County of house: Franklin County
Location of house: W. 4th St., between Lafayette St. & Oak St., south side, Washington
Built: 1873
Architectural Style: Victorian Missouri-German sub-type: Folk Victorian
"Double entry door with half-sphere lights above. Upper window sash curved on facade. Brick arches above opening. Wooden bracketed cornice. Pedimented dormers.
"Gable first masonry addn. at rear Circa 1895
flanked by enclosed frame and open frame lattice storage areas.
"stands in Block 7 of the Mary North Addn.; parcel was owned
1880=96 by the Henry Degen Estate. The block was vacant in the 1869 Bird's
Eye View." ~ DNR Historic Survey PDF page 166
"The Henry Degen house, at 112 West Fourth Street, in Washington, Missouri, is a one
and one-half story brick Double Entrance house with a stone foundation and full basement It has
a side facing gable roof, and a prominent bracketed wooden cornice. It has a five bay facade, with
an ornate front porch across the center bay. There are two front doors beneath the porch which are
set into a single opening in the brick wall. The doorway and the openings of the flanking windows
have segmental arched tops. The tops of the front two-over-two window sash, which are early or
original, are curved to fit the arched openings. The top panels of the front doors, and the lights in
the transoms above the doors, have semi-circular tops. The form of the house is common to
traditional Missouri-German architecture; ornamental details on the house and porch are more
typical of Italianate style buildings. The house is therefore representative of Property Type D.
Victorian Buildings, Subtype: Victorian Missouri-German, and meets the registration requirements
set forth in the MPS cover document "Historic Resources of Washington, Missouri."
"The building was built ca. 1873, and saw minor rear additions between 1898 and 1907; the
period of significance is thus ca. 1873-ca. 1907. It appears that the Degen house, like many Double
Entrance houses in Washington, may have been a two-family dwelling at some point The interior
of the building has nearly identical halves, and at one time had two full sets of stairs, set side by
side. It also appears that the front of the house was originally a full two stories tall at the front
The basement windows on the front of the house are full height, and the front rooms of the
basement are fully finished. Early Sanborn maps indicate that by 1893, the house was functioning
as a single family dwelling, and that the lot had taken its current flat grading. The house has
therefore had its current use, and exterior appearance for more than a century. Overall, the
building is very much intact, inside and out Nearly all early interior and exterior features,
including doors, windows, and woodwork, are unchanged and in very good condition. The house
looks and functions today much as it did a century ago. As a Double Entrance house with
Italianate detailing, it is a highly intact example of the Victorian Missouri-German subtype." ~ NRHP Nomination Form