Holes, James, House

The Holes House is significant because it is an outstanding example of a large dwelling built in the Italianate style, popular in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century. The Holes House is also significant for its association with James Holes, Fargo pioneer farmer, and businessman. The Pray Brothers, an itinerant family of builders, erected the dwelling for James Holes, a Fargo pioneer farmer, and businessman.

James Holes (1845-1916) as a young man left his home in New York with savings of $1,850 and headed west. He settled in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he purchased 1300 acres of land. In 1871, he came to the vicinity of Fargo, just before the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Land Company platted the town. Holes purchased a quarter section of land from Ole Hanson, an early settler. Eventually, Holes acquired 1,920 acres of another land in Cass County. Holes is credited with producing the area's first profitable agricultural harvest, in 1871 when he made $1,900 from a wheat crop planted on forty acres of land. News of Holes success drew people to the area and attracted the attention of future Bonanza farmers. Holes became a prominent Fargo farmer, politician, and businessman. For many years Holes served as the Montana and North Dakota agent for the Emerson Wild Oates Separator Company. For nine years he served as a county commissioner. He served as President of the American Equity Society and as a director and Vice President of the Farmer's Mutual Society, both farmer's organizations. Holes was also involved in real estate ventures--he platted the Holes Addition and the James Holes subdivision of Fargo.

In 1879, Holes hired the Prays to build the large Italianate House that now stands on North 5th Steet. Shortly after its completion, in October of 1879, the Fargo Times called the dwelling "one of the largest, best finished, and most conveniently arranged residences in Dakota Territory." At the time of its construction, the Holes House sat in the middle of agricultural land. The dwelling originally served as Holes' farmhouse. Once surrounded by farm buildings, the Holes House is now located in a quiet residential neighborhood. Although the building has lost its agricultural setting, much of the surrounding yard is intact. The Holes House was at the vanguard of residential settlement on Fargo's north side. Various suburban residences were erected near the Holes House beginning in the 1890s, on land platted by Holes and other men. One of Fargo's first telephones, one form of technology that allowed residential settlement to occur at relatively long distances from city centers, was installed in the Holes House in 1881.

The Prays, as one historian called them, were "an itinerant family of architect/contractor/carpenters." The group included four men. John Pray served as architect and construction superintendent, while Russell, B.D., and their brother-in-law Joseph Sackett performed carpentry and other construction tasks. The men came to Fargo from upper New York state during the 1870s and left sometime during the 1880s. The Prays were responsible for other houses in Fargo, but little is known of the men personally. Evidently they were members of a class of itinerant builders who traveled from one frontier town to the next, plying their trade.

The Italianate style began in England as part of the Picturesque Movement, a reaction against formal classical ideals in art and architecture. The style emphasized traditional patterns associated with Italian villa architecture. Most American examples of Italianate dwellings were townhouses. Italianate-style buildings first appeared in the United States during the 1830s. Pattern books authored by Andrew Jackson Downing popularized the style. Most Italianate houses were built during the 1850s, '60s, and '70s. Later examples tended to be more ornate than others, and have been termed "High Victorian Italianate."

The Holes House, with such features as shallow-pitched, hipped roofs, ornate eave brackets, and a heavily ornamented veranda is an outstanding example of the Italianate style, and one of the few examples in Fargo.