Lutze Housebarn Preserves Early Saxon German Farmstead in the Town of Centerville
The Lutze Housebarn, built in 1849, is being restored by Centreville Settlement, Inc.
Architectural drawing of the Lutze Housebarn
Gottlieb and Friedericke Lutze with their children Edward, August and Clara arrived in America in 1849. Learning of other German Lutherans from the Province of Saxony that had settled in rural Manitowoc County, they purchased 80 acres for $105 in Section 19, T17N, R23E, Town of Centerville. They began clearing the land and during the next two years built a housebarn for both people and livestock under one roof.
The rectangular structure, 72'-9" (east-west) × 28'-5" (north-south), was constructed with a hand-hewn, post and beam timber frame with clay “nogging” filling the space between timbers in the tradition of half-timber (fachwerk) buildings in Germany. Clapboard siding was added later.
The first floor featured living quarters on the east end and a large stable area for livestock on the west end. The residence contained a living room, dining area and a yellow-brick-floored kitchen with a cooking stove. The entry had stairways leading both to the second floor and to an arched brick food-storage cellar, 8' × 20', under the living quarters at the southeast corner of the building.
The second floor of the living quarters had four bedrooms (several with blue-sponged plaster walls), a living room and a storage area at the top the stairway. A large room at the other end was used for storage and sheltering poultry and other small livestock. An unfinished attic space was used for storage.
Doors on first and second floors provided access from the living quarters to the livestock and storage areas without going outside. The building layout design was both simple and practical, particularly on rainy days and during the harsh cold Wisconsin winter.
By 1862, six additional Lutze children (Pauline, Amelia, Theodore, Agnes, Robert and Gustave) were born. In 1872, Gottlieb Lutze bought another 100 acres. In 1874, he sold the farm to his second son August, who extended the barn with an 18'-5" long storage addition on the west end. August built a new two-story yellow brick house a short distance away in 1896 – the last year anyone lived in the housebarn. In 1886, a large dairy barn (no longer present) was built. A summer kitchen and other outbuildings were also once located on the property.
In 1994, Richard and Sarah Lutze (who lived in the yellow brick house and are fifth generation members of the Lutze family) donated the housebarn to the newly formed nonprofit Centreville Settlement, Inc., which began restoration work that summer. News about the housebarn and its restoration has appeared in numerous newspapers in Wisconsin.
The rural “dwelling-stable,” or Wohnstallhaus, is one of the best surviving examples of a traditional European folk structure in the country. In 1984, the Lutze Housebarn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its national significance in architecture and agriculture.
Public tours of the housebarn, workdays and demonstrations of “old-time” crafts are held periodically and by special arrangement. Nature trails are available to hike on the property where 250 evergreen trees were planted in 1999.
CSI welcomes volunteers of all ages for a variety of tasks, hands-on learning and the fellowship of working together in a rural community.
More information on the Lutze Housebarn, which is undergoing restoration, and efforts to preserve the rural farming heritage in the Centerville area of southern Manitowoc County is available online at http://centrevillesettlement.com. The Lutze Housebarn, 13630 South Union Road, is two miles northwest of the Village of Cleveland.
