of establishment within the Faribault economy. All exhibit simple plans, minimal stylistic embellishment, and labor-intensive building techniques. They are distinctive for their flush stone lintels, protruding door and windowsills, interior beveled window openings and approximately 20-inch deep walls. John Gottlieb Pfeiffer's life history and career as a stone cutter in Faribault is representative of other early working-class laborers who plied their trades and raised families in the city. Pfeiffer (1831- 1904) immigrated from Wurttemberg, Germany to the United States in 1853. Once here, he utilized his stone-cutting skills in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for two years before arriving in Hastings, Minnesota, a common point of entry to southeastern Minnesota from eastern states.

Pfeiffer was employed as a stonecutter in Faribault as early as 1856, traveling between there and his home in Waseca. Examples of his work in Faribault include the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour (1862) and its tower (1901) and the Immaculate Conception Church (1901) . He also is reputed to have supervised the cutting on the Minnesota Institute for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Building (no longer extant) and other unidentified public and state buildings in Faribault