Norris Miller House

The Norris Miller House, also known as The Stovewood House, is a historic residence located in Decorah, Iowa, United States. The 1½-story frame house features a vernacular Classical cornice, symmetrical plan, a gable roof, and a limestone basement. The structure is composed of oak that is split into short lengths for use in a stove, or stovewood. It is laid with mortar made up of ash and lime. There are only two other houses like this one known to exist in the United States, and both are in Wisconsin.^[2]

A section interior wall with the plaster removed to show the unusual use of stovewood as insulation

Norris Miller House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	118 N. Mill St. Decorah, Iowa
Coordinates	43°18′19″N 91°47′31″W
Built	1856
Built by	Norris Miller
NRHP reference No.	76000814[1]
Added to NRHP	June 8, 1976

Decorah had two other houses similar to this one, but they have been torn down. All them could have been built by Norris Miller, who settled in Decorah from Ohio in 1855. That year he bought a town lot, and completed this house in 1856. The house was moved to the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in 1976 in order to preserve it. They restored the house and made part of it exhibit. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same year it was moved.^[1]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Darrell D. Henning. "Norris Miller House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-07-20. with photos