109 Riverside Ave

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Overview

07

Owner

Howard F. and Mathilda (Asseln) Barthell

Address

109 Riverside Ave, Decorah, IA 52101

Year Built

1937

Architectural Style

Minimal Traditional

Tour Type

Other Altfillisch Properties

Howard Barthell (1869-1948), whose parents brought him to Decorah at the age of six, earned a law degree at the University of Iowa in 1893 and thereafter worked as a lawyer and elected justice of the peace in Decorah. He is said to have given his wife Mathilda (1876-1964) the large house at 107 Riverside Ave. as a wedding present in 1907. That house was moved to 603 Mechanic St. ca. 2018. The 1940 census shows the Barthells living at 109 Riverside, a 1937 house that was designed by Charles Altfillisch. The current (2023) owners of 109 Riverside have the blueprints (Altfillisch file #3701) and a detailed specification book that includes a landscape design by the Sherman Nursery Co. of Charles City, Iowa.

On his project list Altfillisch identifies the home as a “one-story Ranch.” The home’s exterior, including the east-facing bay window, is original. The original wide chimney was removed in 2021. Many original interior features are intact, including the flooring (red oak in the living room, and fir or pine in the kitchen and bath), the woodwork, a built-in china hutch with bench in the dining room, bookshelves under the living room bay window, a kitchen ironing board (used now [2023] as a spice cabinet), and a second-story linen cabinet with clothes chute.

Mathilda Barthell was the major donor for the 1967 Barthell O.E.S. Home (911 Ridgewood Dr.) that bears her name.

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