County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: N 5th St., @ Washington St, W side, St. Charles
Built: 1923
Architect: Unknown
Architectural Style: Craftsman
Original Occupant: Lawrence H. and Mayme Platte
Map
"53. 131 North Fifth Street; Craftsman; circa 1923; Contributing
Built circa 1923, this 2½-story, side-gabled Craftsman house has a random rubble stone foundation, walls finished with stucco, and brick window sills and porch details. The gable roof has wide overhanging
eaves, as do the shed roofs of the porch and dormer. The dormer has 2 awning windows, each with a band of 3 small lights over a single large light. An interior brick chimney pierces the rear slope of the roof, and an exterior end brick chimney is on the north elevation. A shed roof extends over ¾ of the first floor of the façade and covers a porch at the south end and an original sunroom on the north. Opening
onto the 1-bay porch is a 6-panel door with a 12-light wood storm door, and to each side is a 4-light sidelight situated above a paneled skirt. The porch has a tiled stairway flanked by stucco knee walls with brick piers, a concrete deck, arched openings (one on each elevation) supported at the outer corner by a brick pier with concrete cap, and a stucco half-wall railing. The knee walls and railing have brick copings. The sunroom has 1 pair of casement windows on the north and south elevations and a band of 3 pairs on the façade. Each casement window has a band of 3 short vertical lights over 2 tall vertical lights. On the second floor are 3 double-hung windows, each having muntins set near the upper rail and stiles of the upper sash.
a. Garage; 1984; Noncontributing
Built in 1984, this front-gabled, 3-car garage has vertical board siding and a concrete foundation. On the west façade is a paneled wood 2-car overhead door and to the south is a taller, 1-car overhead door." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1921-1925
Style/Design: Craftsman
Built between 1921 and 1925 based upon the city directory research (and verified by the fire insurance maps showing it was built between 1917 and 1929), the Lawrence H. and Mayme Platte House was the home of one of the city’s building contractors. The Platte family continued to live in the house at least through 1961, when research ended and at that time Lawrence was still listed as a building contractor. Prior to the construction of this house, it appears this lot was undeveloped and it was part of the large residential lot for the house at 125 N. Fifth.
"This 2.5 story, side gabled, stucco, Craftsman house has wide eaves (that probably had exposed rafters originally) both on the main roof and on the shed roofed porch and the broad, shed dormer centered on the façade. The paired dormer windows each have an awning window with a 3/1 muntin pattern (covered by paired sliding storms). The second floor of the façade has three windows, with muntins near each side and top of the upper sashes, a distinctly Craftsman window style. The full width, shed roofed porch is partially enclosed (originally) as a sunroom, with one window on each side and 3 windows spanning the façade of the sunroom, each having paired casements with three vertical lights across the top of two tall vertical lights. The south third of the porch is a corner porch with arched openings (one on each elevation) supported at the outer corner by a brick pier. There is a
stucco half wall railing along the south side and the façade is spanned by concrete steps framed by stucco knee walls with brick
piers. Brick forms the cap on the knee walls and half wall railing, as well as the window sills. The front door has a twelve light wooden storm door and four light sidelights, but the actual door seems to be a replacement 6-panel door and it is likely the original door was also similar to the storm door. There are windows scattered on each side elevation, often casement windows, a gabled roof supported by knee braces over the south side entry and a flattened bay with a shed roof on the north side. There is also a brick, end wall chimney on the north side. On the rear, there is a small one-story wing with a porch on the south side, both of which appear to be original to the building since they are shown on fire insurance maps. The soffits have been clad with vinyl and windows are covered with aluminum storms that do not match the muntin lines of the windows. The stucco is noted on the fire insurance maps, and appears to be original to the design. The shutters do not appear to be original and they detract from the
Craftsman design.
"Built in 1984, the end gabled, three car garage has vertical board siding and a concrete foundation. The garage is divided into two bays with one bay having a two-car overhead door and the other bay having a taller, one car overhead door. Noncontributing." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey p Phase I, PDF pages 647-650