Image Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society
Ivy King
Catalog Number: 1948.003.01
Norwegian immigrant Mons Anderson came to La Crosse in his early 20s in 1851.
After working in the new settlement for a few years, Anderson eventually opened his own dry goods store and by 1861, his wealth had grown immensely.
As the city of La Crosse grew, he began investing in land and buildings and earned the nickname “Merchant Prince of La Crosse.” It was during these years when he purchased his home at 410 Cass St.
When he bought the house, it was a simple stone mansion built about 1854 by Alexander W. Shepard, but Mons Anderson wanted more from the structure. Architect William J.M. Nichols renovated the home and made several additions. The original building was turned into the east wing, and a large expansion was added with a distinctive medieval appearance.
The entire building, which looks like a miniature castle, is built of locally quarried limestone. It was finished in 1878, and owes its appearance to two Victorian architectural fashions, Gothic Revival and Italianate Villas.
The Gothic Revival occurred during the mid-19th century when Anderson was renovating his house. This architectural style reflected the admiration and romanticized views the Victorians held toward the medieval era.
The second half of the 19th century was an era known for its design “revivals,” and not for originality in design. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and new methods of mass production, past eras became the inspiration for home furnishings as well as buildings themselves.
Not only was the Gothic Revival evident in the outer structure of homes, but it also appeared in the decor. Many Gothic style motifs would typically appear in public rooms for display. Homes of this style contained many ornate motifs, and the Mons Anderson house does as well. The Anderson home contains ornate plasterwork, parquet floors, French plate glass windows, English tiles, imported marble fireplaces and embellished doorknobs.
The face of the lion head on this doorknob is ornate and highly detailed, like many other pieces of the period. It fits perfectly into the style of Anderson’s home and it represents Anderson himself: The lion was his store’s emblem, and appeared on all his advertising.
The doorknob has an intricate lion’s head in the center with a border of small circles around the head. It would have been mounted to a metal plate on the door. The inscription on the back of the doorknob reads “Russell and Erwin Mfg. Co. Pat. June 1870.”
The Russell and Erwin Manufacturing Co. was a metallic compression casting company, which made detailed bronze hardware, including doorknobs, located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Anderson’s business ventures began to turn sour in the early 1900s, and he died of pneumonia on Feb. 3, 1905. After his death, his children were unable to maintain the Anderson house, and they sold it to the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) in 1906. It has been restored and converted into a restaurant, Le Château.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on October 26, 2019.
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