This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Brandt-Quirk
House
410 S Fourth
(1980 Owner: Catherine Jean Quirk)
Frederick William Brandt, great-grandfather of Miss Quirk, built this house in modified Greek revival style at the beginning of the Civil War. Until recently it housed two generations of the family, and at times three, with separate quarters for parents and grandparents.
Mr. Brandt, a native of Lippe-Detmold, Germany, came to Watertown in 1853. He was the city's first drayman and later established a general store which was carried on by his elder son and grandson and eventually became a dry goods store, F. W. Brandt & Son Co., on southeast corner of Main and Third Streets.
Early in this century, after the death of his parents, Edward Julius Brandt, younger son of F. W. Brandt, remodeled his parents' house to accommodate his daughter and family, the Earl William Quirks. He created two front entrances and built an attached garage and porte-cochere. About twenty years later Mr. Quirk further remodeled the house on the north side, adding a bay window, fireplace and many decorative furnishings. He eliminated the double entrance, but maintained the two-family interior division.
A three-inch thick inner entrance door with double elongated panels and transom of etched glass, some parquet flooring, tile fireplaces, decorative moldings and door panels, marble wash- bowls and porcelain doorknobs attest to the age of the house as do the plaster medallions and coving in the south part of the house and the carved scrollwork at the base of the south front stairway.
The plaster work was executed by a family friend and artist, J. B. Murphy, following the direction of Mr. Brandt, who also placed the imposing Ionic pillars in the living-dining areas and designed a lyre motif that is carved in the base of the column in the music room.
Many musicales were held in this room, and here Mr. Brandt often improvised on the little pump organ he bought with his early savings. He became a leader in local musical affairs and president of the Concordia Musical Society. In 1921 he composed a "Festival Gloria" for St. Bernard's Church choir which he directed for nearly fifty years. He participated in church and community musical programs as baritone soloist, in duets with his wife, Thekla Wiggenhorn Brandt, soprano, and with his daughter, Eugenia Brandt Quirk, as accompanist.
As civic leader Mr. Brandt headed the Board of Park Commissioners when Riverside Park was established and in 1905 organized the Outdoor Art Association for the beautification of homes.
Mr. Brandt's inventive talent came to the fore while he was employed as a cashier in the Bank of Watertown following his studies at Northwestern College. Tiring of counting money for railroad payrolls, he invented an automatic cashier and in 1890 founded his own company to manufacture this product, known now as Brandt Inc.
In 1926 upon Mr. Brandt's becoming Chairman of the Board his daughter's husband, Earl William Quirk, succeeded him as president of the company; the latter upon his death in 1960 was succeeded by their son, Edward James Quirk, who was president until 1980 when he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. His son, James Brandt Quirk, Assistant Vice President, is the great-grandson of the founder.
Brandt Inc. has expanded its line from the original cashier to a comprehensive line of money-handling equipment and sells its products throughout the world.
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The history of the Brandt Quirk family is well known by Jim and Deborah Quirk. Jim is a member of the Watertown Quirk family. The couple recently purchased the 1875 Victorian mansion after it spent years as a bed and breakfast. The Quirks are working to register the house as a historical building and plan to make it into a museum.
Edward Brandt, inventor of the Brandt Automatic Cashier and founder of what was known as Brandt, Inc. for many years, purchased and converted the once two family property into a family home when he remodeled it in 1919. At this time he also enlarged the Brandt home to 5,500 square feet with a maid's quarters on the second floor.
Cross reference:
10 10 2007 The
Edward J. Brandt House is being considered
for placement on the National Register of Historic Places
