HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC May 4 1989 minuteso o
IIISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES
May 41 19 89
At this meeting of the Commissionr Elizabeth Egleston, consultant.
lrho prepareal Phase 1 of t.he historic property survey for the city
of CaIdweII, presented a slide show. tter written report is
attached as a part of the minutes and the slides and report will
be placed with the Caldwell Public Library and matle available to
the pubJ. ic.
The only other agenda item was a discussion on submitEing aproposal of historic preservation goals and policies to be
incLuded in the update of the Cityrs Comprehensive PIan.
Respectfully submitted,
Sylvia Robison
Se cretary
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STIDE SHOI.I
PRESENTED BEFONE THE CAIJDI.IEIJIJ HISTOR]CAI' CO}!}IIESION
MAY 4, 1989
Good evenlng, my nane le E1lzabeth Eglecton and I've been lDCaldwell for the pagt nonth conductlng a Eurvey of ZZ 61te6--Eoet are homes cloee to the dor+ntown -- only a few btocke to thenorthweet. ThlB proJect ie part of what the Historlcal
CommlssLone hopes w111 be a clty-wlde 6urvey, reEultlng in thee6tabliBhDent of Local hl8torlc dletrlcte. A eurvey euch as thLe16 the flrgt atep torrarde preaervlng the elgnlflcant or ol-derarchitecture of CaldHel1, docu!fientlns tstruetureB that arehistorically lEportant, and uftlDately preventlng thedeterloration of houeing in o]-der nelghborhoodg. Tonlght I wantto talk to you about the6e three aspecte of uy r.rork, and what I
found .
Thle nelghborhood wae plcked aB a Burvey area becauee 1t lsthe oldeet part of town. Soon after the Oregon Short [,IneRailroad eetablished Caldwe1l ln 1883, urany people Btarted
bul1dJ.ng on either 61de of the tracke. At f1ret, moet people
couldn't afford much, and Etarted thelr l1vee ln Ca1d9re11 1n atent, or a cabin. But as they became uore proBperouB, they could
bu11d a ema1I frame houee, and then elther move, replace lt orexpand lt. The Cal dwell Trlbune carefully noted bulldlnCactlvlty -- when eouebody bu11t a houBe ln front thelr eabln, oradded a bay wlndow or a wlng. ALmoet everyone uaed wood--brick wae much more expenelve, and wae rrore frequently u6ed for
coumercial 6tructuree,
After railroade began to gtretch acroBg the country, andpeople had rore acceE6 to the tranBportf,tlon and BhlpplnEibenefite of tralne, archLtectural Etyles and elementB that had
onJ-y been avall-able ln large EaEtern eltlee beeame eomethlnE
everyone could buy. Entire houeee could be Ehlpped, ready to be
assembled, and homeownere could embellleh thelr homee wlth fancyecrollwork to put on porchee or around roofllnee. ThlB Le shy weoften see Bueh great examplee of Yictorian archlt.ecture in B[411
towne and cltles all over this country.
Ca1dwe1l, however, dld not EeeD to fo11ow thlg pf,th, and the
houees in thie area remained plain and uncompllcated. In epiteof their elmplicity, however, Caldwell resldents managed to
incorporate detalle lnto thelr houes, and a eo1ld variety ofarchLtectural etylee exiets, Thie variety reEul-t6 1n pleasant
views as you look down streets such ae Belmont or Chicago -- the
housee look compatlble, and yet, at cloger fook, they have enoughlndivldual character to make lt an lnterestlng plaee.
I'd 1lke to 6tart by explainlng some of the varloua etyleethat were popular durlng the growth of thls area -- 1883 to about
1915 (1) -- and show a few examplee that you'd aee here. Theflret ls Queen Anne. This wae a Btyle that became popular about1870, and Is usually very flauboyant. Its orlgin le derived from
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Dedleval architecture, but in glmple bulldlngs, you Eight not beable to a.certaln that lts root6 were lneplied 'by coietructlonundertaken eeveral centurlee ago. Here-s an eximple from theaurvey at 809 Denver. The eueen Anne style le generally not aeenin one-story reeldencee but northweet Caldwell hai eeveral.
Queen Anne ie characterlzed by a6yDDetrlcaL maeelng -- note howthls porch Le off-center - and complex roof1lnee -- notlce thetriangular roof here.
(2) Thts houEe at 608 N, Sec'rond le very Blmllar- one of theglve-aways of the tueen Anne Etyle 1e the uee of etalned glaesthe way lt lE uged in thlg wlndow, wlth Bmal1 r'ectangular lightearound a large pane. (3) Another, dlfferent, exaEple of the BtyleIe eeen 1n thls houee, ae Queen Anne houeee often have decoratlvewall surfacee such aE flahecale shingtee and eunburate orother dealgne in the gable end.(4,5)
(6) Several houee rere butlt In what I ca1l Folk Vlctortan-- whlch lEn't actually a etyle, but lndlcatee the tlme lt wasbu11t, around the turn of the century, and that lt lacks thecharacteriEtics of a pure or grand styIe. In Caldwefl exaDpleaof this have gables that intersect and the front gable hanEig overthe bay wl,ndon. They have other detalle that spruce up theBeplaln houees -- euch a6 pronounced noldlnge around the wLndowe,or cornice returns . (7)
SoDe houaeB ln thls area are very elmple, 6uch aB thlB houEeat 812 Belmont. (8) Ite plan le Btralght- forward , and there'enothlng fancy, except the trlangular nlndoer at the Blde, I'mnot certaln when lt waa congtructed, lt mlght have been the typeof houee that people ln CaldweLL tlved ln before they Doved on toeouething larger or Dore ornate. It Is very elmllar to one ln aphotograph that I eaw in the State Hletory lrlbrary In Bolse.(9)They're not the eaue housee, but the ahape le the sane, and eoare the details. Thle photograph ie also lntereBtlng because wecan aee eome of the acce6aorleE that carDe wlth an early houae--notlce the outhouee to the rear and the plank stdewalk that leadsup to the house and around to the prlvy.
The orlginal Caldwell schoolhouee on Chl-cago Street bears areeemblance to those you Juet viewed, (10) Thle le half of theo1d echool, bulLt ln 1883, and ueed ae one for three yeare, In1887, it was converted lnto two rental houeee. Cafdwell cltizeneshould be proud that thle et11l exlBtB -- few communltlee haveretalned their flrst echoolhouse, at leaet haff of one.
One of the most predomlnant etylee of thlg area le that ofthe Crafteman bungalow. (11) Thle etyle became very popular Juetafter 1900; eoincidlng irlth the beglnning of a veri proeperouedecade for Catdgett, thue many of theee can be eeen. The decadeln whlch lt became popular waa known ae the progreEElve Era -- atlne when Amerlcane erere concerned about eoclal reforo and womenwere expected to becone very lnvolved ln coBDunlty actlvltles.The Craftsnan style i{ae halled aa a return to elmpllclty--
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eaBier to Da1ntaln, and more natural and even healthler to liveln than the fueey atylea of the paet. ft was hoped that lt wouldaIlow people to have rnore leleure tlDe, and represented a Ehlftfrom the artlflciallty of the Vletorlan era. Theee houeee havelow-pltched roofa, battered plers and wide porches.(12)
Sone houeee ln the survey have loet all of thelr orlglnalintegrlty, leaving no clue aB to what they looked l1ke before.Such Etructureg frequently turn out to be hletorlcallyslsnlflcant. ( 13) Thle apartment houee at 1104 Albany, rlaB once ahospltal about 1S18, gurrounded by eleeplng porcheE wlth 11
roome for patientB. Before that it waB a boarding houBe. Hereyou can barely see it ln an old blrd'e eye vlew postcard takenfrom the o1d courthouee. ( 14) Today, who would ever guesB that 1t
once looked eo dlfferent, and nae u6ed for a hospltal? FlndlnAout lnformatlon such ae thls Dakeg me wonder what lurke underother facadee, behind other bulldlngs, eepeclally thoee clad ln
alumlnum,
Four housea were plcked for intenelve 1eve1 research.Generally, the crlterla used waa baeed on the 1eveI ofarchltectural lntegrlty retalned by the buildlng. (15) ThlB
houee, at 501 Klmbal1, is the noet elaborate ln the Eurvey, and
was built for an early banker, S.D. Slmpgon. (16,17) Thle house,
on Belmont, appeare elmple, but le almoet perfectly lntact, andhae several flne detalle on the elde, auch aa the oxbow
wlndow. (18) Here le orre Burveyed at the lntenslve level that 18rapidly deterioratins, but lt has Dany LnterestingcharacterletLcs -- unusual 1n thle nelahborhood for euch a snal1
houee -- and iB located near the courthouee. ( 18) Several old
hones around It have been converted lnto offlcee, provldlng thoee
who renovate them wlth substantlal tax beneflte, Flnally, raypersonal favorlte 1n the Burvey -- thls houee that wa8 bullt by
tem Harding about 1905,(20) congtrueted of pregEed brlck and6tone, He, along wlth two partnera, began a buBineBananufacturing thle naterlal, whlch waB advertlBed aa belnglndestructlble, ae lt wae flreproof and damp proof. Few such
homee are eeen ln Caldwell -- here'e one at 12th and Blaine, (21)
although eeveral foundatlona are stLlI extant.(22') ThlE houBe
has other intereBting featuree -- cobbleetone waa used l1beraI1y,
on the chimney, for a barbecue, for thls wal} (23) and to facethe wa11e of the garage. (24)
Ae Caldwell expanded, eo did lte other euburbe, and grlth theadvent of the autonoblle, people could Ilve farther away fromwhere they worked and proxfuity to a ehopplng or buB1ne66dlstrlct wag no longer coneldered a high priority. Areag such aathls were not popular after the Second World l{ar, when
conatructLon boomed and young famlllee wanted to move lnto newhones. Elderly residents etayed, and ae the demand for olderhomeg decreased, the nelghborhood becaue nore affordable forthoee wlth lower lncornee. Unfortunately, thte has Beant thedeterloratLon and razlng of Dany of the atructuree, and the loBBof the archltecturaL and hietorlcal fabrlc of the conmunlty.
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Revltalizlng an o1der, declining neighborhood, should be aprlority for clty offlclale and planners, ae 1t can contrlbute toa atronger downtolrn econorry r a 1essenlnEi of crLme, and a etableor increased property tax base.
The northweat sectlon of Caldwell hae many thlnsB golng forlt. It hae a eolld houelng stock, and although Bone of the oldergtructureg have suffered slgnlflcant alteratlone, (Zb) EoDe areprlstlne and ln excellent condltlon, (26) There hae been BoBeconnerclal encroaehment, Buch as thle laundronat, (27) but moetof the buginegBeg are E1nl1ar ln Bcafe and are not vlaually
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dlerupting to the eye. They haven't acqulredappearance by placlng a huge parklne 1ot 1nbuelneee, that only becomes a large empty Bpaceprovlde a little huetle and buetle during thetortilla factory. The area, for the moet part,
an al,1front oat nlg
day -- I
16 ap
enat 1ngf thelrht, andlke the
IeaBantplace to walk around -- with houeee that don't all look exactLyallke (28) and Eature landecaplng. (Zg) Beeldee belng aninportant hlstorlcal reaource, lt ie actg as a buffer zone
between a tranaportatlon corrldor and the downtown buelneeedlstrlct. I hope that people ln CaIdweII appreclate what theyhave. I 1lke to say that I've really enJoyed worklng 1n thl6town, and I hope you've enJoyed my preeentatlon. I'd be happy to
respond to any queetione or commentB you have,