Lappin-Hayes Block - Janesville, WI
N 42° 40.975 W 089° 01.358
16T E 334290 N 4727587
This Lappin-Hayes Block was built in 1855 and stands on the site of the Henry F. James cabin. It is located at 20 E. Milwaukee St in Janesville, WI. Arthur Peabody and William J. Beauley were the architects.
Waymark Code: WM2E9M
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 10/19/2007
Views: 29
From the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection:
"The Lappin-Hayes Block is the focal point of the Main and Milwaukee intersection, and it has sheltered a great variety of enterprises over its 130-year history. The block stands on the site of Henry F. Janes' cabin, one the first dwellings constructed in Rock County. In 1842, Thomas Lappin erected a two-story store on this site. Thirteen years later he completed this four-story office block, a handsome Italianate style structure of cream-colored brick. Its details are typical of the Italianate blocks built in Janesville between 1855 and 1870. Particularly notable are the upper story windows; the window heads are treated differently at each story.
The original Lappin Block housed five ground-level stores leased by grocers, banks, and merchants, and upper story offices occupied by attorneys, real estate dealers, physicians, an architect, and other professionals. An early tenant was the Mutual Life Insurance Company, known today as the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. A public hall seating 800 persons occupied the upper stories, and a saloon was housed in the basement. Until 1870, when the Myers Opera House was opened, Lappin's Hall was the center of the city's cultural and social life.
In 1899, the building was purchased by Dennis and Michael Hayes, Janesville contractors. Their remodeling included the installation of an elevator and the construction of a new central lightwell. Exterior additions to the buildings included a Queen Anne style sheet metal cornice and two pressed-metal rounded bays at the corners. Much of the original 1855 building above the first floor was unaltered. Over the next seventy years, the building continued to house the offices of many prominent professionals."