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8. • Significance - Period Areas of Significance—Check and justify below prehistoric —archeology-prehistoric community planning —landscape architecture_religion _1400-1499 —archeology-historic conservation —law —science _.1500-1599 agriculture economics —literature —sculpture 1600-1699 R architecture —education military —social/ _1700-1799 —art engineering music humanitarian 1800-1899' —commerce exploration/settlement philosophy theater _..X_1900- —communications —industry —politics/government transportation invention __X_other(specify)Assoc- iation with significant Specific dates 18701 Builder/Architect person Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) One of few identified sites of significance in rural Dane County, Dunroven House was home of the prominent gentleman farmer Boyce who also figured in state and local politics. Architecturally, the grand-s^.ale farmhouse, manifestly dissimilar to its more modest neighbors, is a sophisticated example of a regional style. The remaining wing of the original farmhouse, also built of coursed sandstone, adds to the visual and historical value of the house. Architecture. The Dunroven House serves as an example of an aggrandized regional style, the Colonial Revival cube farmhouse,,originally built and expanded with locally-quarried stone. Seldom seen in Wisconsin, this Midwestern house type' is enhanced by the tonal and textural quality of its sandstone walls. The present form obscures the original two- story rectangular farmhouse, whose more delicate decorative details (finer denticulation, multi-paned casement windows) are still visible toward the rear. Surviving fine panelling in the dining room and former library inside provide a valuable clue to the quality of the original design and the tone of its decoration. With its early twentieth-century giant order portico supported by massive Corinthian columns, the Dunroven House is an impressive element in the rural Dane County landscape. Its size and dignity compared with other farmhouses in the area attest to the prominence of its former owners. Located a short distance to the rear of the house, the crenelated two-story sandstone powerhouse of undetermined date, adds a further note of .distinction to the property. In 1909, the Walnut Hill estate was purchased by E. W. de Bower, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School. It was de Bower who built the substantial house that now exists, christening it "Mont-Joy" in honor of his wife. The de Bowers lived only occasionally at the estate, due to his attentions to LaSalle University in Chicago, which he founded and served as its first president. Instead, de Bower used the property as an income producing business for cattle breeding, operated by hired hands. de Bower's most interesting innovations was to convert the old Milk house on the property into an electrical generating plant, providing power for the house and farm operations.2 Eventually, however, de Bower turned his interests to property in Texas and sold Mont-Joy. Association with significant'person.. Abram Asa Boyce (1821-1894) came to Dane County from New York in 1847.3 He established a farm in the township of Vienna on which he raised tobacco and eventually began a dairy business. Boyce proved successful at agriculture, for within 20 years he increased his land from 80 to 480 acres. Boyce's home, which he termed 'Walnut Hill' is the stone nucleus of the now more substantial Dunroven House. Boyce also proved successful in Dane County politics, serving for 18 years as Justice of the Peace, and also as chairman of the Dane County Board of Super- visors. In addition, he served two terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature, and was influential in the Dane County Republican Party. Boyce owned the property until his death in 1894.4