The Lucas Kuehn House is a historic house in Wabasha, Minnesota, United States. It was built in 1878 for Lucas Kuehn (1834–?), the city's leading merchant of the 19th century. The house was the city's first to be designed in the Italianate style. It was also part of a unique trend among Wabasha's merchant class for houses constructed of brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 for its local significance in the themes of architecture and commerce. It was nominated for its associations with Kuehn and for its exemplary Italianate architecture. Description The Lucas Kuehn House is a two-story brick building with two main sections slightly offset from each other. A large back porch, now enclosed, fills the rear angle between the sections. In the 1920s a one-story wing extending from the rear of the house was replaced with an attached garage, while a one-story sunroom was added to the side of the front section. Both additions were matched to the style of the original sections. The front of the house once had a full-width veranda. This has been replaced with a small canopy over the main entrance, though it sports an elaborate pair of brackets. The original sections' windows are topped with wooden hoods with exaggerated limestone keystones. The wide eaves are characteristic of Italianate architecture, though they lack the bracketing common to the style. Other solidly Italianate elements include the boxy two-story massing and tall, narrow windows. History Lucas Kuehn was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1834 and emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 18. The Kuehns settled in Ohio for three years, where they worked as miners. Lucas showed such leadership talent that he was promoted to foreman over a crew that included his own father and brothers. In 1855 the family decided to move to Saint Paul, Minnesota. While journeying up the Mississippi River by steamboat from Dubuque, Iowa, however, they heard discouraging news about the availability of housing there and instead disembarked at Reads Landing, Minnesota. Lucas immediately found employment working the river and parted from his family. In 1858 Kuehn settled in Wabasha. Later that year he married Clara Guenthner, a fellow native of Baden whom he'd met when they were children. In 1862 he opened a bakery, but two years later he changed direction and entered the dry goods