Oviatt House

Name

Oviatt House, although sometimes referred to as the Hopper-Oviatt House after the first two home owners.

Namesake: Dr. Charles W. Oviatt, Oshkosh surgeon and the home’s second owner.

Facts

Completion Date: 1883

Original Purpose of Building: Private residence. After purchase by the Normal School a woman's dormitory and, later, the President's residence.

Current Use: Offices

History

The Regents purchased the Oviatt House in 1913 and is UW Oshkosh’s oldest building still standing. The Oviatt House was originally designed for Oshkosh attorney Moses Hooper, an authority on water power laws and a long-serving legal counsel for Kimberly Clark. Hooper chose local architect William Waters to build this Gothic Revival style home of blue limestone. The interiors were decorated with many unique features owing to Hooper's tastes and sophistication.

Hand-painted tiles depicting scenes from Shakespeare's plays line one of the house’s various fireplaces. The formal dining room was surrounded by a mural of wooded scene and is believed to have been painted by local artist, Gustave Behncke.

The attic featured a cistern that supplied the house running water, a unique feature in the 1880s.

Dr. Charles W. Oviatt, a notable surgeon and physician, purchased the home in 1900.

Oshkosh Normal President John A. H. Keith recommended buying the property as a female dormitory as early as 1908. The Advance, in 1912, advocated the buying of the house so female students could develop “regular habits” under the guidance and supervision of a housemother. Such an individual, the newspaper reported, could lessen the students’ homesickness and help defeat their exposure to “unwise amusements.” After its purchase, the Oviatt House fulfilled the needs of its 12 female residents and the 20 more who ate meals there. It soon became a campus social center.

Although the females benefited from the Oviatt House, there were limited accommodations, and discussions of replacing the house’s mission began in 1930.

In 1934, the house became a president's home, and continued to serve that function until 1990 when the house became headquarters of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Foundation.

In 1979, the house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in the United States under the name of the Hooper-Oviatt house.