Heckmann Speculative House - Hermann, MO - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

County of house: Gasconade County
Location of house: E. 1st St., 2nd structure E. of Market St., S. side, Hermann
Built: c. 1853/c.1880
Architectural Style: Folk Victorian

"110 East 1st Street, Heckmann Speculative House/Hermann German Methodist Church Parsonage, c. 1853/c.1880, Contributing (survey #17)
This two-story house began as a 1-story stone house c. 1853 and was greatly expanded with a brick second floor in c. 1880. The house has a pyramidal roof and a four bay façade. The entrance has a transom and sidelights and is sheltered beneath a single-bay hipped roof porch with Victorian scrolled brackets and turned posts. The first floor windows are 2/2 with wide triangular wood hoods. The second story windows are also 2/2, but have segmental brick arches. A hipped roof dormer with 2/2 window is centered on the steeply pitched roof." ~ NRHP Nomination Form

"The first story of the building is much earlier than the second. The original house was an end-gabled structure built as a speculation by Johann Heinrich Heckmann. Heckmann was an early resident of Hermann and had become a member of the German Settlement Society while residing in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. A carpenter by trade, it is said that he was the builder of many of the early houses. Heckmann built the first stage of the building between 1851 and 1853, and though he may have lived in the house for a short time, it is unlikely as he maintained his residence for many years on Wharf Street during this period. In 1857 he sold the house on First Street. In 1861 Christian Wehrner was in possession of the property and lived in the house for many years. Wehrner was responsible for the donation making the construction of a Methodist church possible on the adjacent lot. This house was used as the parsonage for many years.

"The house is unusual in its construction with stone walls covered with an early concrete stucco. Only one other roughly contemporary building which has a similar construction survives. The brick second story was added in the late 1880s, at which time the rear frame ell was probably added. At that time the porch was probably added and the windows changed on the first story.

"General description: Two and one half story rectangle shaped building built in two stages with the first story constructed of stone being the earliest with the brick second story added later.

"Setting: The house is flush with its neighbor to the east and sits virtually at the sidewalk. On the west there is an ample side-yard between it and the church which sits at the corner lot." ~ DNR Historic Survey   PDF page 19