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Drawing of the Albert W. Oliver residence at 305 North Emporia in Wichita, KS. This home was designed and built by William Henry Sternberg of Wichita, Kansas (1832 - 1906). This drawing appeared in the Wichita Journal of Commerce in Novemeber 1887, published by the Wichita Board of Trade. The large number of beautiful and elegant homes going up in Wichita, principally being designed and erected by W.H. Sternberg was not without notice. The Board of Trade pointed to this fact and proclaimed in the Journal,

"the large number of fine residences that have been erected [in Wichita], make it
THE CITY OF BEAUTIFUL HOMES".

The Wichita Journal of Commerce went to to state, "Many of her [Wichita's] wealthy citizens [in the year 1887] built ELEGANT PRIVATE RESIDENCES of brick and stone, beautiful in architectural design, some costing as high as $75,000, and many from $20,000 - $30,000, making a total of about $8,000,000 put into this class of buildings". Many, if not most of these homes were designed and built by William Henry Sternberg (1832 - 1906). Especially with regard to upscale homes, W.H. Sternberg was well-known throughout the area and was the preferred designer and builder.

This high-quality veneered brick residence was selected (in 1887) as one of the ten most beautiful homes in Wichita - which all ten were collectively put together in a promotional piece by the Board of Trade (see photostream for the "Fabulous Ten"). Of the ten homes in the Fabulous Ten promotional flyer, most of them are confirmed to have been designed and built by W.H. Sternberg.

Undoubtedly mortar lines on this residence were extremely thin - requiring highly skilled brick layers. Other high-end Sternberg-built brick homes (such as the Aley Mansion) have extremely thin mortar lines. Sternberg was well-known for employing workers "of the highest skill level" - which allowed him to excel over the competition with features such as very thin, upscale mortar lines, highly corbelled chimneys and other decorative brickwork.

Among some of the more common Sternberg design elements on this elegant home are: a nouveau Mansard roof, a variety of differently styled dormers which include at least one decorative (vs. functional) porch on the 3rd level, ornately corbelled chimney flues with chimney crickets, corbelled brick work at the roof line of the second story (also seen on other high-end homes as well as commercial structures and churches), two-story bay windows, fancy millwork on the porches and a variety of pitches and angles ot the roof line. Unlike some of Sternberg's other roof designs which had steeply pitched roofs (and hence small angular spaces near the walls), this one had a large and open third floor - allowing more usable space on the third floor, but it's doubtful that this area was finished at the time and used as livable space, or even as a ballroom. Interestingly the Mansard roof was not topped with a flat roof, but instead was topped with a lower pitched hip roof - a diversion from traditional Mansard style.

Mr. Oliver was a partner in the Oliver & Imboden mills (a large flour mill). W.H. Sternberg also built a fine residence for Hiram Imboden as well as a commercial mill for them. It was not unusual for business persons to turn to Sternberg for substantially all of their building needs (both commercial and personal) and in several other cases (for example the Bitting Brothers Peter Getto, Kos Harris and others) it's known that Sternberg designed and built virtually all (if not all) of their commercial properties and personal homes, too.

The Oliver & Imboden factory milled a large amount of wheat (able to produce up to 250 barrels of flour per day) coming in from all over the southwest United States including southern Colorado and what is now New Mexico and Arizona (but at the time - in 1884 - New Mexico and Arizona were not yet states).

This lovely home was torn down to make way for commercial development (including a parking lot)! They just don't build 'em like this any more.

Your thoughts, comments, ideas and/or additional information about this photo and/or this place are always welcome and appreciated!!

Surrounded by a well kept lawn and trimmed hedge of diosmas, this sprawling Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style bungalow may be found at the far, Merri Creek end of The Grove, the elm lined and most prestigious street in the inner Melbourne suburb of Coburg.

Built in the years just before or after the Great War (1914 - 1918), it is possibly the newest house in the area. The transition from Edwardian villa to the popular low slung Californian Bungalow of the early 1920s is now far more obvious than some of its neighbours. The choice of red and brown brick to construct the house is very in keeping with the Arts and Crafts Movement, as are the stylised panes of glass in the windows. However, the Art Deco era is starting to make its presence known by way of the rounded porch canopy which has a geometric pattern on its pediment. Aside from the windows, this is the only decoration the house features, and this is a definate move away from the stylised and highly decorative Queen Anne style.

Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. However, this house's floor plan appears to be more traditional than others, with a central hallway off which the principal rooms were located.

The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.