Rogers-Knutson House

Iowa, United States

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Built in 1895 in Clear Lake, Iowa, the Rogers-Knutson House is a Queen Anne Victorian mansion that exemplifies the exuberant architectural character of the era. Constructed for Francis M. Rogers, a Civil War veteran and banker who acquired the First National Bank of Clear Lake in 1889, the house features a dynamic roofline crowded with gables, gabled dormers, and jerkinhead dormers. Its Late Victorian ornament includes Eastlake incised bargeboards and porch fretwork, Queen Anne leaded and etched windows in colored glass, and decorative stickwork embellishing some gable ends. The design follows an irregular plan typical of the period. The house later passed to Clarence and Hazel Knutson in 1920; Clarence was a banker and mayor, while Hazel served as president of the Iowa League of Women Voters. When Howard and Francie Sonksen acquired it in 1972, they undertook a comprehensive restoration, removing wall-to-wall carpeting, refinishing wood floors, and restoring the solarium and exterior pond pumps. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.