805 CHURCH – HAMILTON HOUSE
William Hamilton, who owned this house when it was built in 1905, was a professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, director of the College Observatory, and Registrar at Beloit College. Under his direction, the College revised the curriculum in an “endeavor to relate the curriculum more immediately to the life of today,” a move which resulted in such career-oriented programs as the new departments of Journalism and Home Economics. In 1922, Hamilton facilitated the transition between Presidents Brannon and Eaton by serving as chairman of an interim administrative committee in charge of the College. The house was later owned by Bink Noll, a professor of English at Beloit College.

This frame house, rising two stories plus attic, exemplifies early 20th century architecture, as it transitions from the late Queen Anne into the reserved, cubic styles of the new century. The massing here is nearly cubic, ornament is reduced, and the fenestration aims at the regular. Other 20th century elements include unornamented clapboard siding, and the rectangular dormers with pronounced cornices, pilasters, and diamond-paned casement windows. Ionic columns support a heavy veranda wrapping around the west and south elevations and a two story porch on the south elevation. In contrast, the corner turret produces an asymmetry, rising from a rounded bay and culminating in a conical roof with flared eaves, and suggests an earlier style. A brick chimney extends from the rusticated concrete block foundation, through a first story bay window, until it is well above the roof ridge. Both turret and chimney, lingering elements of a more delicate Queen Anne style, are subservient here to the “four-square” solidity of the house, and the elements of irregularity are well controlled by broad proportions and heavier scale.