Roscoe Hersey House
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Roscoe Hersey House
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The Roscoe Hersey House from the east
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| Location | 416 South 4th Street, Stillwater, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates | 45°3′9″N 92°48′33″W / 45.05250°N 92.80917°WCoordinates: 45°3′9″N 92°48′33″W / 45.05250°N 92.80917°W |
| Area | Less than one acre |
| Built | 1879–80 |
| Architect | George W. Orff, George Low |
| Architectural style | Eastlake/Queen Anne |
| MPS | Washington County MRA |
| NRHP reference # | 82003084 |
| Designated NRHP | February 19, 1982 |
The Roscoe Hersey House is a historic house in Stillwater, Minnesota, United States, built 1879–1880. It was designed by architect George W. Orff in a mix of Eastlake and early Queen Anne style. Roscoe Hersey (?1841–1906) was a key figure in Stillwater's lumber and mercantile development, the son and local representative of Isaac Staples' Maine-based business partner Samuel F. Hersey. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for having local significance in the themes of architecture, commerce, and industry. It was nominated for its embodiment of the commercial success of the Hersey–Staples partnership, the ties between the St. Croix Valley and Bangor, Maine, and the peak of Stillwater's lumber industry.
The Roscoe Hersey House is an irregular wood-frame building with 18 rooms. Besides its elaborate exterior decoration, its dominant feature are four two-story bays projecting from the north, east, and south elevations and the southeast corner. The house originally rose to another half-story, with the east bay above the main entrance extending into a three-and-a-half-story belvedere tower, but the building's upper reaches were destroyed in a 1926 fire, after which the roofline was restructured in its present configuration.
The house's decorative woodwork was made possible by the advent of machine production. Embellishments include friezes beneath the second-story windows and above the porches, scrolled brackets, and fluted columns.
Maine natives Samuel Hersey and Isaac Staples formed the firm of Hersey, Staples and Company in 1851 to harvest the rich pineries of the St. Croix Valley. With Hersey based at home in Bangor and Staples in charge of local operations, the firm grew into the largest timberland owner in the region, operator of a leading sawmill, and partner in other commercial endeavors.
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