Along a stretch of county road “EM” northeast of Watertown, Wisconsin, there is an amazing collection of rare mid-19th century German immigrant Fachwerk (half timber) structures readily visible from the highway.
One of the more unusual structures is the Kreb’s house. It consists of a small, well made hand-hewn log cabin, build in 1844 , to which a fachwerk style addition was added ah,round 1849, It is the oldest surviving house in the Town of Lebanon.
Chuck Werth, historian for the Lebanon Historical society has kindly allowed me to post an email conversation we had about this structure:
THE OLDEST SURVIVING HOUSE IN LEBANON
The Krebs House is the oldest surviving house in Lebanon. The log portion was constructed about 1844. The Fachwerk addition was added four or five years later.
This specimen is an historic treasure because it illustrates a variety of techniques as well as portraying the evolution of construction from log to Fachwerk. The log portion of the house is a soundly constructed log cabin of timbers stripped of their bark and shaped with adz and draw-knife. When the Fachwerk addition was constructed, the log portion was raised about 12 inches and a single tamarack timber was laid beneath the log portion extending out the full length of the Fachwerk addition, forming a united foundation plate for both structures.
The Fachwerk addition does not follow the traditional timber framing conventions used in Pomerania. The undersized timbers and irregular arrangement suggest the family lacked the resources or expertise to construct a more sophisticated structure. The brick was made on-site from local clay. The bricks illustrate cream brick and vermillion brick, often called Hustisford Brick. It can be assumed that the brick was laid by an amateur mason. Like the Braasch House, the work is experimental and unique.
Krebs Fachwerk and Log House, Town of Lebanon. Original log structure was built in 1844 and the fachwerk addition was added around 1849,
Oldest Surviving House in Town of Lebanon, View from County Road EM looking northeast,.