The pictures below show the house’s exterior. For an idea of its interior, you can’t do better than to take a look at Norah’s “ODO-Stuff” blog pictures and priceless descriptions.
The house we grew up in is now part of the North Grant Boulevard Historic District, the five blocks from Locust St. to North Avenue. Known as the Fred Matt house for its builder and first occupant, the Colonial Revival house was completed in 1918 at a cost of $4500 ($102,500 today). The third floor bedroom was added added in 1928 for $350 ($6,500). The Matts lived there for 42 years, when Mom and Dad bought it in 1960. You can see the Wisconsin Historical Society property record of the house here. The District’s significance, inexplicably leaving out our having lived there, is described below.
Next is the listing sheet for the house when Mom and Dad put it on the market in 1986, after living in it for 26 years. The directions to the house are partially wrong, of course, keeping up the tradition of real estate agents everywhere. Next to the listing is a Google Maps picture taken in 2015, still looking much the same as it did in 1960, impressive for a hundred year old house and a testament to the care Mr. Matt lavished on it. No rows of soaring elm trees arching over the street, alas, and no crouching stone lions flanking the porch steps.
