Site #20
Designated December 18, 2014
According to his biography, A(lvarus).E. Gilbert first came to New Berlin as a boy in 1839, arriving with his father Daniel and other family members from Genesee County, NY. They initially lived with the Hollister family in a one-room cabin along with 22 other individuals until the Gilbert family ultimately built a dwelling on their own claim about a mile south of National Ave. on Calhoun Rd. A. E. Gilbert later married one of the Hollister daughters and became one of New Berlin’s most prominent citizens. His Cream City brick “mansion”, built in the late 1890’s, still stands high atop the hill on Calhoun Rd. It is an unusually large house that exhibits defining characteristics of Queen Anne style with multiple gabled forms, gables with shingles and decorative windows. It has a corner tower with third-level windows including a conical roof and finial. Of note are the large bargeboards with incised detail and the original corbelled chimney. There is consistent use of brick on the foundation, with the design of the first and second floor of the home unusually unique for the Queen Anne style.