Between 1874 and 1885, this home was the residence of Thomas Hart and his wife Nancy Boyden Hart, both originally of Bristol, Connecticut. Hart was a saw and grist mill operator in the pre-Wauwatosa settlement of Hart’s Mill who took advantage of the abundant supply of trees, which he converted into lumber for construction. Thomas Hart moved into the home at the age of 74 and the couple spent their retirement years here.

Located on Church Street, the oldest residential street in Wauwatosa, this Gothic Revival house and barn are noteworthy for the nine ornate barge boards in six different patterns. The delicate designs are in lace, clover, oak, floral, trifiol and quadrefoil shapes. Thought to have been built by Cortland D. Rose in 1858, the original house was probably a T-shaped two-story dwelling but has undergone significant changes during the past 128 years under the occupancies of the house’s various owners.

The house was sold in 1910 by the Hart family to the Foller family and then again in 1923 to Dr. Stanley Seeger, the Chief of Staff at Columbia and Children’s Hospital. The longest ownership was by Harold and Ruth Hempe who made some additions. In 1982, Roy and Mary Jo Cole purchased the home and worked for ten years restoring the interior and exterior as well as the barn. The exterior has been returned to its original color of bright mustard yellow with cream barge board and gray, brown and white trim.