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CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS STAFF REPORT APPLICATION — 1999-0301 PROPERTY — 617 W. LaSalle South Bend, IN. OWNER —Jeffrey M. Berndt DESIGNATION — LL RATING — Significant S/12 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE/HISTORIC CONTEXT The present building was moved to 617 W. LaSalle from 404 N. Lafayette some time during the early 1980s. The house was built in 1895 on lot 205 O.P. of South Bend. Charles L. Goetz purchased lot 205 of the original plat of South Bend from Mrs. Evaline Patterson in 1892. Mr. Goetz replaced the existing one and half story frame house in 1895 with the existing Queen Anne style house. Mr. Goetz was born in Rome, New York in 1859 and began a trade in the cigar business at age fourteen. During the next eight years he moved throughout New York all the while remaining affiliated with the cigar business. Mr. Goetz came to South Bend in 1881, eventually starting his own cigar business, Goetz Cigar Company, in 1885. The business, located at 307 W. Jefferson, was very successful, soon employing up to 35 employees. Mr. Goetz married Emma Klingel, daughter of German pioneers who settled around Lafayette and Madison Street. The young couple moved in 1895 to their newly constructed Queen Anne style house then located at 404 N. Lafayette. Mr. Goetz was elected mayor of South Bend in 1910 and served as such until his death in 1915. Mrs. Goetz continued to reside here until her death in 1932 at which time the house was inherited by their son, Philip K. Goetz. Philip owned the house until 1943 when he sold it to Dr. Richard W. & Lilliam Holdeman who continued to own the residence the late 1970s. This house was moved to 617 W. LaSalle in the early 1980s, a previously existing structure was demolished in 1972. During the 1980s the house came to be owned by Oscar T. Brookins, a professor at Notre Dame University. Mr. Brookins owned the house until 1994 when he sold it to C.O. Phillips, who in turn sold it to the Society National Bank of Indiana in 1996. They owned the house for a year, selling it to the current owner, Jeffrey Berndt, in 1997. PROPOSED CHANGE Applicant is proposing to make many repairs, restorations and additions to this house over the next year. The changes are as follows; 1)repair and/or replace front and rear open porches, 2) add a Gothic cedar picket fence around front yard, 3) rebuild missing side stair bay window, 4) replace upper back bedroom east window to proper size and add a second window, 5) construct a privacy fence along west side of yard, 6) removal of second floor west side window,