County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: Jefferson St., 1st house E of Kingsighway St., S side, St. Charles
Built: 1904
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Architectural Style: Folk Victorian
Original Occupant: William F. and Wilhelmina
Wolter
Map
"314. 1111 Jefferson Street; Folk Victorian; 1904; Contributing
This 2-story frame Folk Victorian house rests on a coursed rock-faced stone foundation that is pierced by single-light wood windows and trimmed with a wooden water table. The walls are finished with
weatherboard siding and the roof is a combination gable and hip with wide overhanging eaves. An interior brick chimney pierces the left slope of the front gable and on the left slope of the hip is a hipped
dormer with rectangular ventilator. The dormer’s walls are finished with weatherboard siding and, like the roof of the house, the dormer’s roof is trimmed with a wide fascia board. The front gable is
pedimented and in the tympanum, which is finished with two types of shingles that create a circular pattern, is a tripartite opening that contains a central ventilator flanked by single-light casements. The
façade is L-shaped, with a 1/1 window and half-glazed wood door topped by a single-light transom in the north wall of the east wing and a pair of 1/1 windows in the front-gabled wing. The windows and door
have plain, slightly shouldered trim with molded caps and the door has a paneled 8-light wood storm door. An L-shaped gallery is on the north wall of the east wing and wraps around the east wall of the front-gabled wing. It has a wood deck with lattice panels underneath, turned posts supporting a gable-on-hip roof, and balustrade with turned balusters. Like the front gable of the house, the porch’s gable ends
are finished with shingles. A second door, which matches the first, opens onto the porch from the east wall of the front-gabled wing. On the second floor is a single window in the east wing and a pair of
windows in the front-gabled wing.
a. Garage; prior to 1929; Contributing
The 1-story, front-gabled, 1-car garage has novelty weatherboard siding. Paired vertical board doors are on the façade and on the west elevation is a 6-light wood window and a vertical board man door.
b. Carport; Noncontributing
West of the garage is a front-gabled, 1-car carport that does not appear to be historic. The roof is supported by plain square posts with corner brackets and the gable end is finished with novelty siding." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1904
Style/Design: Folk Victorian
According to a plaque in the front yard, the house was built in 1904 by the William Wolter family for $3,300 and remained in the family until 1980. The 1906 city directory shows that the home was owned by William F. and Wilhelmina Wolter, and he was a circuit clerk, judge, justice of the peace and also sold general insurance, surety bonds, and real estate. By 1950 Mrs. Wolter was a widow, but she continued to live in the house through at least 1952. By 1955 the city directory lists the owners as Ruth D. Wolter and Myrtle W. Wolter, and Myrtle was a clerk of the County Probate Court. Myrtle was listed as the homeowner from 1957 through 1961, when research ended. Her 1970 obituary states that she was born in the house in 1904, lived there her entire life, and served as the clerk of the Probate Court for 45 years.
"The present owners purchased the house in 1983, and according to the plaque in the yard they spent 15 years renovating six of the rooms themselves. The house has nine rooms and two sets of pocket doors, and all of the doors, windows and millwork have the original wood graining. The plaque states that “In 1985 the exterior was painted in true Victorian fashion, resulting in six different color hues in contrast to the white house that existed for 81 years. In the summer of 2000 a fourth bedroom was added, plus a complete renovation and expansion of the kitchen and two baths. The addition was concluded with the same millwork and graining technique used during the original construction of the house.”
"This two-story, frame, Folk Victorian house rests on a coursed, rock-faced stone foundation, which is pierced by single-light wood windows and trimmed with a wooden watertable. The walls are finished with weatherboard siding and the roof is a combination gable and hip with wide overhanging eaves. An interior brick chimney pierces the left slope of the front gable and on the left slope of the hip is a hipped dormer with rectangular ventilator. The dormer’s walls are finished with weatherboard siding and like the roof of the house, the dormer’s roof is trimmed with a wide fascia board. The front gable is pedimented and in the tympanum, which is finished with two types of shingles that create a circular pattern, is a tripartite opening that contains a central ventilator flanked by single-light casements. The house was originally cross-shaped, but the one-story porch along the east side of the rear ell has been enclosed and expanded to the east, giving the house an irregular footprint. The main façade is L-shaped, with a 1/1 window and half-glazed wood door topped by a single-light transom located in the north wall of the east wing and a pair of 1/1
windows in the front-gabled wing. The windows and door have plain, slightly shouldered trim with molded caps and the door has a paneled 8-light wood storm door. An L-shaped porch is on the north wall of the east wing and wraps around the east wall of the front-gabled wing. The porch features a wooden stair at the north end, wood deck with lattice panels underneath, turned posts supporting a gable on hip roof, and balustrade with turned balusters. Like the front gable of the house, the porch’s gable ends are finished with shingles that form a circular pattern. A second doorway opens onto the porch from the east wall of the front-gabled wing, and this is a half-glazed wood door with single-light transom and 8-light wood storm door. On the second floor is a single window in the east wing and a pair of windows in the front-gabled wing. The west elevation has four 1/1 windows on the first floor and three on the second, but there is also a stair window in the rear wing. A 1/1 window is on each floor of the west wing’s north wall. In addition to the door that opens onto the front gallery, the east elevation has two pairs of 1/1 windows, one of which is in
the addition, and on the north side of the addition is a single window. From front to rear, the second floor has a 1/1 window and a
pair of windows, and on the roof of the addition is a hipped dormer with 1/1 window. Information in the City’s address files and on
the plaque in the yard indicates that the addition was constructed in 2000.
"A public sidewalk spans the front of this property, which is 55 feet wide by 120 feet deep, and an alley extends along the rear. A
concrete sidewalk leads from the street to the portico where it then turns left to wrap around the east elevation and lead to the rear yard, which is enclosed with a wood picket fence. Shrubs are planted to the left of the gallery stairway and to the right is a landscape bed that wraps around the west elevation. This bed is edged with pavers and is filled with shrubs and crepe myrtles. A mature evergreen and hardwood tree are in the front yard and additional trees shade the rear yard, where a garage and carport are located. The garage appears to be the same structure shown on the 1929 Sanborn Insurance map, which is the first Sanborn map to cover this section of Jefferson Street. It is a one-story, frame, front-gabled, one-car garage clad with novelty siding.
Opening onto the alley is a pair of vertical board doors, and on the west elevation is a six-light wood window and a vertical board
man door. The garage is contributing. To the west of the garage is a front-gabled, one-car carport. The gable roof is supported by plain square posts with corner brackets, and the gable end is finished with novelty siding. The flooring of the carport is gravel and there is a gravel parking area to the west. The carport is not shown on the 1947 Sanborn map and does not appear to be historic; therefore, it is counted as noncontributing." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase II, PDF pages 278-283