Home Tour in Racine, Wisconsin – Gothic, Italian, Greek Style Homes
Home tour in Racine Wisconsin. On a recent family trip to Michigan I stopped in to Racine, Wisconsin on the way home. I had a happy accident because as we made our way down to Lake Michigan I stumbled upon a gold mine of homes along the lakefront and other homes barely a block from the lake. It was like being in a candy store. I wanted to take a photo of every single house I saw and had to try to pick the cream of the crop. I noticed signs in some of the yards announcing a historic home tour on the last Sunday in September. When I got home I looked up home tours in Racine. To my surprise, per the Tour of Racine, Wisconsin some of the houses I took photos of are famous historic homes.
I loved this house and was delighted to find it on the Historic Home Tour of Racine list. Called Johnson Homestead, at 1737 Wisconsin Avenue. Samuel C. Johnson built this Gothic-influenced home in 1903. At that time, Johnson was president of a hardware company that made wooden carpets or parquet floors.
Built in 1870, this fixer upper is newly listed for $199,000. It is not a famous historic home on the tour as far as I can find. I loved the windows and shutters. The real estate details are it’s been in the same family for almost 100 years. New owners have an opportunity to own a vintage lakefront cottage. To take an inside home tour head over to Estately.
Built in 1845 this red brick historic beauty is the earliest surviving Gothic Revival home in Racine.
Thomas Jones Mansion was built in 1868. Italian villa design. The top is a cupola and I am mad I didn’t get a better photo.
Racine’s best known Greek Revival house is by an unknown architect. It is recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey of the U.S. Department of Interior. It dates from 1842-1848 and is one of the city’s oldest existing homes. First called the Hunt house, then Westbourne and now is the Harold C. Jensen residence. “Tradition holds that it was built by William Hunt as a gift for his wife and that the designer was a local carpenter.
It has been moved many times during its long history and survives in good condition preserving a substantial portion of its original design. The front door is apparently under renovation or construction. I find no historic home tour listing, but it might be on the home tour this year as not all homes are listed on the official Tour of Racine website.
Built in 1915 and set directly across the street from Lake Michigan. I hope you like this white home decorated with red flowers as much as I do.
That’s it for today’s home tour. Still to come are photos of more homes in Racine and I stopped by Kenosha, Wisconsin to their Third Avenue Historic District too.
Source: Tour of Racine, Library of Wisconsin
Photo Credits: Sue Pekarek
See more Wisconsin lakefront homes and historic mansions and houses of Kenosha.
