8373-93 Establishng a Historic landmark 710 North Cushing

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• • At the March, 1993 regular monthly meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St . Joseph County (HPC) , the HPC voted to send a recommendation for Local Historic Landmark designation of the Woolman House at 710 N. Cushing Street to the South Bend Common Council . The owners , Hazar and Eugenia Garabedian, have provide the HPC with a signed consent for the designation. Based on HPC Local Landmark Criteria [ 1] , the structure is significant and worthy of preservation for at least several reasons : 1. the structure was designed by locally notable architect Walter W. Schneider (1868-1957) ,. responsible for the design of the River Park Theatre , the Engman Natatorium as well as numerous residences and other structures in the region (see appendix 1 for a list of such structures on the South Bend Historic Site and Structure Survey) . The house is a fine. example of Schneider ' s residential design; 2 . the Woolman House exemplifies the early twentieth-century vernacular Prairie form now called American Foursquare by architectural. historians . Its materials and architectural details remain unaltered and the structure. as a whole exhibits a level of craftsmanship and design uniquely characteristic of its period,; 3. the structure was rated in 1987 as Significant (S/11.) on. the Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory; it was rated as significant as an example of American foursquare/vernacular Prairie architecture, and.; _ 4. the property is suitable for preservation as a significant contributing structure within an area that contains a notable concentration of unaltered domestic architecture. The attention and care paid to its maintenance and preservation by its owners should be recognized and bolstered by local recognition and protection by ordinance . ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION This house is a reconstruction of an earlier house built circa 1896 . In 1917 the property contained the earlier, smaller structure , a barn and a "[corn? jcrib. " .The house underwent major reconstruction in 1924; the 1932 Assessor card lists the architect for the reconstruction as W. W. Schneider. The structure is a frame house with brick foundation. It is best classified as having the vernacular. form of the American Foursquare . It is two stories with a hipped roof and moderately-wide overhanging eaves . The ground plan is massed, comprising 'a near square (30 ' x 30.5 ' ) , with four rooms on both the first and second floors . It has a one-story porch on the front facade constructed of brick with stone caps . A massive brick chimney is located on the exterior of the north. facade. The house 's integrity is excellent; it has been unaltered since the 1924 renovation. Stylistically the house is associated in a rudimentary way with the Prairie style in its horizontal emphasis (except for the roof) , especially the bandcourse between the stories ; the square porch supports and several sets of narrow, 4 over 4 and 6 over 1 , double-hung windows in groups of three