October 2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

South Bend and St. Joseph County HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION 227 WEST JEFFERSON BLVD. SOUTH BEND, IN 46601-1830 Phone: 219-235-9798 Fax: 219-235-9578 e-mail: historic@michiana.org John Oxian, President A Certified Local Government October 3, 2001 Mr. Frank Hurtis Division of Historic Preservation & Archeology 402 West Washington Street—Room 274 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 RE: Remedy Company Building 501 West Colfax Avenue South Bend, Indiana Dear Mr. Hurtis: Rhonda Saunders, Director This letter is to give you official word that the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and Saint Joseph County, by official vote taken at our April 16, 2001 Commission meeting, voted unanimously to send you a recommendation for approval of the proposal to move the old Remedy Company Building, presently situated at 501 West Colfax Avenue, to a new site at the corner of West Washington Street and Franklin Street, within the same West Washington Street National Register Historic District. The old Remedy Company Building will continue to be a contributing structure at its new location. It will, in fact, contribute much more to the community and the District at the new location. As you know, it was origi- nally built to have its corner tower face a street corner. However, at its Colfax location, the tower faces another historic house, and a wall designed to face merely an alley or back lot faces William Street. Also, in its present lo- cation it encroaches upon space which ought, more appropriately, to be attached to the neighboring house for a driveway and gardens, to be a buffer between that house and the street, to fit the historic character of that house. In its proposed new location, the old Remedy Company Building will be more accessible to other commer- cial office buildings, and will be on a lot like that for which its builders originally designed it. It is well worth while to move this building to an appropriate location, as it is a uniquely beautiful architectural specimen, of sub- stantial significance to the local history of South Bend and Saint Joseph County. Also, the rise and fall of the "patent medicine" industry is an interesting and instructive part of our country's cultural history, and development. Please do call upon any of our Commission staff or officers if you have any questions we might answer, or if there is further information we might provide. Yours Very Truly, Karen R. Hammond -Nash Assistant Director COMMISSIONERS Martha Choitz Richard Hetmus Jerry Weiner (Treasurer) Mary lane Chase Catherine Hostetler (Vice -President) Gerald Ujdak (Secretary) Richard Morrison Joann Sporleder (Historic Architect) Thomas Bodnar(Attomey)