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3020 BUCKINGHAM <br />HISTORICAL CONTEXT <br />Christian and Grace Pretz built this Austin and Shambleau, Renaissance Revival style, <br />house in 1926. Mr. Pretz was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 21, 1874, to Mr. <br />and Mrs. John C. Pretz. After Christian graduated from school he worked for a number <br />of concerns in various cities. Among these were the Penn -Railroad shops in Chicago and <br />Fort Wayne, the Sante Fe shops in Atchison and various automobile companies in <br />Detroit. Mr. Pretz was the superintendent of the Great Western Pneumatic Tube <br />Company in Denver from 1896-1900; he was general foreman of the Olds Motor Works <br />later becoming its superintendent and vice president. Christian Pretz moved to South <br />Bend in 1912 to become the superintendent and works manager for the Studebaker <br />Corporation. He resigned after 32 years of service from Studebaker in 1945. In 1900 <br />Christian married Grace Hersh of Allentown and sired sons, Richard and Philip. Mr. & <br />Mrs. Pretz owned the house until 1942 when they sold the property to their sons. The <br />house remained in the Pretz family until 1954 when it was sold to Lewis and Naomi <br />Cochovety. Mr. Cochovety was general manager of the Avon Theatre on South <br />Michigan Street. By 1960 Naomi was widowed and operating the Moonlite Drive -In <br />Theatre on West Chippewa. She later married James Dunham and continued to reside at <br />this address until 1965 when the house was sold to John and Virginia Nicolaides. John, a <br />professor at Notre Dame, continued to own the property until 1980 when he sold the <br />structure to John and Claire Duggan. Mr. Duggan was president of Saint Mary's College. <br />The Duggan's only resided there for two years, selling the house to Frederick and Mary <br />Ferlic in 1982. Fred was a physician at the South Bend Orthopedic Hospital while his <br />wife, Mary, was a teacher at Saint Mary's College. Mr. & Mrs. Ferlic resided in this <br />house until 1998 when it was sold to the current owner, Mari Kay Vance. <br />ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION <br />The property at 3020 Buckingham is located on the west side of Buckingham between <br />Miami Street and DonMoyer Avenue in South Bend, Indiana. It is described as lot 39 <br />and 10' on the southwest side of lot 40 of Ridgedale 2"d Addition to South Bend, Indiana. <br />This is a two story Renaissance Revival Style house with a rectangular plan, concrete <br />foundation and two wings. The walls are Flemish bond brick veneer with a limestone - <br />block arch and carved entablature framing the entry. The roof is hipped with mission <br />tiling, has a copper clad eyebrow dormer to the north, copper gutters and downspouts, <br />two large brick chimneys and carved purlin-ends under closed soffit. There is a sun <br />porch with a flat balconied roof and Palladian casement windows attached to the south <br />fagade and a garage with hipped tiled roof and casement windows connected to the north <br />facade. All windows are casement or fixed with leaded light divisions and limestone <br />sills. <br />2 <br />