De Pere, Brown County, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Agnes and Ruth Lenfestey Mark House in the National Register of Historic Places on September 11, 2023.
Situated on a prominent corner lot, the Agnes Lenfestey and Ruth Lenfestey Mark House was built in 1963 and is one of only two known architect-designed Contemporary residences built in De Pere in the 1950s and early 1960s. The shallow-pitched roofs, broad windows under the gables, and exposed beam ends reflect the influence of California houses of the 1950s. Additional character-defining features include narrow window slits, a covered breezeway, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a connected garage. This is the only house of this type in De Pere that retains original design elements on both the exterior and interior.
The architect was John C. Tilleman, a young Green Bay architect who had opened his own practice in 1956. The clients were 88-year-old Agnes Hurlbut Lenfestey and her daughter, Ruth Lenfestey Mark. By 1962, both women had lost their husbands and were still active in social and civic circles in De Pere and Green Bay. They moved from a nineteenth-century house they shared to this single-story house with a connected garage that was clad in a light grey concrete brick manufactured by the F. Hurlbut Company of Green Bay, a family-owned concern.
Additional information for the Agnes and Ruth Lenfestey Mark House is available at:
https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI233591
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
