County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: Jefferson St., 5th house W of 9th St., S side, St. Charles
Built: 1895
Architect/Builder: Oliver L. Link
Architectural Style: Richardsonian Romanesque
Original Occupant: Oliver Link
Map
The Person:
Oliver Louis Link was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1861. He moved to St. Charles in 1885 and married his wife Catherine Hugg in 1890. The Link’s had four children, two daughters, Pearl, born in 1892, and Olive born in 1895, and two sons, Warren, born in 1898, and LeRoy, who died as a child.
After moving to St. Charles, Link worked in a variety of positions for the St. Charles Car Manufacturing Company (which later became the American Car and Foundry Company) and he was first listed in the 1891-1892 city directories as an “employee” although he is thought to have
already worked for the company prior to moving to work at the St. Charles plant from Pennsylvania. By 1906 (the next available city directory), he was listed as a foreman for the American Car and Foundry Company and by the time of his death, his obituaries described him as a foreman in a variety of the metal departments who later became a long-time executive with the company. During his time at the American Car and Foundry Company, Link also worked as an inventor and innovator. He received at least seven patents for new train car parts. Link invented the “Link Door” (which is still in use today to couple train cars), new styles of water coolers, a buffing mechanism for diaphragm faceplates, and an ash pan for coal trains, among other patented inventions relating to the train industry.
In addition to his work at the American Car and Foundry Company, Link was also a leader in St. Charles’ civic community. Link worked with the water department for a time (while still working for the American Car and Foundry Company) and was first elected to the city council in
1895. Link was re-elected in 1909 and 1928, serving a total of nineteen (non-consecutive) years as a member of the city council before retiring from the office in 1936 after having a cerebral
hemorrhage. He died February 8, 1942, of another cerebral hemorrhage." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
The Place:
"Built: 1895
Style/Design: Richardsonian Romanesque
"The house appears to be individually eligible for the National Register for architectural significance and for its association with
Oliver Link. It is a good local example of Richardsonian Romanesque residential architecture. Alterations appear to be limited to
the enclosure of the second floor of the rear gallery, but this was sensitively done, with the enclosure set back from the porch’s
decorative features (posts, brackets and balustrade).
"Built in 1895, this two-and-one-half story, Richardsonian Romanesque style house rests on a coursed rock-faced stone foundation that is trimmed with an ashlar watertable and pierced by two-light basement windows with ashlar sills. The walls are constructed of narrow yellow bricks laid in a running bond pattern and the narrow joints are filled with red mortar. (This is one of very few historic houses in St. Charles to be built with yellow bricks.) The steeply-pitched hip roof has wide overhanging eaves, and on each side slope is an intersecting cross gable that is pedimented. The tympanum of each pediment is finished with a variety of patterns of slate shingles. Three tall, interior end, yellow brick chimneys with corbelled caps pierce the east and south slopes of the hip roof and the west gable, and both the east and south chimneys have an applied metal fleur de lis ornament. On the front slope is a hipped dormer with two 1/1 windows and side walls finished with asphalt roofing shingles.
"Dominating the main façade is a round three-story tower with conical roof clad with slate shingles, and the roof is topped by a copper finial. On both the first and second floors of the tower are three 1/1 windows set in segmental arched openings with radiating voussoirs while the third floor has three two-light hopper windows set in segmental arched openings. Ashlar belt courses under the windows form sills, and the first floor’s belt course extends to form the sill for the round-arched 1/1 window to the west. This window has a hood mold formed by radiating voussoirs with corbelled spring blocks and a molded brick cap. A one-story recessed porch is on the west end of the façade, accessed through a round-arched opening trimmed with a hood mold matching the window to the east. The four-foot wide, stained oak door has an opening filled with beveled glass, and underneath is a denticulated molding forming a sill and above is a swag. Below the glazing is a single panel holding a garland filled with the initials O.L. for the original owner, Oliver Link, and to each side of the panel is an urn filled with cattails and flowers. The door is topped by a single-light transom and to each side of the door is a wide single-light sidelight set above a molded panel and topped by a single-light transom. Paneled pilasters form mullions between the door and sidelights, and the east and west walls within the recessed porch are finished with paneled oak that has been stained. The porch opens onto a stoop with a brick knee wall railing with ashlar coping, and the wide stairway is stone. On the second floor of the main façade, to the west of the tower, is a 1/1 window and a pair of 1/1 windows topped by single-light transoms, and both openings are segmental arched. The paired windows are separated by a fluted mullion with plinth blocks and applied bullseye molding.
"The east elevation is highlighted by a two-tiered gallery that is situated between the round tower at the northeast corner of the house and a projecting cutaway gabled bay. The lower level of the gallery is accessed from a wooden stairway at the south end.
On each floor are slender Tuscan columns and engaged columns resting on pedestals and the balustrades have plain balusters.
Galleries with classical columns are typical of Queen Anne Free Classic style houses. To the south of the gallery is the two-and-one-half story cutaway gabled bay that has three 1/1 windows on the first two floors and a single 1/1 window in the gable end. On the first floor, to the south of the gabled bay, is a 1/1 window and a 2/2 window, and on the second floor is a single 1/1 window.
All of these openings are segmental arched. The only opening at the north end of the west elevation is a large stained glass stair
window set between the first and second floors. To the south is a two-story, polygonal, cutaway gabled bay that has a 1/1 window on each floor of the north canted corner but no openings on the west wall. All openings on this elevation are segmental arched with radiating voussoirs. To the south of the polygonal bay is a two-tiered gallery; the second floor has been enclosed but the enclosure is set behind slender square box columns with corner brackets and a balustrade with turned balusters. On the first level of the gallery large curved brackets at the top of the box columns and at the balustrade form oval-shaped openings.
"This large 100’x150’ lot is slightly elevated above the public sidewalk that spans the front property line. The original stone
carriage step is between the curb and public sidewalk. A concrete sidewalk with a single step provides access to the stoop and
recessed porch, and to each side of the stoop’s stair is a small shrub. Extending from the northwest corner of the house is a privacy fence, the upper half of which is latticework, and a pergola is set at the gate. Mature trees shade the property, and at the rear of the lot is a three-car, side-gabled, frame garage that was built in 1987. Two paneled overhead doors are on the south elevation and open onto the alley that dead-ends behind the property. The garage is noncontributing." ~ St Charles Historic Survey Phase II, PDF page 164-169