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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 08/21/2001 - SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 115, 2001, DESIGNA AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 11 DATE: August 21, 2001 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL FROM:• Karen McWilliams SUBJECT: Second Reading of Ordinance No. 115, 2001, Designating the Joseph Baines House, 520 South Howes Street, as a Local Landmark Pursuant to Chapter 14 of the City Code. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on Second Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The owner of the property, Chris Ray, dba Vantage Properties, LLC, initiated this request for landmark designation for the Joseph Baines House. This home has architectural significance to Fort Collins, as a good representation of late nineteenth century residential architecture in Fort Collins. 10 Ordinance No. 115, 2001,was unanimously adopted on First Reading on July 17, 2001. AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 15 110 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL DATE: July 17, 2001FROM• Karen McWilliams SUBJECT: First Reading of Ordinance No. 115,2001,Designating the Joseph Baines House,520 South Howes Street, as a Local Landmark Pursuant to Chapter 14 of the City Code. liar,'. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. At a public hearing held on June 27, 2001, the Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously recommended designation of this property as a landmark for its architectural importance to Fort Collins. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The owner of the property, Chris Ray, dba Vantage Properties, LLC, is initiating this request for landmark designation for the Joseph Baines House. This home has architectural significance to Fort Collins, as a good representation of late nineteenth century residential architecture in Fort Collins. 40 History - The Joseph Baines House contains several notable architectural details, consistent with late nineteenth century residential architecture;.These include brick walls with quoins,the classical column porch supports, stone lentil and lug sills,and the corbeled hood window treatment on the facade. The building has been somewhat altered,include an incompatible rear addition,and painted brick walls. Ownership records indicate that Baines purchased the lot in 1882, and had the house built in 1890. The following year,Baines sold the property to William Todd. Todd quickly sold the house to Peter Anderson, who owned the house until 1905, when he gave it to his daughter, Cora May Riddell. Peter Anderson was a prominent Larimer County rancher and businessman,owner of Peter Anderson Mercantile. Earle Riddell, Cora's husband, was secretary of the mercantile company. Following Earle's death in 1908,Cora continued to own the home until her death in the mid-1960s. The home then became the property of Cora's son, Frederick A. Riddell. Today,the building, now owned by Vantage Properties, LLC, is used to provide housing for students at nearby Colorado State University. 7 DATE: July 17, 2001 2 ITEM NUMBER: 14 initially populated by Volga Germans,people of German descent who had immigrated from Russia. When Wold War I restricted the inflow of German Russian sugar beet workers,the industry had to recruit another source of labor. They turned to the Hispanic population of southern Colorado,New Mexico and Mexico. Gradually, Spanish-speaking peoples replaced the Volga Germans of Buckingham and Andersonville; indeed, the adobe houses of Alta Vista, first constructed in 1923, were planned with Hispanic workers in mind. For both Germans and Hispanics, life in these communities was tough. Youngthildren were sent to the fields to weed the beets by hand. Whole families would work together;=pirthng in long hours under grueling conditions - and still live in poverty. The neighborhoods were the setting for Hope Williams Sykes' controversial novel, Second Hoeing, which provided an unflinching depiction of the conditions of the sugar beet workers in Fort Collins. Andersonville contained thirty-six properties and was named for Peter Anderson,the first fanner to employ migrant German Russians. When Inez Romero and her family moved there in 1922, they were the first Hispanics in the area. Inez remembered that.there were German Russians living on the next block,but most of the area was alfalfa fields. In 1927;soon after their marriage,Inez and John began their Andersonville adobe house. Fromthat time on,they recalled increasing numbers of Hispanics moving in, and more houses being constructed. John and Inez Romero had been living in a boxcar before they began building their adobe home. Both husband and wife were bom in New Mexico,and,1'ike many other Fort Collins Hispanics,were familiar with adobe materials. The home was built with bricks that John Romero made from straw and clay dug in the back yard tThii simple twd-room house reflected the style of adobe homes in New Mexico. In 1935 -during the heart of the Great Depression-two more rooms of adobe brick were added,to accommodate the growing family. In 1955,Mr.Romero built a final wood addition with a shingle gable end. He completed the work Himself, using wood that was either given to him or scrounged from construction sites. There are a few adobe houses still existing in Andersonville,Buckingham and Alta Vista;however, many have been obscured with wooden siding and recent additions. Fort Collins is about as far north as adobe houses were built, although a few exist in Wyoming. Adobe construction does not adapt easily to the northern climate. Significantly, the Romero House, once restored, will be the only adobe home in this area open to the public. f. Following Inez Romero's death,the property was sold May 1,2001 to Goldberg Property Associates. Mark Goldberg intends to donate the house to the City of Fort Collins for restoration as an interpretive house museum,to reflect the contributions of the Hispanic population in Fort Collins. The John and Inez Romero House is a prime example of an original adobe house,made from bricks created on the site: The property, and the neighborhood, tell the story of the sugar beet industry in Fort Collins. The'house itself,through its adobe and wood frame additions,shows the history of the Romero family and portrays the cultural, economic and social changes within the Hispanic community and within Fort Collins. Perhaps most significantly,the John and Inez Romero House represents the fact that the history of a community is not written necessarily by wealth and status. The average,hard working laboring family also significantly contributes to the chronicles of its city.