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CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS STAFF REPORT • APPLICATION -- 1996-0802 PROPERTY -- 830 North Michigan Street South Bend, IN OWNER -- City of South Bend (Water Works) DESIGNATION -- Local Landmark RATING -- 0/13 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE MISTORIC CONTEXT The North Pumping Station was constructed in 1912 to replace a previous facility of similar function which had become obsolete and was at the time reviled as being unfashionable in style. The new building was designed in the Classical Revival style by Freyermuth and Maurer, a well known local architectural firm. The eastern sections of Leeper Park, where the Pumping Station is located, had been acquired in the late Nineteenth Century for use as a well field for the municipal water system due to its accessible artesian wells. The use as a park, though realized almost immediately, was secondary to this public works function. Two smaller structures have been constructed in the park in association with the Pumping Station. These structures are typically designed in a brick Colonial Revival style to house wellheads. Several other wells are • located in the park with the wellhead machinery exposed and protected only by chain—link fencing. PROPOSED CHANGE The Department of Public Works seeks to drive a new well as indicated on the drawings submitted and install the requisite pumping equipment above grade similar to that shown in the photograph submitted. Other proposed work includes the necessary excavation required for and the installation of piping from the well to the Pumping Station. This is the first of at least three such new wells anticipated for Leeper park -in the near future. STANDARDS The Landmark Standards state: VII. Building Site and Landscaping (1) Required: .... Structures such as: gazebos, patio decks, fixed barbecue pits, swimming pools, tennis courts, greenhouses, new walls, fountains, fixed garden furniture, trellises, and other similar structures shall be compatible to the historic character of the site and the neighborhood and inconspicuous when viewed from the public way. RECOMMENDATION The appropriateness of the use of the park for municipal water works is implicit in the presence of the Pumping Station and the early history of the park. Staff recommends approval of the well but wishes to raise several issues regarding this and future new well developments. The proposed well presently • under consideration is in close proximity to a shelter house constructed with considerable similarity to the Colonial Revival pumphouses noted above. As .several of these wells are anticipated, Staff has concerns for the impact that proliferating industrial equipment will have on the character of the park