710 Park Avenue_COA 2025-0827 Packet

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HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OF SOUTH BEND AND ST. JOSEPH COUNTY Phone: 574/235.9371 Fax: 574/235.9021 Email: hpcsbsjc@southbendin.gov STAFF REPORT CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS Date: September 8, 2025 Application Number: 2025-0827 Property Location: 710 Park Avenue Architectural Style/Date/Architect or Builder: Second Empire / 1875 / “Chapin-Anderson House” Property Owner: Randy and Amy Davis Landmark or District Designation: Local Landmark (Ordinance #6461-1978), Chapin Park Local Historic District (Ordinance #9574-05), Chapin Park National Register District Rating: Outstanding DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE/SITE: Eclectic Italianate built for Mary Chapin Anderson between 1875 and 1877. Four generations of the Anderson-DuShane family lived in this house until 1962. Irregularly shaped two-story structure (with third story tower) on a stone foundation. Exterior cladding is wood ship-lap clapboard with corner boards; entablature with paired brackets. Asphalt shingled hipped roof with gable dormers, tower has mansard roof with wood shingles. Full width wrap-around front porch with paired doric columns on stone piers, supporting an entablature with dentils; flat roof & balustrade. Windows are 1/1 double hung, most have segmental arch molded entablatures; wood door with single leaded light, sidelights are leaded; stained glass transom. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROJECT: The applicant has requested approval to: 1. Add a deck to the back of the house with entry into our “office”. A primary objective of the deck is to allow for a wheelchair ramp that provides ADA access. Replace a non-historic window with a door as well as con- vert a set of cottage windows to a picture window 2/3 with a 1/3 transom to match the front window. 2. Construct a traditional 10x12’ cedar pergola to provide a cooking area for the new patio. Administratively Approved 3. Rebuild the Vestibule to be symmetrical and have the windows align with the front door and convert to “flat” trim to match the rest of the house. Administratively Approved 4. Raise the sagging bay window on the drive-way side of the house. Replace the non-historical windows and repair the roof to slope away from the house. Maintain internal gutters and trim appearance. 5. Replace siding on west wall on second story with wood siding to match. Administratively Approved STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES: See Standards and Guidelines: Accessibility: Pages 7; Doors: Pages 10-11; Roof, Gutters/Downspouts, Soffits: Pages 19-21; Site Projects: Pag - es 22-24; Windows: Pages 29-32; SITE VISIT REPORT: On September 3, 2025, Administrator Van Overberghe met with the property owner to discuss and inspect the proposed alterations. The bay window has sagged several inches causing the windows on the east and west to become skewed and inoperable. The siding on the west side second story above the front door has separated creating gaps between courses of clapboards revealing insulation and framing. The sites for the per- gola, deck and ADA ramp are in areas that will have little impact on the visual and structural integrity of the house.