1231 wrote on Oct 19, 2007 1:50 PM:
" In 1927, Austen Cargill, youngest son of William and Ellen, gave the house to the the First Presbyterian Church.A gold leaf ceiling for the library cost $40,000.Hand-cut red velvet, from France, covered the walls of the drawing room at a cost of $18.00 per yard.A special loom, madein Belgium, wove seamless-one-piece carpet. Carpet tht covered hand inlaid parquet.Mahognay panels reached from floor to ceiling in the large library.Hand tooled leather coverthe the ceiling of the lower hall. A carved wooden ceiling, requiring two and a half years to complete, was the glory of the dining room.Red Silk tapestry blanketed the walls. Interior door knobs were cut glass. For 30 years the Cargill famly called this castle home,The wrecking ball reduced the castle home to rubble in 1970. The home boasted of 8 fireplaces,some inlaid with gold and pearl;and seven bathrooms.The way it was!! "
1231 wrote on Oct 19, 2007 1:41 PM:
" In 1927, Austen Cargill, youngest son of William and Ellen, gave the house to the the First Presyberian church.A gold leaf ceiling for the library cost $40,000.Hand-cut red velvet, from France, covered the walls of the drawing room at a cost of $18.00 per yard.A special loom, madein Belgium, wove seamless-one-piece carpet. Carpet tht covered hand inlaid parquet.Mahognay panels reached from floor to ceiling in the large library.Hand tooled leather coverthe the ceiling of the lower hall. A carved wooden ceiling, requiring two and a half years to complete, was the glory of the dining room.Red Silk tapestry blanketed the walls. Interior door knobs were cut glass. For 30 years the Cargill famly called this castle home, The wrecking ball reduced the castle home to rubble in 1970. The home boasted of 8 fireplaces, some inlaid with gold and pearl; and seven bathrooms.The way it was!! "
Monasterio wrote on Aug 19, 2007 8:33 PM:
" The elevator was parked inoperative at the 3rd floor in the 1950s - I believe the elevator was a balance type using water to raise and lower - then the hall to the kitchen, the kitchen had a very elaborate pantry space - to the southeast of the kitchen a large (back) living room with many windows - west and on the south side of the first floor another large (front) living room - in between the kitchen and the back living room was the servant staircase which went up to the 2nd and 3rd floors - ceilings height on the first floor must have been well over 12 feet - it seemed ceiling heights on the first floor were not all the same - that the ceiling in the library was lower "
Monasterio wrote on Aug 19, 2007 11:03 AM:
" First floor - as you entered the Cargill House from the west (front door) the library was off to the left - north of the library was a covered patio which was under the master bedroom deck - going east, then the door to the basement - at the foot of the basement stairs (which turned to the west) was a very elaborate pool and billiard room - while the table was gone (early 1950s) the wainscot and the wall cue racks remained - after the door to the basement was the elaborate "U shaped" staircase leading to the second floor - the stairs were about 5 feet wide with a large landing half way to the second floor- to the south of the landing a very decorative alcove - after the stairs a door to the outside (north) - from there to the east was the elevator "
Monasterio wrote on Aug 18, 2007 9:29 AM:
" Cargill "Coach House" - the church Boy Scout Troop would meet there - one evenings skill to be learned was compass reading - almost all the scouts were having problems getting their compass to point north - as it turned out when the original Coach House had burned the carriage and wagon turn table had not been removed prior to the new building going up - as the metal turn table was quite substantial it raised havoc with a compass ..... there was a Russian imigrant family that lived upstairs in the Coach House during the late 1950s ..... I was told that when the original Coach House burned it had contained several early American automobiles "
PAL Member wrote on Aug 18, 2007 6:37 AM:
" I would only amend the previous comment to say that the First Presbyterian Church of La Crosse certainly did not display good stewardship of the Cargill House that they were given in good faith by the Cargill family. The church ownership of the house from the 1950s to 1974 is a classic case of "demolition by neglect". The concern of many neighbors and community members is that the ownership of the Colman/Skaff House by the First Presbyterian Church of La Crosse would have a similar result. "
monasterio wrote on Aug 18, 2007 3:10 AM:
" Sunday school classes were conducted in the first floor library. The library had a gold (something) ceiling. The largest upstairs bedroom bath had gold fixtures. The church Boy Scout troop used a basement room to build kayaks. There was a copy of the Blueboy painting stored in the attic along with the blueprints of the exterior decorative facade. The church youth group on one occasion used the basement for a October 31st "haunted house". There was an elevator. "
oz wrote on Aug 13, 2007 11:33 AM:
" That church is not to be trusted as caretakers of residential property. "
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