Historical Landmark - 127 and 129 Franklin Place and 407 and 409 W. Jefferson

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(129 Franklin Place) HISTORIC CONTEXT This property is located on the northwest corner of Franklin Place and West - Jefferson Street, South Bend, Indiana. The property is described as the west ' 44.1' of lot 8 Veils Subdivision Block 1 of South Bend. William W. Brick purchased lot 8 of Veils Sub Block 1 from Rudolph Ruppurt in 1867 and built a brick house on the site a year later. ~1r. Brick retired as a ..farmer upon the completion of this house and lived there with his third wife, Elizabeth Calvert, until his death in 1882. Mr. Bricks son-in-law, William .Kizer, rented the house out until 1888 when he sold it to John C. Stover. John .C. Stover was a~whole sale lumber dealer with his own lumber yard. He married Nora Soseman in 1880 and-had two children. ti1r. Stover demolished the ' existing brick structure in _1896 and built a Queen Anne style house, which currently exists on the property. He resided there until his death in the ' mid-1930s, after which, his son, Burton Stover, inherited the house. Burton Stover rented the house out until 1939 when he sold it to the First Federal Savings & Loan Association. They continued. to rent the house out until 1945 when it was sold. to Frank Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter lived in the house for a year, selling it to Vera C. & Ford Reaves in 1945. Mr. Reaves resided in the house until his death. Mrs. Reaves eventually remarried and transferred the property into her 'married name, Vera C. Yeager, in 1971, by this time .Mrs ., Yeager lived in Ohio and was using the house as a rental. In 1991 Mrs. Yeager transferred the ownership of the property into a .family trust which is controlled by her daughter, Marilyn Proctor of Ohio.. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION This is a two and a half story Queen Anne style house wir_h a brick foundation and one-brick chimney piercing the center of the building: The house has an asphalt shingle covered gable and hip roof combination with an octagonal roof over the tower. The roof also has eave returns at the .gables, fascia and bracketed eaves under the tower.. The walls 'have 6" wide clapboard siding on the first floor and 4" wide clapboards on the .second floor. There is a horizontal trim piece. between floors- and~at the bottom of the gables. The porch is made of wood with. wood balustrades and columns supporting an entablature with dentilation detail. There is a small side porch facing W. Jefferson Street that replicates the front porch. Both_ have new poured concrete cement steps. The front door is made of wood with a single pane of glass, protected by an aluminum storm door. The majority of the houses windows are wood framed one over.one double hung with deep wood lintels.- The third .story, or attic, has multi-paned fixed windows with one half circle window located in the south gable. The central feature of the house is its tower located on the southeast corner of. the house. This tower boasts wood siding, one over one curved glass windows, third story multi-paned windows and wide- wood paneled trim under the eaves.