Wilcox Building -- Yankton Commercial Historic District, Yankton SD
N 42° 52.198 W 097° 23.639
14T E 631180 N 4747625
The Wilcox Building is a contributing building to the Yankton Commercial Historic District, in Yankton SD
Waymark Code: WM17G7B
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 02/16/2023
Views: 2
The Wilcox Building is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building to the Yankton Commercial Historic District as follows:
From the NRHP nomination form for the Yankton Commercial Historic District: (
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"Wilcox building
200 West Third
History
Built by E. P. Wilcox in 1888, this building was designed by architect J. H. Coxhead of St. Paul, Minnesota. William Glenfield was superintendent of work. Western Portland cement (listed on the National Register) use this as office space when the building opened. Later, American Mortgage Company and Dakota National Bank use the facilities. Since the 1890s, many of Yankton's major business concerns were headquartered here.
Description
Rectangular in shape, three stories in height and constructed of brick, this commercial building gives the impression of a flat slab structure. Composed into base of the front façade and ate along the side, the building breaks the flat wall with a slight projection of the center three bays, corbelling at the cornice line and a rust dictation of the store on the first floor. Decorative banding over the arched windows on the second floor is Thin and flat, heightening the two-dimensional surface. The building is by no means molded in plastic, rather it emphasizes it straightforward and precisely articulated block with the assured composition and spare use of detail.
Significance: architecture, business
The pivotal building of the district, the Wilcox block is an extremely well-designed commercial building which marks the very center of the district. The building is the most graceful example of a Richard Sony and Romanesque design in the city. A much more complex composition than any of the other buildings in the district, it blends the solid massing common to Romanesque structures with the light and elegant use of contrasting materials, colors, solids and voids, rectangles and semicircles. The structure is the architectural Keystone for the district."