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 Oliver L. and Catherine Link House at 1005 Jefferson, St. Charles (St. Charles County), Missouri was constructed in 1895 based upon designs of the owner. It is a two and one-half story, yellow brick single family house with a raised basement. It is located on a large lot on the south side of Jefferson between Ninth Street and Kings Highway, in a late nineteenth and early twentieth century neighborhood seven blocks from the St. Charles County Courthouse and less than ten blocks from the historic central business district that parallels the Missouri River. This Richardsonian Romanesque design has the characteristic hipped roof with cross gables, round tower with a conical roof, uniform masonry finish highlighted by occasional limestone belt courses, large round arched opening over the entryway, and one-over-one sashed windows that distinguish this style.
"The Oliver L. and Catherine Link House, located at 1005 Jefferson, St. Charles (St. Charles County) is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C: Architecture for its distinctive Richardsonian Romanesque design. The two and a half story house has a large round tower on one corner and heavy arches above the entry and front façade first floor window as well as a cross-gabled roof with a slight flair at the eaves and heavy dormers. It also has a monochromatic appearance with its limestone and yellow brick, all typical of Richardsonian Romanesque design and it is one of only three Richardsonian Romanesque designs in the large Midtown St. Charles neighborhood (which has more than 500 residences).
The Oliver L. and Catherine Link House was designed by its owner, Oliver Link, who was an executive for the American Car and Foundry Company who also designed multiple inventions for the company.
Link was also an important member of the St. Charles community and was elected as a member of the city council numerous times serving a total of nineteen years (non-consecutively) on the council as well as spending time working for the water department. Because of Oliver Link’s prominence in the community both as an inventor and executive for the town’s major industry, and because this house is the most closely associated building with Oliver Link, it is also eligible
under Criterion B: Invention for its association with Oliver Link. The Oliver L. and Catherine Link House is locally significant and the period of significance is 1895 through 1942, which spans the time from the completion of the house to Oliver Link’s death." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1895
Style/Design: Richardsonian Romanesque
The County’s tax parcels database gives the date of construction of this house as 1895, and this appears to be correct. Oliver Link bought the property in 1894 for $900 and in 1896 the property was assessed for $3,500, indicating the house had been constructed by then. The Oliver L. and Catherine Link family owned the house from its construction in 1895 through at least 1952. According to his obituaries, Mr. Link was born in Pennsylvania, moved to St. Charles in 1885, and married Catherine in 1890. He served as an executive at the American Car and Foundry Co. for 55 years, working as a foreman in various metal departments. He served on the St. Charles City Council for 19 years, being elected first in 1895 and re-elected in 1909 and
1928. He retired from office in 1936. He also served at the waterworks department. According to the February 8, 1942, obituary, “He was the inventor of a number of mechanical devices eagerly accepted by the car-building trade.” According to www.google.com/patents, from 1900 through 1933 Link patented at least seven inventions that were related to railroad cars. After Mr. Link’s death, Mrs. Link continued to occupy the house, but by 1952 her son Warren F. Link was the property owner. The house was vacant in 1955, and then in 1957 it was occupied by Harold and Kathleen Silverman. Floyd E. and Hazel Wimberly were the occupants in 1959, and he was a pipeline contractor. The city directories do not indicate that either the Silvermans or Wimberlys owned the property. The house was vacant again in 1961 when research ended.
"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