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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 07/21/2020 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 089, 2020, DESIGNATAgenda Item 6 Item # 6 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 21, 2020 City Council STAFF Jim Bertolini, Historic Preservation Planner Karen McWilliams, Historic Preservation Planner Brad Yatabe, Legal SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 089, 2020, Designating the Lois Struble Property, 129 North McKinley Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado, as a Fort Collins Landmark Pursuant to Chapter 14 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This item is a quasi-judicial matter and if it is considered on the discussion agenda, it will be considered in accordance with Section 1(f) of the Council’s Rules of Meeting Procedures adopted in Resolution 2019-064. The purpose of this item is to designate the Lois Struble Property located at 129 North McKinley Avenue as a Fort Collins Landmark. The owners of this property, Kimberly Medina and Ramon Aguilera, are initiating this request. The duplex is eligible for recognition as a Landmark due to its significance to Fort Collins under Designation Standard 3, Design/Construction and their historic integrity. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION The Lois Struble Property at 129 North McKinley Avenue is significant under Standard 3, Design/Construction, as an unusually unique example of a Minimal Traditional residence in Fort Collins. Constructed in 1948, this house is an over-under duplex located in the Swett Addition. A later example of a Minimal Traditional house, its design reflects the transitional period between the smaller Minimal Traditional homes constructed immediately before and after World War II and larger Ranch-type homes popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Minimal Traditional homes tend to be small, boxy, one-story buildings with minimal adornment and housing a single family. They also often had asbestos-shingle or wood or masonite siding, but later examples sometimes used striated brick, which can be seen on this home. Other Minimal Traditional features on this home include the front-facing gable section and closed eaves with a small overhang. Residences of this style also frequently incorporated modest Tudor Revival elements, such as this house’s prominent brick chimney. This home incorporates some architectural features of the Ranch Style popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Ranch homes often make the garage an integral part of the home, which is reflected in this house’s attached garage. Their use of masonry was also sometimes decorative rather than structural, as in the brick cladding over concrete block of this house. The architecturally transitional nature of the house at 129 North McKinley Avenue makes it a noteworthy example of the Minimal Traditional building type in the City. Agenda Item 6 Item # 6 Page 2 CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS Recognition of this property as a Fort Collins Landmark enables its owners to qualify for local financial incentive programs available only to Landmark designated properties. Based upon research conducted by Clarion Associates, the property will likely see an increase in value following designation. Clarion Associates attributed this increase to the fact that current and future owners qualify for financial incentives; the appeal of owning a recognized historic landmark; and the assurance of predictability that design review offers. BOARD / COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION At its February 19, 2020, meeting, the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) adopted a motion on a vote of 6-0 (1 recused) to recommend Council designate the Lois Struble Property as a Fort Collins Landmark in accordance with City Code Chapter 14, based on the property’s significance under Standard 3, Design/Construction and its exterior integrity based upon all seven aspects of integrity. PUBLIC OUTREACH Public outreach was limited to interaction with the property owner and presentation/approval at a regular meeting of the LPC. Neighbors of the property in question attended the February LPC meeting and spoke in favor. ATTACHMENTS 1. Location Map (PDF) 2. Nomination Form (PDF) 3. Landmark Preservation Commission Resolution No. 3 (PDF) 4. Photos (PDF) 129 N. McKinley LYONS ST SYLVAN CT LAPORTE AVE W MOUNTAIN AVE N MCKINLEY AVE COLUMBINE CT S MCKINLEY AVE N MCKINLEY AVE 129 N. McKinley Avenue Landmark Nomination - Location Map 010203040 Meters Scale 1:1,000 © Legend 129 N McKinley Ave - Struble Property Swetts Addition Existing City Landmarks ATTACHMENT 1 Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Fort Collins Landmark Designation LOCATION INFORMATION Address: 129 N. McKinley Ave. Legal Description: Lot 6, Block 2, Swett’s Addition, Fort Collins Property Name (historic and/or common): The Lois Struble Property0F 1 OWNER INFORMATION Name: Kimberly Baker Medina; Ramon Medina Aguilera Company/Organization (if applicable): N/A Phone: 970-493-2878, 970-308-1184, 970-232-9455 Email: kimbakermedina@gmail.com Mailing Address: 128 N McKinley Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80521 CLASSIFICATION Category Ownership Status Present Use Existing Designation Building Public Occupied Commercial Nat’l Register Structure Private Unoccupied Educational State Register Site Religious Object Residential District Entertainment Government Other FORM PREPARED BY Name and Title: Reyana Jones, Historic Preservation Specialist; Jim Bertolini, Historic Preservation Planner Address: 281 N. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524 Phone: (970) 416-4250 Email: preservation@fcgov.com 1 This property is named for Anita Lois Struble; she was known as Lois Struble. ATTACHMENT 2 Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 DATE: January 14, 2020 TYPE OF DESIGNATION and BOUNDARIES Individual Landmark Property Landmark District Explanation of Boundaries: The boundaries of the property being designated as a Fort Collins Landmark correspond to the legal description of the property, above. The property (hereinafter the “Property”) consists of the 1948 house and its surrounding landscape (parcel no. 9710409006). STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE and INTEGRITY Properties are eligible for designation if they possess both significance and integrity. Significance is the importance of a site, structure, object or district to the history, architecture, archeology, engineering or culture of our community, State or Nation. For designation as Fort Collins Landmarks or Fort Collins Landmark Districts properties must meet one (1) or more of the following standards set forth in Fort Collins Municipal Code Section 14-22(a): Standard 1: Events This property is associated with events that have made a recognizable contribution to the broad patterns of the history of the community, State or Nation. It is associated with either (or both) of these two (2) types of events: a) A specific event marking an important moment in Fort Collins prehistory or history; and/or b) A pattern of events or a historic trend that made a recognizable contribution to the development of the community, State or Nation. Standard 2: Persons/Groups This property is associated with the lives of persons or groups of persons recognizable in the history of the community, State or Nation whose specific contributions to that history can be identified and documented. Standard 3: Design/Construction This property embodies the identifiable characteristics of a type, period or method of construction; represents the work of a craftsman or architect whose work is distinguishable from others by its characteristic style and quality; possesses high artistic values or design concepts; or is part of a recognizable and distinguishable group of properties. The Lois Struble Property at 129 N. McKinley Ave. is significant under Standard 3, Design/Construction, as an unusually unique example of a Minimal Traditional residence in Fort Collins. Constructed in 1948, this house is an over-under duplex located in the Swett Addition. A later example of a Minimal Traditional house, its design reflects the Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 transitional period between the smaller Minimal Traditional homes constructed immediately before and after World War II and larger Ranch-type homes popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Minimal Traditional homes tend to be small, boxy, one-story buildings with minimal adornment and housing a single family. They also often had asbestos- shingle or wood or Masonite siding, but later examples sometimes used striated brick, which can be seen on this home. Other Minimal Traditional features on this home include the front-facing gable section and closed eaves with a small overhang. Residences of this style also frequently incorporated modest Tudor Revival elements, such as this house’s prominent brick chimney. This home incorporates some architectural features of the Ranch Style popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Ranch homes often make the garage an integral part of the home, which is reflected in this house’s attached garage. Their use of masonry was also sometimes decorative rather than structural, as in the brick cladding over concrete block of this house. The architecturally transitional nature of the house at 129 N. McKinley Ave. makes it a noteworthy example of the Minimal Traditional building type in the city. Standard 4: Information Potential This property has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Period of Significance is the discrete chronological period during which a historic property gained its significance. Additions or alterations to a property that have significance in their own right can warrant the extension of a Period of Significance. Historic properties can have multiple Periods of Significance. Period(s) of Significance: Because of its significance under Standard 3, Design/Construction, the period of significance for the Lois Struble Property is 1948, the date of the house’s construction. Integrity is the ability of a site, structure, object or district to be able to convey its significance. The integrity of a resource is based on the degree to which it retains all or some of seven (7) aspects or qualities set forth in Fort Collins Municipal Code Section 14-22(b): location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. All seven qualities do not need to be present for a site, structure, object or district to be eligible as long as the overall sense of past time and place is evident. Standard 1: Location is the place where the resource was constructed or the place where the historic or prehistoric event occurred. The location of the Lois Struble Property has not changed. Standard 2: Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan space, structure and style of a resource. This house retains excellent integrity of design. Its character-defining features, such as its prominent chimney, recessed front entry, attached garage, and small, wood sash windows with horizontal lights, and asymmetrical fenestration pattern all remain. The Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 house has undergone very little alteration since its 1948 construction; the only building permits taken out for the property were for fences, re-roofing, a new furnace, and an air conditioning unit. The only other visible exterior alteration appears to the painting or skim-coating of the front stairs to resurface them and the change in the roof materials from wood to asphalt shingles, according to the 1948 Tax Assessor record.1F 2 Standard 3: Setting is the physical environment of a resource. Setting refers to the character of the place; it involves how, not just where, the resource is situated and its relationship to the surrounding features and open space. The setting of the Lois Struble Property has changed very little. Located in the Swett Addition to Fort Collins, this neighborhood contains small to medium-sized residences and was built out in two phases, first in the early twentieth century, then again in the postwar era. The Swett Addition remains residential and retains this mixed architectural character today. Standard 4: Materials are the physical elements that form a resource. This house also retains good integrity of materials. The primary cladding material, vertically scored red brick, is retained on both the house and attached garage. The front brick steps with concrete surfacing and metal railing are also original, based on historic photographs. The windows all appear to be historic wood windows, but storms have been replaced, and one pane of glass has been removed from a rear basement window to accommodate an air conditioning unit. The back door is historic, but the front door may not be. The most significant loss of materials was the change of the roof from wood to asphalt shingles. It is probable that this change occurred prior to or in 1976, based on a roofing permit that calls for fifteen pound felt;2F 3 the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors claims that felt should be avoided as an underlayment or interlayment for wood shingled roofs due to moisture concerns.3F 4 Standard 5: Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. It is the evidence of artisans' labor and skill in constructing or altering a building, structure or site. Workmanship is evident in several architectural features of this house. For instance, this house is constructed from concrete block with a brick veneer, which is building technique popular in the postwar era. Additionally, the brick cladding has an interesting surface texture; it is vertically scored, but the striation does not reach the ends of the bricks, creating additional visual interest across the house and garage. Standard 6: Feeling is a resource’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular time. It results from the presence of physical features that, taken together, convey the resource's historic or prehistoric character. 2 129 N. McKinley Ave. Tax Assessor Record, Tax Assessor Record Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 3 Building Permit #25164, 129 N. McKinley Ave. for Charles L. Struble, April 14, 1976, Public Records Database, City of Fort Collins, CO, https://citydocs.fcgov.com/. 4 Kenton Shepard and Nick Gromicko, “Mastering Roof Inspections: Wood Shakes and Shingles, Part 3,” International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, https://www.nachi.org/wood-shakes-shingles-part3-135.htm. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Because this residence is surrounded by other houses constructed during the same period in the Swett’s Addition, it continues to feel like a postwar home. Although it is currently vacant, the basement stairway entrance prominent on the façade of the house is a good visual indicator of this house’s original multifamily use in the postwar era. Furthermore, Minimal Traditional design is associated with the postwar era, and this house clearly embodies that building type. Standard 7: Association is the direct link between an important event or person and a historic or prehistoric resource. A resource retains association if it is the place where the event or activity occurred and is sufficiently intact to convey that relationship to an observer. Like feeling, association requires the presence of physical features that convey a property's historic character. This property is associated with Lois Struble (Anita Lois Struble), who lived in the house for more than fifty years, from 1957 until her death in 2018. However, Lois and her husband, Charles, did not purchase the house until 1976. Until they purchased the home, they lived in the upper portion of the over-under duplex and sometimes shared the property with people living in the basement. The basement apartment stairs at the front of the house are a reminder of Lois and Charles Struble’s early association with this property before they purchased the home. Additionally, an avid gardener, the well- tended iris gardens behind the house remain as a reminder of Lois’s life in this home. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 HISTORICAL INFORMATION INTRODUCTION The Lois Struble Property at 129 N. McKinley Avenue is a noteworthy example of the Minimal Traditional house type in Fort Collins. Lois Struble lived at 129 N. McKinley Ave. for more than half of a century. Built after World War II, this Minimal Traditional house is architecturally transitional and represents the shifting wants and needs of homeowners in the postwar era. In this house, Lois and her husband, Charles, raised their children, became grandparents, and then became great-grandparents. In addition to her memories of her own family’s life, Lois Struble recalled the history of the rest of the residents and homes of the Swett Addition to Fort Collins and could recount stories of the different families in the neighborhood.4F 5 But long before Lois moved into the house at 129 N. McKinley Ave. and became the neighborhood historian, a group of men invested their resources and hopes into the land that would become Swett’s Addition. SWETT’S ADDITION 129 N. McKinley is part of the small Swett’s Addition, a neighborhood plat representative of the smaller developments in what is now the west side of “Old Town.” Like many agricultural communities in the western United States, the late-1890s through the 1920s were a period of a significant development. In Fort Collins, this involved a wave of housing construction west and southeast of downtown, including new subdivisions along streetcar lines built on Mountain Avenue, College Avenue, and Whedbee Street. The first subdivisions were earlier and larger, including West Side (1881), Loomis (1887), Craft’s (1890), and Capitol Hill (1908). Later in this development phase, developers platted smaller subdivisions of only a few blocks, mostly on the western extent of the Mountain Avenue streetcar line such as Morger-Smith (1905), Grandview (1906), Hensel’s (1908), Babbitt’s (1924), and Swett’s (1910). The Swett’s Addition and its neighbor to the west, the Vanslyke-Setzer addition (no official plat date), are significant in that they are a unique representation of the transition of housing in the neighborhoods west of Old Town from pre-World War II, dominated by Victorian-era and Arts-and-Crafts-era cottages, to post-World War II, dominated by Minimal Traditional cottages. While most of the subdivisions along the former trolley line reflect a single phase of construction (i.e., predominantly pre-World War II or post-World War II) with small numbers of homes from other periods, Swett’s and Vanslyke-Setzer are more balanced. Swett’s contains fourteen pre-war and nine post-war homes and Vanslyke-Setzer contains twelve pre-war homes, eleven post-war homes, and one modern (post-1970) home. Preliminary analysis suggests both neighborhoods have good historic integrity, although less information is readily available about the Vanslyke-Setzer Addition.5F 6 5 Kimberly Medina, Draft Fort Collins Landmark Nomination Application for 129 N. McKinley Ave., Digital Property Files Collection, City of Fort Collins Historic Preservation Services, Community Development and Neighborhood Services Building, Fort Collins, CO. 6 Plat maps for West Side, Loomis, Craft’s, Capitol Hill, Morger-Smith, Hensel’s, Babbitt’s, Swett’s, and Vanslyke- Setzer additions, City of Fort Collins Public Records Database, https://citydocs.fcgov.com/, accessed February 5, 2020. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 The land that became the Swett’s addition was first claimed by the McAdam family. By 1869, Reverend W.T. McAdam, who served as a chaplain during the Civil War, retired as a Presbyterian minister, but his ambition certainly had not tired. On August 2, 1869, McAdam led a party of settlers on a journey from Mercer, Pennsylvania to the Cache la Poudre Valley. The company included Alfred A. Edwards, who would become Larimer County’s treasurer and president of the State Board of Agriculture, and Joseph E. Shipler, who would become Fort Collins’s first town clerk. Using a combination of rail and covered wagon transit, the party made their way to Colorado.6F 7 They arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming on September 2, 1869 and then began their journey to Laporte, Colorado. On the way, they spent the night at the Whitcomb Ranch in Boxelder, hosted by Elias W. Whitcomb of Philadelphia and his Native American wife, Katherine Shaw, who were cattle ranchers. Arriving in Laporte the next day, they met Captain James W. Hanna and his brother-in-law, Addas Carter. Hanna and Carter were both from Mercer, Pennsylvania, like the arriving company. Hanna was in command of troops stationed at Camp Collins and, after the Civil War ended, corresponded with McAdam about the favorable conditions in the Cache la Poudre Valley; this exchange of information prompted the emigration of McAdam’s party.7F 8 McAdam and the other new arrivals all filed claims for land around what is now City Park, including what would become Swett’s Addition to the City of Fort Collins. The settlers built residences to prove up their claims, and their families quickly ventured out from Pennsylvania to join them by the spring of 1870. This area became the Mercer Colony, the first agricultural colony in the Cache la Poudre Valley. By forming a colony, a group of people could diffuse the risk involved in uprooting their lives and moving across the country by settling in the same area with a group of people familiar with each other, who all had similar goals, and who all had a significant interest in the success of the rest of the colony, be it financial or personal.8F 9 In addition to their land claims, the colonists also formed the Mercer Pole and Ditch Company and began to dig the Mercer Ditch north of Laporte; however, the colony ran out of funds and dissolved before finishing this project, which was completed in 1872 by the New Mercer Ditch Company.9F 10 Despite the dissolution of the Mercer Colony, W.T. McAdam held onto his quarter-section homestead west of town, which included the land that would become the Swett Addition, until 1879, when he sold his land to Charles H. Sheldon.10F 11 Sheldon was a well-known banker in Fort Collins. He managed the Yount Bank, the first brick bank in town, for Mr. and Mrs. A.K. Yount in the mid-1870s. Then, in 1878, Sheldon and William C. Stover formed the Stover and Sheldon Bank in the Wilson Block on Jefferson, which was modestly furnished with “two common chairs, a pine 7 Alfred A. Edwards, “News Flashbacks: Alfred A. Edwards Tells of Valley as It Was When He Came in 1869,” Fort Collins Express, September 29, 1935, https://history.fcgov.com/newsflashback/edwards; “Early Agricultural Colonies and Cooperative Irrigating,” Public Lands History Center, Colorado State University, https://publiclands.colostate.edu/digital_projects/dp/poudre-river/crops-livestock/agricultural-colonies/.) 8 Ibid. 9 The Union Colony at Greeley, Colorado: 1869-1871, Volume 1, Edited by James Filed Willard (Boulder, CO: University of Colorado, 1918), xiv. 10 Edwards. 11 Warranty Deed, W.T. McAdam et al. to Charles H. Sheldon, August 7, 1879, Book T, Page 142, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 table, and a borrowed safe.”11F 12 Later in 1878, Sheldon and Stover founded the Poudre Valley Bank. The following year, they opened a new bank building next to the Parlor Drug Store with furnishings reflective of their success as bankers, including a “Mosler and Bauman safe with a Yale time lock.”12F 13 This institution became the Poudre Valley National Bank in 1905. Sheldon also held multiple public offices. He was elected to Fort Collins’s first City Council as Treasurer in 1883, and he served as Treasurer for the State Board of Agriculture from the early 1890s into the early twentieth century.13F 14 Although Charles Sheldon owned the land where this house and the rest of the Swett Addition residences now stand, as well as many other acres of the surrounding land, it was his father, John Sheldon, who actually worked the land and lived there with his other son, Henry. Charles Sheldon quit claimed the land to his father in 1884.14F 15 John Sheldon’s farm and sheep ranch included over two thousand acres and was widely admired among his contemporaries.15F 16 He is credited with raising the first crop of alfalfa grown in the Cache la Poudre Valley in 1876 on the Scott & Sherwood farm, a crop many believed to have contributed greatly to the prosperity of the region due to its drought tolerance and profitability as livestock feed.16F 17 John Sheldon also reportedly stocked the lake on his farm, now Sheldon Lake (named for him) in City Park, with German carp in 1883. He passed away soon after, but in 1887, William Lindenmeier, his son, and Abner Loomis caught twenty-seven carp from that lake and used them in part, to stock Lindenmeier Lake, where they “gr[e]w rapidly” and were considered “an excellent food fish.”17F 18 It is no coincidence that Abner Loomis was among the party fishing on Sheldon Lake in 1887; he and Malinda Maxwell (who he would marry in 1896), purchased the property from the estate of Henry Sheldon through a conservator’s deed in August of 1887.18F 19 An early settler in the Cache la Poudre Valley, Loomis ran a successful cattle ranch for many years, but he sold his holdings and shifted his focus to business in Fort Collins in 1882. For example, he had the Loomis Block at Walnut and Linden Streets built that same year. In addition to purchasing the land that would become the Swett Addition, Loomis and Maxwell also platted the Loomis Addition, located 12 “Businesses in Early Fort Collins,” Fort Collins Historical Society, https://fortcollinshistoricalsociety.org/2018/07/05/business-in-early-fort-collins/. 13 Ibid. 14 Charles B. Rosenow, “Early History of the City Government up to 1894,” Fort Collins Express, May 20, 1923; “The State Board of Agriculture,” Fort Collins Courier, May 4, 1893; “State Board Will Meet at College Next Wendesday [sic],” Weekly Courier, April 14, 1909. 15 Quit Claim Deed, Charles Sheldon to John Sheldon, October 13, 1884, Book 35, Page 109, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 16 E.H. Hall, “Glancing Back to Thirty Years Ago,” Weekly Courier, May 31, 1912. 17 “Alfalfa- How to Raise It,” Weekly Courier, February 28, 1906. 18 “Events at Home,” Fort Collins Courier, November 17, 1887. 19 Abner Loomis and Malinda Maxwell Marriage Record, Ancestry.com. Colorado, County Marriage Records and Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 between City Park and downtown Fort Collins, in 1887.19F 20 The Loomises sold a portion of this land to Emma A. Kissock in 1902.20F 21 Emma Alice Kissock, nee Sweeney, was born in New York in 1862. Before the age of twenty, she moved to Fort Collins and married John Alexander Caverhill Kissock. Emma attended Colorado Agricultural College and graduated in 1904.21F 22 During that time, she was an active member of multiple literary societies associated with the university, including the Philo Æsthesian Society, which focused on literary composition and speech, and the Columbian Literary Society, which focused on literary work and parliamentary law.22F 23 Her husband, J.A.C. Kissock, was well-known in the community for advocating for the city’s first sanitary sewer system. Despite initial opposition from the community because of cost, J.A.C. Kissock managed to persuade officials to install 2,870 feet of sewer line in 1888, and by 1911, over 19 miles of sewer had been laid. Additionally, J.A.C. Kissock and A.A. Edwards had the land just south of what would become the Swett Addition platted in 1907 as the Scott-Sherwood Addition.23F 24 In 1903, Emma and J.A.C. Kissock sold their property to John McMullin. And Irish immigrant, McMullin homesteaded land in Larimer County around Boxelder in the late nineteenth century, where he farmed and raised cattle with his wife.24F 25 Anna passed away in 1887; in 1889, John married his second wife, Ann (Anna) Quinn.25F 26 By 1900, the couple had moved into town, living on Riverside Avenue.26F 27 Anna was a member of the Ladies’ Missionary Society of the Second Presbyterian Church and traveled to convert Mexicans and Native Americans to her Protestant faith.27F 28 The McMullins sold their land to Leonard Herbert Swett in 1904.28F 29 Herbert Swett came from a well-respected family. His father, Leonard Swett, was an esteemed attorney. Leonard traveled the eighth judicial circuit of Illinois with Abraham Lincoln, who was also a lawyer; they became close friends. During the Civil War, Leonard was trusted to carry out 20 Mary Humstone, et al., Loomis Addition Historic Context, (City of Fort Collins, 2015), 6, 8, 90, https://www.fcgov.com/historicpreservation/pdf/Loomis_Addition.pdf. 21 Warranty Deed, Abner and Malinda Loomis to Emma A. Kissock, September 5, 1902, Book 173, Page 363, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 22 Graduation Photo of Emma Kissock, Class of 1904, Image ID #H22104, File KF-KU, Biographical File Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 23 Colorado State University, “General Catalog” (Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University, 1896), 86; “Columbian Club,” Fort Collins Courier, September 15, 1898; “In Society’s Realm,” Weekly Courier, May 25, 1904. 24 “Fort Collins History and Architecture: Sugar Beets, Streetcar Suburbs, and the City Beautiful, 1900-1919,” Fort Collins History Connection: An Online Collaboration Between the FCMoD and PRPLD, https://history.fcgov.com/contexts/sugar. 25 Homestead Patent for John McMullin, Accession #COCOAA 041141, August 24, 1891, General Land Office Record Database, Bureau of Land Management, US Department of the Interior, https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=COCOAA%20041141&docClass=SER&sid=p1vkhz uc.j5d#patentDetailsTabIndex=0. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 several confidential missions for the president. During Lincoln’s first term, he wrote a letter to the president about the appointment of Judge Davis to the Supreme Court, who was the judge who presided over the circuit Lincoln and Leonard Swett worked in together. Because Lincoln seemed as though he “would do nothing” regarding the appointment, Leonard soon visited the president in Washington; he told President Lincoln that the appointment would be “half for him and half for Davis,” and that he would never expect nor accept any political appointment from his friend.29F 30 Leonard Herbert Swett wrote a book dedicated to his father’s life titled, A Memorial of Leonard Swett: A Lawyer and Advocate of Illinois.30F 31 At the age of twenty-one, at the recommendation of Judge David Davis, John Wesley Powell approved Herbert Swett to join a United States Geological Survey expedition along the Colorado River in what is now northern Arizona and parts of Utah in 1879 and 1880. In addition to having his family’s “prestige” and “high connections” behind him, Herbert was an excellent mathematician, which was helped his application for the expedition. Powell helped Herbert get a position as assistant topographer, working with A.H. Thompson at Fort Wingate, New Mexico, where he worked from 1882-83. Herbert returned to work for the USGS on and off throughout the 1880s until he returned east to attend Cornell University from 1888-1903. 31F 32 Herbert Swett and his wife, Rose, came to Fort Collins in 1904 with their daughter, Laura (Burnham). According to the 1900 US census, Herbert Swett’s occupation was a “capitalist.”32F 33 In the first few years he lived in town, Herbert taught math at Colorado Agricultural College.33F 34 After purchasing McMullin’s land, he had a home built at 1160 Laporte Ave., designed by architect Albert Bryan, in 1904.34F 35 He had the Swett Addition to Fort Collins platted February 24, 1910, and it was annexed into the city the same year.35F 36 Swett’s Addition is located on either side of McKinley Avenue between Mountain and Laporte Avenues and contains two blocks with a total of twenty-two lots. In 1920, Herbert Swett sold the entire addition to Willis Edward Wright, Jr.36F 37 By the 1920s, Swett had fallen on difficult times and “led a lonely life.”37F 38 His wife, Rose, died tragically in 1914. According to newspaper articles, Rose had gone to Denver to see a friend, Mrs. Whitney Newton, and they decided “a surgical operation might be of marked benefit to her 30 “Herbert Swett, 74, Dies Here,” Coloradoan, February 27, 1934. 31 Leonard Herbert Swett, A Memorial of Leonard Swett: A Lawyer and Advocate of Illinois (Aurora, IL: Phillips Press, 1895). 32 Dove Menkes, “A Young Man Goes West: The 1879 Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett,” Utah Historical Quarterly (2007): 204-207; Dove Menkes, “A Young Man Returns to the West: The 1880 Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett,” Utah Historical Quarterly (2007): 342, 362-3. 33 1900 US Census. 34 “Herbert Swett, 74, Dies Here.” 35 “Fort Collins Still Boomin,” Fort Collins Express, December 21, 1904. 36 Plat of Swett’s Addition to the City of Fort Collins, February 24, 1910, Larimer County Official Records Search Database, Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 general health.”38F 39 Dr. J.W. Harris, the Newton family doctor, did the operation at the Park Avenue Hospital, assisted by Dr. George W. Palmer and Dr. Steinhart, an anesthesiologist, and Miss Lee, head nurse of the hospital, among others. They found the “unexpected condition” of “abdominal adhesions” and “an unsatisfactory condition of the appendix, which was removed.”39F 40 She seemed to be recovering well from the operation, so Herbert Swett returned home to Fort Collins to have Christmas with their daughter. Soon after, Rose died in a “sudden nervous relapse incident to the shock of the operation.”40F 41 Sometime after the death of his wife, Herbert Swett became a pauper. In the 1920s, he lived at the Fort Collins YMCA.41F 42 In response to a Cornell Alumni survey inquiring about his address, Swett replied: “’Have none; have been a homeless tramp for seven years.’”42F 43 By 1930, he made his way out to El Centro, California and lived with his daughter. He passed away in 1934.43F 44 Willis Edward Wright, Jr. and his family came to Fort Collins in 1905. His father, Willis Edward Wright, was a prominent businessman in the community, dabbling in diverse ventures, including co-founding the Collins Percheron Horse Company in 1908 and investing in a million-dollar company of Fort Collins capitalists to build and operate a cane sugar factory in Florida.44F 45 The younger Wright graduated from Fort Collins High School in 1909 and married his wife, Ruth, in 1915.45F 46 In addition to working as a farmer,46F 47 he was a partner in a well-known men’s clothing store called “The Hub” located at 125 N. College Ave. from the late 1910s into the early 1920s.47F 48 In 1920, Wright, Jr. was elected president of the Commercial Club, an organization dedicated to advertising for Fort Collins area, assisting students and other civilians in finding homes and employment, and other general assistance to the public.48F 49 A successful businessman like his father, Wright, Jr. was able to both purchase the entire Swett Addition from Herbert Swett in 1920 and construct a $15,000 bungalow on West Oak Street, “one of the finest residences in the city” at the time.49F 50 He later served as Larimer County Assessor from 1939 to 1955.50F 51 Wright, Jr. sold just three of twenty-two lots in the Swett Addition individually. He sold the remainder of the subdivision to Lewis Clark Moore in 1922.51F 52 L.C. Moore came to Fort Collins in 39 “Facts Concerning the Death of Mrs. Swett,” Larimer County Independent, January 1, 1915. 40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 1927 Polk’s Fort Collins, Loveland and Larimer County Directory (Colorado Springs: R.L. Polk Directory Co., 1927). 43 L.H. Swett (1927) quoted in Menkes, “A Young Man Returns to the West.” 44 Ibid. 45 “From Friday’s Daily,” Fort Collins Courier, April 29, 1908; “Local Men Buy Florida Lands,” Weekly Courier, October Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 1887, and “his progress upward on the ladder of fortune” was “rapid and safe.”52F 53 He became president of the Commercial Bank & Trust Company, President of the North Poudre Irrigation Company, and President of the buckeye Land and Development Company. Moore was also involved with the construction of several reservoirs in the region, including the Halligan Reservoir.53F 54 The same year that Moore purchased the Swett Addition, he subdivided an area of the Lake Park Addition into three parts, known as L.C. Moore’s First, Second, and Third Additions.54F 55 Additionally, L.C. Moore had the College Heights Addition platted in 1925, which newspapers touted as “’one of the most perfect lying pieces of ground ever brought into the city as an addition.’”55F 56 Beyond his business interests, Moore was “strongly attached to his home” and “a public-spirited citizen.”56F 57 For example, in 1923, he donated a site spanning three city blocks for the construction of a new high school building, which was desperately needed at the time.57F 58 Over a number of years, Moore sold off the lots of Swett’s Addition. Lot 6, Block 2, later 129 N. McKinley Ave., was sold to Mary Christensen, wife of Cement contractor and sewerman Dan Christensen,58F 59 in 1925. The deed prescribed that no residence would be built on the lot costing less than $3000.59F 60 Christensen never built a house on the lot, but she retained it for almost twenty years, selling to Ralph Easterling, a barber,60F 61 and his wife, Mildred, in 1946.61F 62 Less than a year later, the Easterlings sold the lot to James A. Cross, Sr., who, less than four months later, sold to C.J. Wetzler, a mechanic, and Elmer D. Schultz, a bricklayer.62F 63 Based on the value of the stamps on the deeds, these transactions did not include a house. Wetzler and Schultz constructed a house on this lot in June 1948, according to building permits.63F 64 ARCHITECTURE Wetzler and Schultz constructed a residence on Lot 6, Block 2 of Swett’s Addition of the Minimal Traditional building type. Constructed mostly just before and after World War II, Minimal 53 Ansel Watrous, History of Larimer County, Colorado (Fort Collins, CO: Courier Printing & Publishing Company, 1911), 413. 54 Ibid. 55 “Fort Collins History and Architecture: Post World War I Urban Growth, 1919-1941,” Fort Collins History Connection: An Online Collaboration Between the FCMoD and PRPLD, https://history.fcgov.com/contexts/post.php. 56 Ibid. 57 Watrous, 413; “State News,” CEA: Colorado School Journal, Vol. 39 (1923):30. 58 “State News.” 59 1940 US Census, Sheet 8B, Fort Collins, Larimer, Colorado, Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. 60 Warranty Deed, L.C. Moore to Mary Christensen, January 12, 1925, Book 501, Page 359, Title Book Collection, Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Traditional houses had simple, boxy plans and were inexpensive to build. These houses were usually one story with simple, low to medium-pitched roofs with closed eaves that have little or no overhang. Often, as in the case of the house at 129 N. McKinley Ave., Minimal Traditional houses feature a front-gabled section over the front entry. History Colorado notes that Minimal Traditional architecture is based to some extent on the Tudor Revival style and often echoes some features of that style.64F 65 For example, the house built at 129 N. McKinley Ave. has little ornamentation in general, but includes a prominent brick chimney and uses a textured brick, both elements associated with Tudor Revival style. The house on the Lois Struble Property, however, is transitional between Minimal Traditional and Ranch architecture. Built at the end of the 1940s, this house picks up elements of the Ranch building type. For instance, the prominent chimney is quite wide, which is often seen on Ranch houses. The garage is also located at the front of the property, attached to the house, which is much more typical of Ranch architecture, which made the garage an integral part of the house, than Minimal Traditional architecture. But unlike Ranch houses, this house remains somewhat boxy rather than horizontally oriented and elongated, and it lacks the Ranch house’s characteristic picture window and rear porch for outdoor living space. Because this house hybridizes elements of both the Minimal Traditional and Ranch building types, it is a somewhat unusual example of postwar architecture in Fort Collins. Because the 1948 Tax Assessor record photo shows this house’s basement entrance stairway at the front of the house, it is probable that this house was built by Wetzler and Schultz as an over- under duplex. It began to be used as a duplex shortly after its construction. OWNERSHIP AND TENANT HISTORY Wetzler and Schultz most likely knew each other because they were both veterans who were officers in the “Gold Brick Pup Tent of the Military Order of Cooties;” Wetzler was a “Seam Squirrel (Commander), and Schultz was a “Shirt Reader” (Master of Ceremonies).65F 66 This organization continues to be an honor degree membership organization of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.66F 67 Wetzler and Schultz did not hold onto their property for long. They built the house on their lot in June 1948; it is unknown whether Schultz, a bricklayer, was one of the builders. In March 1949, they sold to John W. and Villa Vetter. John and his wife, Villa, and their two sons, John and Maynard,67F 68 moved to Fort Collins at the end of the 1940s. John worked as a custodian at CSU, according to City Directories.68F 69 Less than a year 65 “Minimal Traditional,” History Colorado, https://www.historycolorado.org/minimal-traditional. 66 “Officers Installed by Cootie Group,” Coloradoan, November 23, 1939. 67 The Military Order of Cooties has fun as one of its primary objectives, supporting the entertainment of veterans. The Order also maintains an orphanage in Michigan as well as a fire department. The VFW website claims that the name “cootie” came from WWI as a reference to lice because, as the organization lore goes, all the different varieties of lice from America, Algeria, India, France, Britain, etc. came together during the war, carried by soldiers, and bred to create hyper-intelligent lice, which would bite soldiers at just the right time to save their lives. A soldier would duck down to scratch at the bites or “shirt read” just as a shell burst above them. (“Military Order of the Cootie,” Veterans of Foreign Wars, https://vfwde.com/di/vfw/v2/default.asp?pid=56694.) 68 1940 US Census, Sheet 2B. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 later, they sold the property to G.F. and Mabel Morton.69F 70 Mr. Morton worked as a real estate agent, according to newspaper advertisements.70F 71 They quickly sold to John and Nellie Burgess later in 1950.71F 72 The Burgesses lived in Wyoming in the 1940s; based on City Directory records, they lived in Fort Collins in 1952,72F 73 but by 1953, they lived once more in Wyoming for John’s work in the oil and gas industry.73F 74 In 1952, they sold their house to Bessie Hauk Ratliff, who retained the property and used it primarily as a rental until her death.74F 75 1952 was the first year that City Directories listed addresses for this property as 129 and 129 ½ N. McKinley Ave. This house was used as a duplex from 1952 to 1959 consistently, then inconsistently from that point onward. In 1952, the Burgesses were listed in the upper portion and Chester Force and his wife, Verna, in the lower part. Vern worked as a cook, and Chester was a ranch hand at Red Stone Ranch.75F 76 In 1954, Bessie Ratliff and her husband, Jesse B., were listed as living at 129 N. McKinley Ave., and Tom Ross and Lillie (Ratliff) Carroll were listed at 129 ½. Before moving to Fort Collins, the Ratliffs lived in Las Animas County, Colorado, where Jesse worked as a livestock rancher and Bessie worked as a postmaster.76F 77 Their daughter Lillie and her husband, Tom Ross Carroll, a student at Colorado A&M who would later become a veterinarian, lived in the lower unit of the house in 1954. Bessie her husband moved out of the upper unit, and Tom and Lillie took their place by 1956; the lower unit was vacant that year.77F 78 When Bessie Ratliff passed away, in 1966, her estate bequeathed the property to her children: Jesse Aaron, James Martin, and Lynn Ratliff, and Lillie (Ratliff) Carroll.78F 79 The Ratliff children all moved to New Mexico by the late 1950s where Tom Ross Carroll, Lillie’s husband, worked as a veterinarian, and James Martin was his veterinary assistant. Lillie and her husband continued to live in New Mexico for the rest of their lives, but her brothers, Jesse, James, and Lynn all moved 69 Fort Collins City Directory: 1950 (Colorado Springs: Rocky Mountain Directory Co., 1950), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 70 Warranty Deed, John W. and Villa Vetter to G.F. and Mabel Morton, January 30, 1950, Book 887, Page 359, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 71 Advertisement, Coloradoan, June 18, 1950. 72 Warranty Deed, G.F. and Mabel Morton to John and Nellie Burgess, September 27, 1950, Book 899, Page 427, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 73 Fort Collins City Directory: 1952 (Colorado Springs: Rocky Mountain Directory Co., 1950), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 74 Laramie, WY City Directory: 1953, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 75 Warranty Deed, John and Nellie Burgess to Bessie Ratliff, July 9, 1952, Book 933, Page 413, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 76 Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 to Llano County, Texas until their passing.79F 80 None of the Ratliff children were living in Fort Collins when they inherited their mother’s McKinley Avenue property in 1966; James and Jesse, doing business as the Ratliff Brothers, purchased the property from their siblings that same year and continued to use it as a rental property.80F 81 In 1957, Charles L. and Lois Struble moved into 129 N. McKinley Ave, with Dale E. Williams, a student, and his wife, Pat, a teacher at Dunn School, in 129 ½.81F 82 The Strubles lived in the Fort Collins area by 1950, based on Charles Struble’s first appearance in a newspaper article,82F 83 but they first appeared in Fort Collins City Directories in 1952; they lived at 616 S. Mason St. Lois worked as a stenographer for Guarantee Reserve Insurance Company, and Charles worked as an assistant manager at Poudre Valley News.83F 84 Although the Strubles moved into the house at 129 N. McKinley Ave. in 1957, they did not purchase the property from the Ratliffs until 1976.84F 85 In 1957, Charles worked as Assistant Manager at Alpert and Sons;85F 86 in 1958, he worked for the Don Farnham Agency as an insurance salesman/real estate agent;86F 87 and from 1959 until the early 1980s, he worked as a traveling salesman for Karman Inc. of Denver, a purveyor of western products.87F 88 He was also a committeeman of the Optimist Club, a service club focused on “bringing out the best in youth, in our communities, and in ourselves.”88F 89 In association with the Optimist Club, Charles Struble managed the Fort Collins boxing team who participated in the Golden Gloves boxing tournament in Denver. He set up facilities and training opportunities for boys who wanted to participate in the competition.89F 90 Lois Struble was born in Hiattville, an unincorporated community in Bourbon County, Kansas, in 1921, where she grew up on her family’s farm. She was later employed as a secretary. She lost her fiancée during World War II; he died on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She married Charles L. Struble March 21, 1943. 90F 91 Charles was also a military man; he enlisted in the army, Branch 1: A, in October of 1942, and was released in November 1945.91F 92 By the time they moved to Fort Collins around 1950, they had two daughters, Sharon and Charlene. Soon after moving into 129 N. McKinley Ave., Lois became a stay-at-home mother to her daughters, 80 Ratliff Family, Find-a-Grave Index, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51893614/lynn-ratliff. 81 Warranty Deed, Lillie Elizabeth Carroll, J.A., J.M., and Lynn Ratliff to J.A. and J.M. Ratliff, August 31, 1966, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 82 Fort Collins City Directory: 1957 (Colorado Springs: Rocky Mountain Directory Co., 1950), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 83 “Two Auto Crashes,” Coloradoan, September 6, 1950. 84 Fort Collins City Directory: 1952. 85 Warranty Deed, Instrument #171200, J.A. and J.M. Ratliff to Charles L. and Lois A. Struble, September 13, 1976, Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 who both still live in Fort Collins. Lois fastidiously tended their home’s garden; she was known for the irises she grew in their large back yard. She was also known for her skills as a craftswoman; she made quilts, sewed, and knitted. She made clothes for herself and her daughters, as well as intricate clothes for their dolls. Living at 129 N. McKinley Ave. for more than fifty years, she became the neighborhood’s historian. She recalled stories of all the different families and individuals who lived in the Swett Addition over the years. She and Charles both lived at 129 N. McKinley Ave. until they passed away, Charles in 1989 and Lois in 2018.92F 93 By 1960, Dale and Pat Williams moved out of 129 ½ N. McKinley Ave. According to City Directories, the lower apartment remained vacant or was not listed until 1977. However, it is probable that Charles and Lois’s daughters, Charlene (Miller), Sharon (Davis), and Sharon’s children Kelly and Marcy, shared the lower apartment. Both daughters worked as nurse’s aides from 1966-1968.93F 94 By 1970, Charlene had moved out, but Sharon remained at the house on McKinley Avenue, working for Zoric Laundry.94F 95 Sharon continued to be listed with her parents either at 129 or 129 ½ N. McKinley Ave. until 1977.95F 96 CONCLUSION Although Charles Leo Struble passed away in 1989, Lois continued to list him as the primary contact at 129 N. McKinley Ave. in City Directories until the early 2000s. Starting at that point, City Directories began to list only Lois Struble at this address. Anita Lois Struble died on September 15, 2018. Her granddaughter, Anita Lois Miller, served as her personal representative in the sale of her McKinley Avenue property, which was sold to Kimberly Baker Medina and Ramon Medina Aguilera in 2019.96F 97 Kimberly Medina would like to honor the memory of Lois’s life at this house by using her name in the Landmark title. 93 Medina. Charles quit-claimed the deed to 129 N. McKinley Ave. to Lois A. Struble May 20, 1988 (Instrument #19880023374), and Lois A. Struble quit-claimed to Lois Struble (herself) August 25, 2006 (Instrument #20060085017) 94 City Directory Collection. 95 Fort Collins, Colorado 1970 City Directory (Loveland, CO: Johnson Publishing Company, 1970), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 96 City Directory Collection. 97 Personal Representatives Deed, Instrument #20190031888, Anita Lois Struble, AKA Lois A. Struble, deceased (Anita Lois Miller, representative) to Kimberly Baker Medina and Ramon Medina Aguilera, June 12, 2019, Larimer County Official Records Search Database, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, https://records.larimer.org/landmarkweb. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION Construction Date: 1948 Architect/Builder: C.J. Wetzler and Elmer D. Schultz (builders) Building Materials: Brick, concrete, wood Architectural Style: Minimal Traditional Description: The Struble property is a single-story with a full finished basement, Minimal Traditional style residence built as an over-under duplex with a finished basement. It sits on a small lot on North McKinley Avenue with a sidewalk and dense, mature street tree cover consisting mostly of elms (Ulmus sp.). There is a small setback from the street filled with a planted grass lawn and a non- historic paver walkway. The historic driveway leads up to the garage along the north side of the lot with concrete sidewalk leading to both duplex entries. The rear yard is open, consisting mostly of planted grass, some flower beds, a patio space, a clothesline, and bounded on its sides by historic wire fencing or non-historic wood privacy fencing. Maintained planting beds surround the building on most sides at the foundation. The building has a gabled-ell configuration and exterior walls that are a red brick veneer over poured concrete walls, with a concrete foundation. The roof is hipped with a large, gable-front ell on the east façade, with minimal boxed eaves, metal gutters with downspouts, and asphalt composition shingling. Windows are generally wood sash windows with brick sills and lintels, often with metal storm windows over-top, as well as three-light wood awning windows along the foundation. The east façade facing McKinley Avenue is defined by the large gable-ell off the front of the building, with a prominent, wide but shallow chimney on the front to the left of the entry and a triangular attic vent above the upper entry. On the upper duplex unit, the entry is centered with a brick stoop (that has been resurfaced with concrete) with a non-historic metal railing. Below the entry is a concrete stair that leads down from the drive, with the centered entry for the basement unit housed underneath – this stair also has a non-historic metal railing along the outside (east) half-wall. Flanking the upper entry are two-over-two sash windows of different sizes, with matching wood awning windows flanking the basement entry. On the north elevation of the gable-ell are a two-over-two wood sash window over a wood basement awning window, offset slightly. To the north of the gable-ell is a wood overhead track garage door with a four-by- eight panel configuration, with two glazed panels for garage lighting. Along the north elevation is a single two-three wood hopper window for the upper unit, with a pair of wood awning windows for the basement. Otherwise, the north elevation is unbroken. On the upper-level south elevation, there are two wood two-over-two sash windows and then a pair of wood, two-over-two sash windows near the southeast corner. The south basement level has a series of three matching one-by-three awning windows. The rear (west) elevation includes a wood panel door with 2x2 upper glazing near the northwest corner, providing rear yard access for both units. A small concrete patio surrounds this entry, and Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 to the north of the entry is a one-by-three fixed wood window. To the south of the entry are three two-over-two wood sash windows of varying sizes. Along the foundation are four one-by- three awning windows matching those elsewhere on the building. There is a non-historic utility meter panel and air conditioning unit on the rear elevation near the center as well. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 REFERENCE LIST or SOURCES of INFORMATION Archives and Online Databases Ancestry.com. Marriage and Census Records. City of Fort Collins Public Records Database, City of Fort Collins, CO. https://citydocs.fcgov.com/. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/ Fort Collins History Connection, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery. https://history.fcgov.com. Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Local History Archive. Larimer County Tax Assessor Records. Fort Collins, CO. https://www.larimer.org/assessor/search#/property/. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. General Land Office Records database. https://glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx Books, Reports, and Articles History Colorado. “Minimal Traditional.” https://www.historycolorado.org/minimal-traditional. Fort Collins Historical Society. “Businesses in Early Fort Collins.” https://fortcollinshistoricalsociety.org/2018/07/05/business-in-early-fort-collins/. Humstone, Mary, et al. Loomis Addition Historic Context. City of Fort Collins: 2015, https://www.fcgov.com/historicpreservation/pdf/Loomis_Addition.pdf Menkes, Dove. “A Young Man Goes West: The 1879 Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett.” Utah Historical Quarterly (2007): 204-207. ---. “A Young Man Returns to the West: The 1880 Letters of Leonard Herbert Swett.” Utah Historical Quarterly (2007): 342, 362-3. Public Lands History Center. “Early Agricultural Colonies and Cooperative Irrigating.” Colorado State University. https://publiclands.colostate.edu/digital_projects/dp/poudre-river/crops- livestock/agricultural-colonies/. Shepard, Kenton, and Nick Gromicko. “Mastering Roof Inspections: Wood Shakes and Shingles, Part 3.” International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. https://www.nachi.org/wood-shakes-shingles-part3-135.htm. Accessed January 27, 2020. Swett, Leonard Herbert. A Memorial of Leonard Swett: A Lawyer and Advocate of Illinois Aurora, IL: Phillips Press, 1895. Watrous, Ansel. History of Larimer County, Colorado. Fort Collins, CO: Courier Printing & Publishing Company, 1911. Willard, James F., ed. The Union Colony at Greeley, Colorado: 1869-1871, Volume 1. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado, 1918. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 MAPS and PHOTOGRAPHS Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Photo 1: East façade of 129 N. McKinley, looking west, c. 1950s (Medina personal collection). Photo 2: East façade, looking west from McKinley Avenue, December 18, 2019. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Photo 3: McKinley Avenue, showing west side including 129 N. at photo right. December 18, 2019. Photo 4: Basement level entry on east façade, looking south. December 18, 2019. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Photo 5: Rear yard, looking west toward alley. December 18, 2019. Photo 6 (Left): Garage door on east façade, looking southwest. December 18, 2019. Photo 7 (Right): Windows south of garage door on east façade, looking south. December 18, 2019. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Photo 8: Window on north elevation, looking south. December 18, 2019. Photo 9: Rear (west) elevation, looking southeast. December 18, 2019. Planning, Development & Transportation Services Community Development & Neighborhood Services 281 North College Avenue P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580 Photo 10: South elevation, looking west. December 18, 2019. ATTACHMENT 3 1 Application for Fort Collins Landmark Designation – 129 North McKinley Avenue, Lois Struble Property Jim Bertolini, Historic Preservation Planner City Council, July 21, 2020 ATTACHMENT 4 • Construction: • 1948 by C.J. Wetzler and Elmer D. Schultz • Standards of Significance: • 3 (Design/Construction) • Exterior Integrity: Location, Design, Setting, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association • Historical Notes: • Lois (and Charles) Struble (occupant 1957 to 2018; owned 1976 to 2018). 2 129 N. McKinley Ave, Lois Struble Property Left: Lois & Charles Struble; Below: Lois Struble (Medina) 3 129 N. McKinley Ave, Lois Struble Property 129 N. McKinley, c.1950s (Medina) East façade facing N. McKinley Avenue. -1- ORDINANCE NO. 089, 2020 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS DESIGNATING THE LOIS STRUBLE PROPERTY, 129 NORTH MCKINLEY AVENUE, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, AS A FORT COLLINS LANDMARK PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 14 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS WHEREAS, pursuant to City Code Section 14-1, the City Council has established a public policy encouraging the protection, enhancement and perpetuation of historic landmarks within the City; and WHEREAS, by resolution adopted on February 19, 2020, the Landmark Preservation Commission (the “Commission”) determined that the Lois Struble Property, 129 North McKinley Avenue, in Fort Collins, as more specifically described in the legal description below (the “Property”), is eligible for landmark designation pursuant to City Code Chapter 14, Article II, for the Property’s high degree of all seven standards of integrity under City Code Section 14-22(b)(1-7), and for the Property’s significance to Fort Collins under Standard of Significance 3, Design/Construction, contained in City Code Section 14-22(a)(1) and 14- 22(a)(3); and WHEREAS, the Commission further determined that designation of the Property will advance the policies and purposes set forth in City Code Sections 14-1 and 14-2 in a manner and extent sufficient to justify designation; and WHEREAS, the Commission recommends that the City Council designate the Property as a Fort Collins landmark; and WHEREAS, the owner of the Property has consented to such landmark designation and desires to protect the Property; and WHEREAS, such landmark designation will preserve the Property’s significance to the community; and WHEREAS, the City Council has reviewed the recommendation of the Commission and desires to follow such recommendation and designate the Property as a landmark in accordance with the Commission’s determinations referenced above; and WHEREAS, designation of the Property as a landmark is necessary for the prosperity, civic pride, and welfare of the public. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. -2- Section 2. That the Property located in the City of Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado, described as follows, to wit: LOT 6, BLOCK 2, SWETT’S ADDITION; ALSO KNOWN BY STREET AND NUMBER AS 129 NORTH MCKINLEY AVENUE, CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COUNTY OF LARIMER, STATE OF COLORADO is hereby designated as a Fort Collins Landmark in accordance with City Code Chapter 14. Section 3. That alterations, additions and other changes to the buildings and structures located upon the Property will be reviewed for compliance with City Code Chapter 14, Article IV, as currently enacted or hereafter amended. Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 21st day of July, A.D. 2020, and to be presented for final passage on the 4th day of August, A.D. 2020. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 4th day of August, A.D. 2020. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Larimer County Official Records Search Database, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, https://records.larimer.org/landmarkweb. 86 Fort Collins City Directory: 1957. 87 “Don Farnham Agency,” Advertisement, Coloradoan, August 29, 1958. 88 City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 89 “Bike Winner,” Coloradoan, April 29, 1957. 90 “Breakfast Optimist Club to Sponsor,” Coloradoan, January 14, 1958. 91 “Anita Lois Struble Obituary,” Dignity Memorial, https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/ft-collins-co/anita- struble-7991471. 92 Charles Struble, Ancestry.com. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 [database on- line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Fort Collins City Directory: 1952. 77 1940 US Census; Las Animas County, Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 78 Fort Collins City Directory: 1954 (Colorado Springs: Rocky Mountain Directory Co., 1950), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO; Fort Collins City Directory: 1956 (Colorado Springs: Rocky Mountain Directory Co., 1950), City Directory Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 79 Decree, Estate of Bessie Ratliff to Jessie aaron, James Martin, and Lynne Ratliff, and Lillie Carroll, March 4, 1966, Book 1321, Page 580-82. Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 61 “Announcing the Sale of Crandall’s Barber Shop,” Advertisement, Coloradoan, April 9, 1950. 62 Warranty Deed, Mary Christensen to Ralph E. and Mildred R. Easterling, March 26, 1946, Book 807, Page 481, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 63 Warranty Deed, Ralph E. and Mildred R. Easterling to James A. Cross, Sr., October 15, 1947, Book 842, Page 170, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO; Warranty Deed, James A. Cross, Sr. to C.J. Wetzler and Elmer D. Schultz, Book 848, Page 416, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO; “Elmer Schultz,” Coloradoan, August 19, 1977; Sheely-Nelson Motor Co., Advertisement, Coloradoan, June 13, 1941. 64 Building Permit #10589, 129 N. McKinley, Elmer Shultz [sic] and C.J. Wetzler, June 11, 1948, Building Permit Collection, Fort Collins History Connection: An Online Collaboration Between the FCMoD and PRPLD, https://fchc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/bp/id/11496/rec/6g. 7, 1908. 46 Wright, W. Ed. Biography, Photo, Wright, W. Ed., Jr. Biographical File, Biographical File Collection, Local History Archive at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO. 47 “Farmer Asks $12,000 Damages on Drainage,” Loveland Daily Herald, Vol. 8, No. 326, December 13, 1917; 48 “Announcement: The Hub,” Advertisement, Fort Collins Courier, July 1, 1919; “The Hub’s Big $50,000 Dissolution of Partnership Sale,” Fort Collins Courier, August 25, 1921. 49 “Commercial Club Activities Past Two Months,” Fort Collins Courier, January 8, 1920. 50 “Ed Wright Plans New Home,” Fort Collins Courier, March 1, 1920. 1230 W. Oak St., according to the 1922 Fort Collins City Directory. 51 Wright, W. Ed., Biography; “Thanks...” Advertisement, Estes Park Trail, Volume XVIII, No. 30, November 11, 1938. 52 Warranty Deed, W.Ed. Wright to L.C. Moore, December 14, 1922, Book 440, Page 163. https://records.larimer.org/LandmarkWeb/search/index?theme=.blue&section=searchCriteriaName&quickSearchSele ction=; “Council Will Assist in Cleaning Up City,” Larimer County Independent, March 10, 1910. 37 Warranty Deed, Herbert Swett to Willis Edward Wright, December 9, 1920, Book 412, Page 262, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. 38 Menkes, “A Young Man Returns,” 363. 26 Judson Rhoads, “Ann Quinn McMullin (1838-2921),” Photograph, Find a Grave Index, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80908770 27 1900 US Census, Precinct 8, Larimer, Colorado, Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on- line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. 28 “Organize Missionary Society,” Fort Collins Courier, February 5, 1908. 29 Warranty Deed, John McMullin to Herbert Swett, September 10, 1904, Book 187, Page 418, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. State Index, 1862-2006 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016; Conservator’s Deed, Estate of Henry Sheldon to Abner and Malinda Maxwell, August 29, 1887, Book 55, Page 273, Title Book Collection, Larimer County Clerk and Recorder, Fort Collins, CO. A conservator’s deed is made, granting title in fee simple, is made on behalf of a person incapable of representing themselves; in this case, Henry Sheldon, an “insane person” according to the deed, was represented by conservator John C. Hanna.