Elizabeth Plankinton House

Elizabeth Plankinton House
Elizabeth Plankinton House
Alternative names	Knights of Columbus Building
Etymology	Elizabeth Plankinton
General information
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque
Address	1432 Grand Avenue
Town or city	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Country	United States
Construction started	1886
Construction stopped	1888
Demolished	11 October 1980
Cost	$100,000
Technical details
Material	Stone
Floor count	3
Design and construction
Other designers	Edward Townsend Mix

The Elizabeth Plankinton House was a stone structure in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, intended to be the residence for Elizabeth Plankinton. Built between 1886 and 1888 by John Plankinton for his daughter as a wedding gift, it cost at least $100,000 (equivalent to $26.4 million in 2015). Architect Edward Townsend Mix designed the house in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It was located opposite John Plankinton's own house on Grand Avenue in an upscale residential area of the western part of the city, near other mansions. Mrs. Margaret Johnston was the only person to have a permanent residence in the house (1896–1904). The Knights of Columbus used the property between 1910 and 1978. Despite being listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the house was demolished on 11 October 1980 to make way for student facilities for Marquette University.

The three-bedroom house was located at 1432 Grand Avenue, later known as 1492 West Wisconsin Avenue (north side between 14th Street and 15th Street), in Milwaukee. The Knights of Columbus had the house number changed from "1432" to the more historic (and Columbus-related) "1492" date, and it was also referred to as the "Knights of Columbus Building". Local historians H. Russell Zimmermann and Mary Ellen Young attribute the house as being designed by Edward Townsend Mix. It was a three-story stone structure with an attic and basement. According to the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) done in 1980 by the United States Department of the Interior, the house was constructed between 1886, when ownership was transferred to Elizabeth, and 1888, when it appears in Rascher's Fire Insurance Atlas of the City of Milwaukee. Zimmerman notes that an inscription dated 1887 was discovered on a piece of roofing slate in 1979, and suggests that the house was likely finished in that year; unfortunately, Elizabeth's husband-to-be married another woman in September 1887. Reports of the costs of construction vary from $100,000 to $150,000 (equivalent to $26.4 to $39.6 million in 2015).