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STAFF REPORT 0710 North Cushing Street, The Woolman House: Proposed Local Historic Landmark The property at 710 North Cushing Street, South Bend, Indiana was nominated for Local Historic Landmark designation by HPC President John Oxian. 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 designed by W. W. Schneider, a notable local architect. 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?]crib." 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 and four. The second story is accentuated by contrasting wood siding (thinner width) from that on the first floor. The property also contains a one-story frame garage built sometime between 1932 and 1949. The 1932 Assessor card shows a rectangular, six -car garage; it seems likely that this structure was a remnant of the 1917 barn -like building. The present garage is 22'x 20' in dimension, has two bays and a pyramidal roof. There are four fixed windows with six lights (two on the rear, one on each side; the original doors to the bays have been replaced.[l] THE ARCHITECT Walter W. Schneider (1868-1957) designed many of South Bend's significant buildings from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century (see appendix #l). His important buildings include the Engman Natatorium (1921; 1040 W. Washington), River Park Theatre (1926; 2931 Mishawaka Avenue), the Osborn Building (1906; 1031 W. Washington) and the Knights of Pythias building (1922; 224 West Jefferson). He also designed many South Bend residences; notable among them is the Tudor is Revival style Cutter House (1906; 916 Riverside Drive) and the "Bungaloid" Kerner House (1913; 211 W. Marion). Schneider was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt