Heritage Home Tours
On an autumn day in 2003, PAL sponsored its first Heritage Home Tour. Since then, PAL's home tours have become a popular event in La Crosse. They've provided La Crosse residents and visitors an opportunity to see the interiors of some of La Crosse's most interesting and beautiful old homes -- homes that they'd previously only wondered about when walking or driving by -- and they've provided PAL an opportunity to increase awareness of the importance of preserving the rich structural heritage of our city. Featured homes allow tour participants an "up close and personal" look at what careful renovation, restoration and preservation can accomplish. The photos below represent tours given from 2003-2011, and 2016. (Click on each picture below to learn about the properties own unique history)
Please contact us if you would open and share your home with the community.
221 11th St. S 2005 Tour
630 West Ave. S 2018 Tour
400 West Ave S 2018 Tour
111 9th St N 2018 Tour
Torrance House 726 Cameron Ave. The John Torrance house was constructed in the Queen Anne style by the owner of the Torrance Foundry in 1885. The house remained in the Torrance family for most of its history and is now occupied by only the third owners.
Sorenson House 225 8th St S The Ori J. Sorenson House was built in 1919 in the Neoclassical style. Sorenson established a contracting and construction business in la Crosse in 1887. It is likely that he designed and constructed his own house.
Meason House 208 9th St. S The L. E. Meason House was built in 1881 in a brick Italianate style. Louis Meason had an "artistic photography studio". The second owner was Dr. Eugene Gatterdam who lived in the house with his wife Nellie for 34 years.
Cargill/Pettibone House location 145 8th St. S This Italianate style house was built in 1876 by Henry Esperson. Grain merchant W.W. Cargill and lumber baron A.W. Pettibone also lived in the house. Pettibone, a three term mayor of La Crosse, still occupied this house at his death in 1915.
Mueller House Location: 128 South 14th Street Built: 1915-1916 Style: Prairie Style Architect: Percy Dwight Bentley Designed in 1914 for Emil T. Mueller, president of the Heileman Brewing Company, this home displays all of the classic Prairie Style forms and details and is one of the finest examples of this style in La Crosse. The limestone exterior is not original but combined with the Cherokee red siding and leaded glass windows, this home looks as if it belongs with its architectural cousins
Easton/Copeland House Location: 1327 Cass Street Built: Queen Anne Style (1886) for Lucian Easton Remodeled: Western Stick Style (1909) for Frederic Copeland Architect: William Parker This spacious 3 story home was built for Lucian Easton, a prominent La Crosse businessman who married Mary Losey, the daughter of another prominent local figure, Joseph W Losey. Originally built in the Queen Anne style in 1886. it was dramatically remodeled and expanded by later owner and La Crosse Mayor Frederic
Holway House Location: 1419 Cass Street Built: 1891 Style: Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne Architect: Hugo Schick and Gustav Stolze Undoubtedly the finest example of late Victorian architectural opulence remaining in the city, this home was built in 1891 for a wealthy local lumber baron and shows a grandiose blend of two styles very popular with affluent Americans in the last two decades of the 1800s. For nearly a half century this commanding 3 story limestone mansion was owned by the
Gundersen House Location: 1504 King Street Built: 1927 Style: French Provincial Revival Architect: Otto Merman Built in 1927 for a physician son of Dr. Adolph Gundersen, the legendary founder of the Gundersen Clinic, this home shows a mix of period revival styles popular during the prosperity of the 1920s in America. Percy Bentley’s architectural partner Otto Merman utilized elements of the Tudor Revival and French Provincial Revival styles in this two story tan stucco residence. Research and