Gold Coast - Hamburg Historic District

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[Narrator] High above downtown Davenport, perched on a bluff that once marked the edge of a booming pioneer town, lies one of the city's oldest and most distinguished neighborhoods, the Hamburg Historic District. Also known as the Gold Coast. 

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[Marion Meginnis] The neighborhood was mostly built by Germans. The original city of Davenport was 37 and a half blocks. There are many beautiful houses in the Gold Coast. The earliest one is 1848. That was actually a college that was not German. But the houses then started being built in the 1850s and then on into about the 1920s.

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[Narrator] This hilltop quickly became a beacon for German immigrants drawn to Davenport by the promise of land, prosperity and freedom. Among the settlers were craftsmen, lumbermen and businessmen, many from Hamburg and other parts of Germany, who brought with them their traditions and an architectural style that still stands today.

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[Narrator] A walk through the Gold Coast can feel like wandering through a living architectural museum where more than 100 homes built between 1850 and 1915 stand as enduring examples of Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Many of these homes were designed and built by the very immigrants who called them home.

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[Meginnis] You don't find these ostentatious grand houses. I don't think any house in the Gold Coast I would call ostentatious. They were well built, but they were not showy, I would say. Our bigger houses really tend to be, you know, 1910, as you kind of move out of the earlier establishment of the neighborhood.

[Narrator] Each facade is a historic chapter, each with its own personality, and each a piece of a neighborhood that helped build a city.

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[Narrator] The Lambrite–Iles–Petersen House is one of Davenport's most significant Italianates located in the Gold Coast neighborhood and a rare example of its size built in wood. Constructed in 1856 for lumber mill owner Joseph Lambrite, the home was designed by Chicago architect John Cochran, who would go on to design both the Iowa and Illinois state capitol buildings. During the Civil War, Dr. Thomas Iles, a surgeon, came to Davenport to practice at the Rock Island Arsenal and took occupancy of the home. Later, the Petersen family, founders of the Petersen department stores, resided in the Italianate structure. After years of vacancy and disrepair, the home was acquired in 2015 by Richard and Linda Stone. The stones removed additions and restored the house to reveal its original elegance.

 [Meginnis] It's perfectly sited on a bluff, so when you're down on 6th Street, you're looking up a house that you can now see that was overgrown and it has its cupola. It has wood coining blocks in addition to the wood trim, which is unusual. So, it's certainly made to look like a, you know, like a stone building. And remember, Joseph Lambrite had a mill. That's what he was here. It was all about wood. This was a lumber manufacturing center. So, you showcase your house in the material that you're making your money on. But it's a very grand looking place.

And you look up at it because you're looking at really one of the highest points in the Gold Coast.

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[Narrator] Another sentinel on the ridge is a mansion often referred to as Overview.

A fitting name for a home that commands breathtaking and sweeping river views.

[Meginnis] The Overview is a 1910 that was a Stephans house and Stephans was a very big name again with the department store that was more than just local, but then regional distribution as well. It is very grand. It's brick. It is a narrow Roman style brick with sort of red mortar which sets it apart. A very grand porch on the first floor and on the second floor. It's at a street that goes up at a pretty steep angle and it sort of dominates its corner. It's kind of a golden kind of honey colored brick. Very grand.

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[Meginnis] The John Roush house is a really classic example of a simple but very sturdy and lovely McClelland style house. It's been meticulously restored. It has, you know, it's very sturdy brick, gable front with probably an addition to the back at some point. It was built in the 1860s. John Roush came in the 1840s, so he would have been an early German immigrant and he actually manufactured bricks. It's a beautiful home. It takes advantage of its site. The site is fairly level, but steps down. And so, its front door, you go upstairs to get its front door and you have an entrance to the, you know, what would be the basement. So that's how they were able to adapt that style to the different sorts of levels that we have in the neighborhood.

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[Narrator] Located on the eastern edge of the Hamburg Historic District rests the castle formerly known as the Struck House. It is believed to be Davenport's only castle inspired building. With its turrets and castellated roofline, it truly resembles a medieval fortress.

[Meginnis] It's a red brick. It is sited on the corner of Ripley, again, that street that goes up at a high angle, and 6th Street, so it has a hillside. The current owners have done a great deal of planting of native species. That's their goal, to have all native species. So, it's beautifully planted and they do all the work themselves. But yeah, it's an unusual -- there's not another one like the Struck House.

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[Narrator] The Gold Coast is more than a chapter from the past. It's a living story unfolding every day, generation to generation. Here, history is lived in, cared for, and carried forward by those who call it home.

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