2. Edgewater Place Historic District - National Register Nomination

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Edgewater Place Historic District Saint Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 30 ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Edgewater Place Historic District has a robust number of examples of early 20th century architecture related to the Craftsman/Bungalow style and Colonial Revival style. Within both broad categories are examples that include features of other styles, either in form or stylistic features. These include American Four Square, Prairie Style, Bungalow, and a subcategory of Colonial Revival known as Dutch Colonial Revival. Combined, these represent over three- quarters of the houses located at Edgewater Place and trace their construction to the time period the development was platted in 1919 through 1927. They give the district its character of tightly platted lots, several small garages, and tree-lined streets with historic streetlights. Prior to the Edgewater Place plat, development had already occurred in a pocket at the south end of the district and along Lincoln Way, then known as Vistula Road. George A. Frantz purchased and platted the southeast section in 1871. Development was slow-going and mostly catered to working class families of nearby manufacturing and mill industries. By 1875, there were five houses in the Frantz plat. Abigail and William Harper developed another section in the south part of the district in 1889 that included two streets: Harper Court (now Bronson Street) and River Avenue south of Bronson.25 This early development is located in the area from Bronson Street (both sides), south to the edge of the district between the Saint Joseph River and Lincoln Way (photos 20-21). Vistula Road was an important route between South Bend and Mishawaka and further east to Elkhart that generally followed the south bank of the Saint Joseph River. The road enjoyed some prominence as a main route into the city and it soon began to be lined with middle-class houses. Within the district, the east side of Vistula Road was platted in 1897 between Harper Court (Bronson) and Monroe Street by Andrew Fuerbringer (photos 16-19).26 The houses from the Frantz and Harper plats in the south end of the district are mostly vernacular in simple T-plan and gable-front forms and date from 1877-1912. The houses from the Fuerbringer plat along Lincoln Way, that predate the Edgewater plat, are examples of the Queen Anne style and American Four Square and date to 1892-1908. The oldest house in the district was built in 1877 and has a simple T-form plan with a low-pitched gabled roof (left side of photo 20). The two-story house has clapboards and wood windows representing various early remodeling campaigns. The two examples of Queen Anne architecture, located on Lincoln Way, are nearly mirrored examples of each other in terms of form (photos 16-17). They feature a two- story cube with steeply pitched hipped roof and lower cross-gables over projecting bays. The houses have large windows with crown moldings and one-story porches with hipped roofs. The house at 621 Lincoln Way has clapboards while the house at 635 Lincoln Way has walls covered with large wood shingles. The house at 635 Lincoln Way has a few more refined features including a formal frieze with rows of dentils below the roof and porch roof, Doric columns on 25 South Bend HPC Edgewater Place Local Historic District summary 26 South Bend HPC Edgewater Place Local Historic District summary