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This is one of the oldest frame houses in the state; Alexander Faribault built it at the close of the fur trading era. The cost of the home (including $4,000 worth of lumber hauled from St. Paul) was twice that of the ten or so other homes built at about the same time, indicating a truly permanent settling. Interestingly, sand was poured between studs for insulation. The house served not only as Faribault’s home for several years, it also served as the town’s first polling place, an early church and a "civic center" of sorts.

Originally built as a simple, utilitarian home, the Cole House was extensively remodeled twice, including once in 1899 when a second story was added to the north and west sides of the house. Gordon Cole moved to Minnesota from Massachusetts in 1857. He served as State Attorney General, State Senator, and the Mayor of Faribault. He died in 1890, and his three daughters continued to live in the home. The house was the site of many elegant parties, and the Cole daughters distinguished themselves by playing prominent roles in the development of the town.

This house displays the exuberance and prosperity of Faribault’s early leaders as their community was becoming a successful regional trade and manufacturing center. The wood-frame structure displays a complex gable/hip roof, and a three story octagonal tower with "wave" patterned clapboard siding. Built for John Hutchinson, a Canadian who arrived in Faribault in the 1880s and became a prominent business leader in the town, the house was sold to Dr. S.B. Haessly in 1916.

With relatively few modifications or remodelings, this house provides an excellent and elaborate brick example of the Italianate style in Faribault. Its widely overhanging eaves, decorative brackets, window crowns over the segmented arch windows, low pitched hipped roof are all representative of the style. The original owner, M.P. Holman, immigrated to Minnesota from Norway in 1867. He worked on the railroads for several years, then in 1875 opened a grocery store and saloon on 3rd St. NW.

This is Faribault’s only good example of the stick style, both in plan and decoration. The very fine stick style details include: horizontal and vertical bands raised from wood surface, patterned wood siding, shingles within raised bands, decorative gable trusses, curving porch support braces, and intricate and diagonal stick work in the porch railing. Also note the steeply pitched roof.

John Cottrell, originally born in Quebec, immigrated to Vermont as a young man, then headed west with the advent of the California Gold Rush. Unsuccessful as a gold miner, he found success in opening a hardware store along the Feather River. He returned to Vermont (via Cape Horn), married, then moved to Faribault in 1857, where he also opened a hardware store. In 1880, Cottrell sold his store and moved to Chicago. Four years later, he returned to Faribault and purchased his old store again.

This Second Empire mansion was built for Hudson Wilson, one of Faribault’s most prominent first-generation leaders. Owner of a hardware store in Madison, WI, Wilson moved to Faribault in 1857 and opened a private bank with his brother, Hiram. The bank was later incorporated in Citizens National Bank. This style of house, popular in Minnesota from the 1870s through the 1880s, was considered very stylish and modern. The house is located on top of the hill overlooking downtown Faribault. Upon construction, the town newspaper opined that the house was "not surpassed in elegance and convenience by any yet erected in our city." Notice the dual pitched Mansard roof and the arched dormer windows projecting from the lower roof slope.

Combining a number of architectural styles in vogue at the turn of the century, this house is one of the most intact examples of local architect Olof Hanson’s residential design. The house features a steeply pitched roof, asymmetrical window treatments, and a two-story cut away bay. One of the most striking features is the wrap around one-story porch. Hanson designed the house for his long time friend, Jonathan Noyes, who served as superintendent of the State School for the Deaf from 1866-1896. The deaf Hanson graduated from the school in 1881.

This prominent residence is a fine example of the Classical Revival style in Faribault, including Ionic columns, shell motifs in frieze, dentils, a porte cochere on the south side, and a two-story portico. The house is significant for both its architecture and its association with leading banker and politician, Cassius Buck, who organized Security Bank in 1894 and was later president of Citizen’s National Bank. Buck also served as a state senator from 1903 to 1905.

One of the town’s largest brick structures when it was built, the Reid house originally boasted leaded glass sidelights at the entrance, a rare glazed green ceramic tile roof with copper gutters and classically inspired ornamentation on the dormers. The Faribault newspaper declared the house "the finest residence in the city…The edifice will be a noteworthy addition to the handsome residences of our city." The Reids sold their celebrated home in 1916 for about a third of its material value so that Sacred Heart could use the building as part of the new parish school.