October 1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• • CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS STAFF REPORT APPLICATION -- 1996-1001-2 PROPERTY -- 639 Rider Avenue South Bend, IN OWNER -- Richard Kennedy DESIGNATION -- LHD-EP RATING -- C/9 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE/HISTORIC CONTEXT A good.deal of ambiguity clouds the origins of this residence. According to the Portage Township Assessor's record created in 1932, the construction of this building was questionably accomplished, in 1877. If correct, this date would place the building among the 75 oldest houses cited in the Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory for the City of South Bend. The Harper's-Court subdivision was not recorded until 1889. In that year Harper's Court (Bronson Street) and River Avenue first appear in the street Directory of the City Directory. All but one of the dwellings located in this section of River Avenue are dated prior to the 1889 plat date by the Assessor's records. The house does not appear in the 1874 Atlas and does not appear in the Sanborn Insurance Maps until 1899, this area not having been included in the mapped areas until that publication. One building permit was.recorded in February of 1891 for a structure described as 1 1/2 stories on River Avenue, but this could describe any of four structures there located. Both the 1899 Sanborn and the Assessor's information indicate that the house behind this one was converted from a barn. The building footprint found in the 1899 Sanborn map indicates that the house had achieved its present massing by that date and empirically it may be inferred that this form was constituted by an original structure and at least one addition. It cannot be ruled out that the building or a portion thereof was moved to the present location from elsewhere, however it is notable that the ground plan of the front section of nearly all houses in the Harper Court Addition are of cookie -cutter similarity indicating the possibility of their having been speculatively built, possibly'by a --single builder. The building is presently quite altered from its original appearance, its porch having been enclosed and the original siding having been obscured by the installation of "insul-brick". An open porch along the recessed length of -the north wall toward the rear has been removed. The foundation has also been replaced or repaired with a mix of stone faced and standard concrete block. The house is a cross -gable type carpenter -built cottage with 2/2 double hung windows which would tend to confirm an earlier construction date. Like many such vernacular houses in South Bend, the eave rafter tails were square -cut perpendicular to the slope of the roof. There are presently no gutters. PROPOSED CHANGE The owner proposes to install gutters. STANDARDS . II.B.1 - Required The existing shape and materials of the roof shall be retained. .all features which give the roof its essential character ... shall be retained.