c. 1850, Nikolaus Meyerhofer. Townline Rd., approximately 0.25 miles east of U.S. 12
Most of Wisconsin’s mid-nineteenth-century cobblestone houses bear the distinctive influence of masons who moved from upstate New York (see RA2), but not the Meyerhofer House. Instead of same-sized cobbles, its walls feature a wide assortment of stones pieced together with a minimum of mortar, a technique called opus mixtum. To build his farmhouse, Bavarian-born stonemason Meyerhofer had his daughters gather rocks from area fields and outcroppings. He then laid one-and-a-half-story walls with random courses of round and flat stones, creating an exuberant texture in an otherwise sober house. Greek Revival elements—a triangular wooden pediment in the pavilion gable and dentils along the eaves—have been removed.