7. 17510 Cleveland Road_STAFF REPORT

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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 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL HISTORIC LANDMARK DESIGNATION Date: January 15, 2025 Property Location: 17510 Cleveland Road Architectural Style/Date/Architect or Builder: Italianate / 1876 / Built for the Kotz family Property Owner: Robert and Judelie Sherman Landmark or District Designation: Consideration for individual, Local Historic Landmark listing. Rating: Contributing (2005) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Located at 17510 Cleveland Road, the historic Kotz Family Farmhouse is surviving evidence of the once-rural landscape of Clay Township during the early and mid-periods of European settlement in St. Joseph County. The Kotz family first settled on the land in 1847, and the extant house represents their second home on the site, constructed in 1876. The farmhouse originally stood on a 160-acre family farm that was later sub- divided, with remaining orchards cleared for mid-20th-century residential development, including the Bowercrest Manor Subdivision. As a result, the farmhouse serves as a rare physical anchor for understanding Clay Township’s transition from a primarily agricultural landscape to postwar suburban development along Cleveland Road. The property’s significance is rooted in themes of early immigrant settlement, long-term family landholding, and the Kotz family’s broad cultural and economic reach from a rural base. In addition to farming, the Kotz family operated a custom wagon-building business, Kotz Wagon & Smiths (1883–1901), which functioned within the orbit of major regional manufacturers and reflects the area’s industrial expansion. Many of the Kotz family members held prominent political or social positions within their community and church. Most notably, the farmhouse is directly associated with artist Daniel Kotz (1848–1933), who was raised on the farm and developed a professional career that connected South Bend to broader Midwestern and national art circles. Kotz maintained ties to prominent insti- tutions such as the Chicago Art League and the Art Institute of Chicago and received commissions from influential industrial and political figures, including the Studebakers, the Olivers, and Vice President Schuyler Colfax. Architecturally, the farmhouse reflects layered periods of use and evolving architectural taste. While the last Indi- ana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory survey (2005) identified the property as “severely altered,” subsequent analysis demonstrates that these alterations represent a significant historic phase. Originally constructed in the Italianate style, the house was remodeled in the 1930s or 1940s by Kotz descendants themselves, who removed the original, lower-profile Italianate porch and replaced it with a Colonial Revival porch. This transformation is histor- ically meaningful, documenting early-20th-century modernization trends and the family’s continued investment in the property across multiple generations. DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE/SITE: The primary structure is a two-story, wood-frame farmhouse with a rectangular main block and one-story rear and side segments. A single-story wing extends from the east elevation of the main block; this section is original to the 1876 farmhouse and may incorporate remnants of the first Kotz dwelling on the site. The building rests on a fieldstone foundation and is clad in horizontal vinyl siding, with origi- nal wood clapboard siding remaining beneath the vinyl. The house is oriented toward Cleveland Road to the north and is set back on an open lawn. [Continued below.]