905 CHURCH – HOLDEN HOUSE
This house was built in 1893 by Professor Louis E. Holden, member of the Beloit College Department of Oratory. Holden graduated from Beloit College in 1888 and went on to Princeton Theological Seminary. His talents were well thought of and in 1889, the College President asked Holden to return for the summers and work as financial secretary at the college. He graduated from Princeton in 1891 and for eight years served as a member of the Department of Oratory at Beloit College. From 1899 until 1915, he was President of Wooster College in Ohio, and then from 1920-1923, he was President of James Milliken University in Decatur, Illinois. He then returned to Beloit to become the Vice President of Beloit College.

Although small in scale, this two story plus attic frame house combines elements of the Queen Anne, Shingle and early Colonial Revival styles. Simulating the quieter massing of the Shingle style, the house is dominated by the steeply pitched gable roof which sweeps to the first story providing cover for a recessed entry, with eaves that project slightly beyond the first story walls. The massive gable is covered in shingle siding and ornamented with paired sash windows surmounted by transoms and framed by a swan’s neck pediment. Two smaller windows, one oval in shape, one round-headed, punctuate the same gable ends. The second story, which projects from the roof like massive pedimented, paired dormers, is also covered with shingles and features a bracketed, gabled roof with round-headed attic windows. The first story is sided with clapboards and unornamented except for a bay window on the south facade. The west elevation features a recessed entry with sidelights and transom with thin Ionic columns and a rusticated stone and brick chimney which rises through the gable.