County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: N 5th St. & Monroe St, SW corner, St. Charles
Built: 1909
Architect: Unknown
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival influence
Original Occupant: Hammer, Fred W. and Carrie
Map
"57. 225 North Fifth Street; Colonial Revival influence; 1908; Contributing
Situated on a corner lot, this 2-story, frame house rests on a scored concrete foundation that is pierced by 2-light awning windows. The walls are finished with weatherboard siding and the hipped roof has wide overhanging enclosed eaves and a brick straddle ridge chimney. The façade is distinguished by its 1-story, recessed, 2-bay porch, which has a scored concrete foundation; a wooden deck; square, paneled, corner column; and the original simple wood balustrade with a square, capped newel post. Within the porch area is a 1/1 wood window to the south of a half-light, 2-horizontal panel door that is topped by a single-light transom. To the north of the entrance is a 1/1 wood window and there are 2 windows on the second floor.
a. Garage; circa 1923; Contributing
Built circa 1923, the 1-story, 2-car garage has a medium-pitched, side-gabled roof and board-and-batten siding. The sliding door on the south end of the west façade is a combination of bead board and wide
vertical boards and the north door opening has 2 hinged doors that appear to be plywood." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1909 ca.
Style/Design: Colonial Revival influence/Two Story Hipped
Built between 1908 and 1909 since it does not appear in the 1908-09 city directory, but is shown on the 1909 fire insurance map,
the Fred W. and Carrie Hammer House is an interesting example of a simple vernacular design. The paneled square column is
the only indication of stylistic influences, a Colonial Revival feature. Fred Hammer worked at the American Car and Foundry
Company and at the time the house was addressed as 223 N. Fifth. The Hammer family continued to live in the house through
1939, but that year they had a boarder, a nurse named Lillian Bishop. In 1941, Paul D. Diehr resided in the house, but in 1942
Joseph F. Boschert had moved in and he would continue to live there at least through 1961. By 1955, Clara E. Regan was living
in an apartment separately addressed in this house.
"This two story, hipped roof, frame house has wide, enclosed eaves. The house retains its original clapboard siding and crowned
trim around the 1/1 wood sashed windows. The façade is divided into two bays with 1/1 windows on both levels of the north bay
and one on the second floor of the south bay above the recessed corner porch. The porch features a square, paneled, corner
column and the original simple wood balustrade railing that extends from the corner along the south side of the porch opening and
across the façade to a square, capped newel post. There is a 1/1 sashed window to the south side of a transomed, half light, two
horizontal panel wood entry door. The wood porch floor has a concrete block foundation and wood porch steps. The north street
elevation is divided into three bays with windows on each level of the front two bays and a canted, hipped roof bay window in the
west bay that has a sashed window on each of the three sides of the bay. On the rear of the house there is a shed roof supported
by curved braces over the back door and at the southwest corner of the house is another recessed first floor porch, but this one
has a simple square post at the corner and railing along the south side with a second rear entry door. There is a brick interior
chimney. Basement windows are 2-light awning windows. The house has wooden storm windows and interchangeable screens.
The house appears to have no alterations.
"At the rear of the property is a one-story, 2-car garage with medium gable roof and board-and-batten siding. The two garage
doors on the alley (west) side have been reworked. On the south end is a sliding door made of a combination of bead board and
wide vertical boards, and it appears that either plywood or metal has been added to the bottom of the door. The north garage
door opening has two hinged doors that appear to be made of plywood. There is a single six-light sash on both the north and
south elevations, and on the 4-bay east elevation are two bead board single-leaf man doors in the center two bays and six-light
sash in the outer bays. This is a rare example of an early garage that has not been extensively altered. It was built between 1917
and 1929 based upon the fire insurance maps. Contributing." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase I, PDF pages 664-668