County of building: St. Charles County
Location of building: N 3rd St. & Morgan St., SW corner, St. Charles
Built: c. 1865
Architectural Style: Italianate
Classified: C
Frenchtown District Map
"Late Victorian, circa 1865-1905, Coded C
Represented in this chronological period are 62 buildings
(about 30% of the total) whose forms and detailing frequently mix
various related Picturesque styles, including Italianate, Mansard,
Gothic Revival, and Queen Anne. Eighteen of the total are frame and
the remainder are brick. The majority of these buildings express
stylistic influence primarily in ornamental detailing, new roof forms and in irregular plan shapes in houses. Italianate examples are
limited to two, 1860s large brick houses featuring prominent bracketed
cornices and to a couple of commercial/residential buildings which employ bracketed cornices, and in one case, an ornamental cast Iron storefront. New picturesque roof profiles are found in houses exhibiting dormered mansard roofs (and Italianate
bracketed cornices), or prominent gable-front facades; separately,
roofed, spindlework wood porches are also typically found sometimes in more conversative side-gabled houses. Gable front-and-wing designs as well as cross-gable extensions from hipped roofs create irregular plans or several small houses and also as a few two-story Queen Anne houses which feature decorative surface patterning on gables. One two-story commercial building at 900 N Second employs a Mansard roof.
" ... Among the few houses which rose two full stories or more are two atypical Italianate villa mansions, situated on spacious grounds. One of these, 305 Morgan was constructed circa 1865 by Prussian-born Christopher Weeke, who operated a mill in the SCO block of N. Second Street. " ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"St. Charles Italianate residences, few in number, date from the 1860s through the 1890's and are generally large houses built by prosperous middle-class German-born and native Americans. Their primary characteristic is an enriched cornice, usually bracketed. Roofs vary from low-pitched hipped to gabled and hipped combinations. Typically roundheaded windows are found, but segmental arches and even castiron pedimented lintels or ornamental hood moldings occur. Three fine early examples (1865-70) are located at 305 Morgan, built by Prussian merchant Christopher Weeke; at 709 N. Fourth, the home of W. A. Alexander, a Virginia-born lawyer, mayor of St. Charles in 1870; and 305 Chauncey, built by the St. Charles Building Company for German-born William E. Clauss, a hardware and implement merchant." ~ Final Report, St. Charles City Historic Survey page 9
"Built: c. 1655
Walls: Brick-Painted
Foundation: Concrete block
Roof: hipped
Architectural Style: Italianate
Pedimented cast on lintels trim windows. Corbeled brick forms cornice brackets. Ionic columns support curved porch
Appears on 1869 Bird's Eye View. Vinson states the house was built by Christopher Weeke, founder of the Weeke Mill; in 1891 the house was sold to James G. Lawler, Manager of the St. Charles Car Co. (Weeke was born in Prussia)
Framed, hipped roofed carriage house to rear." ~ St. Charles City Historic Survey pages 579-580