Mrs. Nies' Home

In a town renowned for its Cornish architecture and formal historical styles, Mrs. Nies took an 1850s Greek Revival house in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and transformed it, circa 1960s to 1992, into a Victorian home. She added cresting and other architectural ornament, which she then amplified with bold color and decoration: the roof was painted bright blue, the house pink, trim and ornament white, with many original flourishes added to the surface.  Nies planted artificial flowers in the yard and wrapped bricks with tin foil and arranged them with care on chairs. The house, garage, and yard were fully engaged in an original home/yard show. Like many such sites, the originality drew many curious visitors, but Mrs. and Mr. Nies were very private and did not wish to talk with visitors, so information is based on experience of the site over a period of several years; no oral history was collected.

After Mrs. Nies died, all ornament was removed and the pink areas were painted white, returning the house to a conventional, saleable appearance.

~Lisa Stone



artificial flowers, bricks, foil, paint

35mm slides

7th St
Mineral Point, Wisconsin, 53565 us
Latitude/Longitude: 42.8526693 / -90.1837631

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