John Lagerquist Home
The transitional blend of Queen Anne and Classical Revival styles in this quietly elegant residence reveals the fine talents of its architect, builder and first owner. John Lagerquist, a native of Sweden, came to Butte in 1888, worked for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and came to Hamilton in 1891 in the employ of Marcus Daly. Though Lagerquist worked for Daly, even directing construction of the Daly home, he retained his professional independence, operating a lumber and contracting business in direct competition with Daly’s powerful Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Lagerquist’s meticulous craftsmanship is evident in many southside Hamilton residences, including this appealing northside home he built for himself circa 1907. A simple, rectangular floorplan and Doric columns are evidence of the newer Classical Revival style, while projecting bays and narrow lap siding reflect the Queen Anne style popular in the previous century. An exquisitely wrought scroll and spindle bracket detail in the peak of the gable and gable bays yields a perfect example of the eclectic Queen Anne ideal. A single-story wood-frame barn with hayloft doors, contemporary with the home and once common in Hamilton’s turn-of-the-twentieth-century neighborhoods, is today a fine and rare reminder of the era before the automobile.
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