HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-12 HPC Work Session MeetingAFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION
STATE OF MINNESOTA
COUNTY OF WASHINGTON
City of Stillwater
(Official Publication)
NOTICE OF STILLWATER HERITAGE PRESERVATON COMMISSION
WORK SESSION
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Stillwater Heritage Preservation
Commission will have a Work Session on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 7
p.m. in the Council Chambers at Stillwater City Hall, 216 North 4th Street,
Stillwater MN 55082. Do not hesitate to contact the Community
Development Department at (651) 430 -8820 if you have any questions or
need further information.
Bill Turnbald
Community Development Director
(Jun. 7, 2013) Jun 12 Work Session
Julie Athey,
being duly sworn on oath, says: that she is,
and during all times herein states has been,
Clerk of ECM Publishers, Inc. - Sun Media
Group of the newspaper known as the
Stillwater Gazette, a newspaper of
general circulation within the City of
Stillwater and the County of Washington.
That the notice hereto attached was cut from
the columns of said newspaper and was
printed and published therein on the
following date(s):
7th of June 2013
Newspaper Ref. /Ad #1167664
v
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
10th day of June 2013
Ma
NOTARY PUBLIC
Washington County, Minnesota
My commission expires January 31, 2016
' *4'v4 MARK E. BERRIMAN
NOTARY PUBLIC
MINNESOTA
,A,,,,"'My Commission Expires Jan. 31, 2016
iliwater
T H E B I R T H P L A C E O F M I N N E S O T A
Agenda
Heritage Preservation Commission
Notice of Work Session
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
7:00 PM
AGENDA
A work session of the Heritage Preservation Commission will begin at 7 p.m.,
Wednesday, June 12, 2013, in the Council Chambers at Stillwater City Hall, 216
North Fourth Street, Stillwater MN 55082.
AGENDA
1. Call To Order
2. Local District Project
3. Downtown Podcast Project
4. Adjourn
Iv414:ziate
Stillwater Heritage Preservation Commission
Historic Site Designation
Registration Form
1. Name of Property
Historic Name Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter Addition, East Half, Historic District
Other Names
SHPO No.
2. Location
Bounded by S. Fourth St. on west, E. Willard St. on north, S. First St. on east,
Street Address and East Hancock St. on the south
City Stillwater State MN County Washington Zip Code
3. Heritage Preservation Commission Certification
The Stillwater Heritage Preservation Commission determined that this site is eligible for designation as a
Heritage Preservation Site.
Chair Date
4. City Council Certification
The City Council approved designation of this site as a Heritage Preservation Site.
Mayor Date
5. Classification
Ownership of Property: X Private _Public -local Public-State _ Public- Federal
Number of Resources within Property 101
Category of Property: District
Name of Property Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter Addition, East Half, Historic District
6. Function or Use
DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling; DOMESTIC: Multiple Dwelling;
Historic Functions EDUCATION: School; COMMERCE: Store; RECREATION: Theater
DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling; DOMESTIC: Multiple Dwelling;
Current Functions COMMERCE: Store: COMMERCE: RESTAURANT
7. Description
Mid -19th Century: Greek Revival; Late Victorian: Queen Anne, Italianate, Stick;
Architectural Style Late 19th & Early 20th Century Am. Movements: Commercial;
Materials
foundation stone, concrete
walls brick, wood
roof asphalt, metal, slate
other
Integrity
Narrative Description
See attached sheets.
Name of Property Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter Addition, East Half, Historic District
8. Statement of Significance
Applicable Historic Criteria
X 1. Its character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of
the City of Stillwater, State of Minnesota, or the United States.
2. Its location as a site of a significant historic event.
3. Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the culture and
development of the City of Stillwater.
4. Its embodiment of distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, period, form or
treatment.
5. Its identification as work of an architectural or master builder whose individual work has
influenced the development of the City of Stillwater.
6. Its embodiment of elements of architectural design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship which
represent a significant architectural innovation.
7. Its unique location, scale or other physical characteristic representing an established and
familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, a district, the community, or the City of Stillwater.
Applicable Historic Contexts
I. Precontact Period Native American Cultural Traditions
II. Native Americams, european contact, Initial Settement
_ III. St. Croix Triangle Lumbering
IV. Town Planning and Development
_ V. St. Croix River, Railroads, and Overland Transportation
VI. Late Nineteenth Century Agricultural Development
VII. Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Industrial Development
_ VIII. Development of Downtown Stillwater
X IX. Development of Residential Neighborhoods
X . Development of Stillwater City, Washington County, and State Government
Date of Construction 1868 -1986
Significant Dates 18684940
Significant Persons
Architect/ Builder Orff and Joralemon (Nelson School)
Previous Documentation: Currently listed on National Register Previous Surveys X
Narrative Statement of Significance
See attached sheets.
Name of Property Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter Addition, East Half, Historic District
9. Bibliography
See attached sheets.
10. Geographical Data
Acreage of Property Approx. 32 acres Property Identification Number
UTM References
Form Prepared By
Name Daniel J. Hoisington
Organization Hoisington Preservation Consultants Date June 1, 2013
Address P.O. Box 13585 Telephone 651 -415 -1034
City Roseville
State MN Zip Code 55113
Additional Documentation
Maps
A USGS or city map indicating the property's location.
A sketch map for properties having large acreage or numerous resources.
Photographs
Representative photographs of the property.
Property Owner
Name
Address Telephone
City State Zip Code
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION
The Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition Historic District is located south of
downtown Stillwater, Minnesota. The district includes six city blocks, bounded by East Willard
Street on on north, South First Street on the east, East Hancock Street on the south, and South
Fourth Street on the west. Its boundaries come from legal property descriptions rather than clear
visual differences from the surrounding properties. The historic district includes a range of
property types, including single and multiple family dwellings, a few commercial buildings, and
one school. There are 101 properties, with nine considered noncontributing to the nomination.
The district's basic cultural form is the single- family dwelling. The majority of dwellings in
the district were built in vernacular forms popular between 1870 and 1920. In this neighborhood,
architectural styles show the transition to vernacular architecture that took place in the late
nineteenth century . These are ballooned framed buildings of modest size with clapboard siding,
multipaned windows, and brick chimneys. Vernacular house types present in the neighborhood
include specimens of the front gable and the gable front and ell, the American foursquare, and a
variety of vernacular houses incorporating elements from the Greek Revival and Queen Anne
styles; and the bungalow from the twentieth century.
There are four commercial buildings in the district, clustered on East Churchill Avenue near
South Fourth Street. This commercial corner, extending across to the west side of South Fourth
Avenue, is a good example of how Stillwater neighborhoods drew entrepeneurs to open small
restaurants, bars, and service businesses. The commercial buildings have been altered, yet
because they are essential to understanding daily life within the district, they are included as
contributing to this nomination.
Nearly all of the district's nineteenth and early twentieth century housing are likely to have
been altered in one way or another in response to the changing needs of the owners. The two most
important single variations are probably the one -story addition to the rear of the house and the
enclosure of porches. However, only a few homes have been altered so much as to lose their
historic intergity. Within the district, properties were considered as contributing if they retained a
majority of their original fatures.
Address: 114 W. Churchill St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1357
Historic Name: O'Neal Brothers, James & Eugene
Date Built: 1915
Contributing
Physical Description: This is a one -story, flat - roofed, rectangular brick building with a false
stepped front now used as a garage. The foundation is concrete block.
Historic Information: 14 W. Churchill Street, a one -story brick building, was originally
constructed as a "picture theatre" in the summer of 1915. The owners, the O'Neal Brothers,
James & Eugene, were lumbermen. According to the building permit, the $3,500 structure was to
be one -story, 50 feet wide, and 75 feet deep. The building material was concrete, and the roofing
"rubberoid." In an article in the February 16, 1916, issue of the Stillwater Messenger, there was
an announcement of the building's new ownership: "The Hilltop moving picture house will be re-
opened immediately under new management. The new manager 's name is Samuel Carlson. Mr.
Carlson states that the main drawback to the theatre, the lack of heat, has been remedied by the
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
installation of a number of more radiators and that the theatre will now be found warm and
comfortable. " In 1924, the Theatre was closed and the building reopened as an automobile repair
garage.
Address: 215 E. Churchill St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1351
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1883
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A small 1 -1/2 story building is vernacular in style with added porch on
west end. The house has a side gabled roof with asphalt shingles, aluminum 1/1 windows, and
manufactured siding. The foundation is limestone. Although the core of the house is historic, it
now lacks sufficient integrity to contribute to the historic district.
Historic Information: There is not one deed or other property record before 1908, on Lots 1 &
2, Block 15, and the location of the house at 215 E. Churchill Street. From the tax assessor's
records, it appears the house was built about 1883. The McDonough family lived there in the
early 1890s, but it does not appear they built the house.
Address: 218 E. Churchill St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1352
Historic Name: Mary Ann & James Nichol
Date Built: 1886
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A greatly enlarged and modified ell house, two -story with additions to the
ell, and an attached garage. The replacement windows, aluminum siding, and new entry on facade
diminish its integrity.
Historic Information: In June 1874, Elizabeth Churchill sold Lot 15, Block 2, to Mary
McGoldrick on the equivalent of a Contract for Deed. Apparently McGoldrick defaulted on the
Contract, for Elizabeth Churchill sold the same lot to Mary Ann and James Nichol in March of
1885. They soon after built a house that took the number 218 E. Churchill Street. James A.
Nichol was a laborer for the Musser - Sauntry Land, Logging, and Manufacturing Co. 2
Address: 704 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1359
Historic Name: James and Minnie Hanson
Date Built: 1895
Contributing
Physical Description: A two - and -a -half story Queen Anne with fish scale shingles, Palladian
window, cantilevered bay with gable on north elevation, hipped roog with asphalt shingles, open
gingerbread porch, use of fishscale shingles in gable ends, and curved window. Also contributing
is the two story stable in the rear. This rectangular formed building has a steeply pitched gabled
1 SAM 7, Roll 4; 1877 & 1881 -82 Stillwater City Directories; City of Stillwater Building Permit #1606; St.
Croix Valley Press, October 4, 2001.
2 E Bonds 138; 7 Deeds 327; 1887, 1891 Stillwater City Directories.
2
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
roof with rolled metal sheathing. There are two modern roll -up garage doors on the north
elevation.
Historic Information: Seward P. and Elizabeth Richardson purchased this property in April of
1881; they immediately took out a $1000 mortgage with the Stillwater Building Association. But
the loan was not used to build a house on this property, but perhaps elsewhere. By 1889, the
mortgage had been satisfied, but within a couple of years, it appears the Richardsons had
financial troubles, for they sold these lots and their home at 712 S. Third St. to Robert McGarry, a
bookkeeper for the Hersey, Bean & Brown Lumber Co. In June of 1895, McGarry sold the two
and one -half lots to James and Minnie Hanson who built a fine house, which took the number,
704 S. First Street. A building permit taken out in October 1895 records the building of a barn
and wagon shed, 20 feet by 30 feet, one -and -a -half stories high at a cost of $300. Madt Nelson
from the North Hill was the builder.3
Address: 712 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1362
Historic Name: Ernest Borscht
Date Built: 1881
Contributing
Physical Description: The basic form of the house shows a side gable with an extending bay on
the south elevation. There is a front gabled extension on the primary facade with a fanlight in the
gable end. There is an open one -story gabled portico on the main entrance.
Historic Information: In May 1879, Ernest Borscht or Borchard, a fruit dealer and confectioner,
purchased Lots 4 & 5, Block 2. Within six months he took out a mortgage with the Seymour,
Sabin & Co. who most likely furnished the lumber to build the home at 712 S. First Street. By
1881, the tax assessor had assigned a value of $1050 to the two lots and building.4
Address: 720 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1364
Historic Name: Charles and Ida Crowell
Date Built: 1883
Contributing
Physical Description: A two story cross gable home with an open front porch, fish scale
shingles, and gable ornaments.
Historic Information: This property went through six owners before Charles W. and Ida J.
Crowell purchased it in August of 1881. By 1883, the tax assessors' records recorded a value of
$1650 for the two lots and home at 720 S. First Street, indicating quite a substantial home.
Charles was a miller. In April of 1886, the Crowells sold the property and house for $3000 to
Mike Johnson of Houlton, Wisconsin who, it appears, rented the house for a number of years.5
Address: 802 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1366
3 8 Deeds 120; P Mtgs 345; 8 Mtgs 133; 35 -291; 40 Deeds 521; 1896 -97 Stillwater City Directory; City of
Stillwater Building Permit #867.
4 5 Deeds 175; 0 Mtgs 141; 1881 -82, 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
5 8 Deeds 380; 15 Deeds 597; 1884 Stillwater City Directory; SAM 78, Roll 13.
3
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Name: Frederick E. Loomis
Date Built: 1879
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front house with a later, overlarge enclosed front porch, and a
small lean -to addition on the north side.
Historic Information: The home at 802 S. First Street first had the house number, 726 S. First
Street. Frederick E. Loomis, a photographer, bought Lots 8 & 9, Block 2, in July of 1878. He
took out a mortgage with the Stillwater Building Association that same month, and it appears
within a year to so, he had built a house. In 1882, he sold the property and house to Charles W.
and Addie N. Gorham.6
Address: 808 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1368
Historic Name: George & Ossina Low
Date Built: Undetermined
Contributing
Physical Description: A curious looking house that may have been built after the turn of the
century. It has a complex roof line, a 1900s corner porch, brackets, and fish scale shingles.
Historic Information: George Low and his wife, Ossina, purchased a number of lots in this area
in the 1870s. In 1877, they purchased Lots 10 -12, Block 2, and a year later, took out a mortgage
with the Stillwater Building Association for $500. Within two years, they had constructed the
house having the number, 808 S. First Street today. George was a carpenter, and for a time, had a
business manufacturing wood and iron fences. George was also the general manager of the
Stillwater Construction and Furnishing Company, a neighborhood company that built several of
the houses in this area. Ossina Low was a florist, and a building permit taken out in September of
1886 is for a $700 greenhouse, 26 feet wide, and 96 feet long, one story in height. George Low
was listed as the builder. However the tax assesor's records indicate a building date of 1906, a
date compatible with the appearance of the present day house.'
Address: 912 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1370
Historic Name: Wilhelm & Bertha Gast
Date Built: 1884
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front with ell. There is a dormer window in the ell, and a small
corner entry porch.
Historic Information: Wilhelm & Bertha Gast purchased Lots 3 & 4, Block 15 in July of 1883.
Within a year they built their modest sized house that was to take the number, 912 South First
Street. In the 1884 Stillwater City Directory, Wilhelm is listed as a tailor working for F. C. Cutler,
and residing (before house numbers) on the west side of First, the 2 "d house south of Churchill. In
6 I Deeds 594; N Mtgs 271; 10 Deeds 360; SAM 78, Roll 13; 1884 Stillwater City Directory.
' SAM 78, Roll 11; N Mtgs 181; I Deeds 613; 1877 & 1881 -82 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater
Building Permit #132; 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
4
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
1902, the then owner, Henry Hagen, added a $70 two story 20 foot by 12 -foot barn to the
property.8
Address: 918 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1373
Historic Name: Charles Ries
Date Built: 1892
Contributing
Physical Description: A two -story cross gable with a very large addition on the rear.
Historic Information: 918 South First Street appears to be a house built by Charles Ries about
1892. Charles purchased Lots 5, 6, & 7 in November of 1891 from Julius Heller. He soon after
took a mortgage from the Stillwater Savings Bank.9
Address: 920 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1375
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1900 ca.
Contributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with a picture window and open front porch.
Historic Information: The house at 920 South First Street, was, according to its present owner,
moved to this location from the site of Lakeview Hospital.
Address: 1002 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1377
Historic Name: John J. Maloy
Date Built: 1884
Contributing
Physical Description: A classic cube three -bay Italianate with brackets, a hip roof, and a large
step down addition in back as well as a one -story addition on the north side.
Historic Information: John J. Maloy, a bookkeeper, bought Lots 8 & 9, Block 15 in the fall of
1884; soon after he built his home at 1002 South First Street. In the fall of 1888, Malloy took out
a building permit to add a $200 kitchen addition on the rear of the original house. The new
addition was to be one -story, 18 feet by 20 feet. The permit also notes that the original house was
two -story, 24 feet by 30 feet with a hip roof.10
Address: 1006 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1378
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1895 ca.
Contributing
8 7 Deeds 194; SAM 78, Roll 13; Stillwater Building permit #1094.
9 31 Deeds 613; X Mtgs 483.
10 15 Deeds 98; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit #351.
5
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Physical Description: This house is a small Queen Anne with tower and front second story
parade porch unfortunately now closed in.
Historic Information:
Address: 1018 South First St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1383
Historic Name: Nelson School
Date Built: 1897
Contributing
Physical Description: A square two story red brick structure resting on a high, cut limestone
foundation. With the exception of the front facade and corner pilasters, the ten -bay sides are
undecorated. The front facade is divided into three bays. The central bay, which is slightly
recessed and defined by pilasters, is dominated by a second story oriel. The oriel is decorated
with pilasters, dentils, and a semicircular arch. Two brackets support it. The main entrance to the
school is located beneath the oriel and is recessed. A dormer with full pediment is located above
the oriel. The bays to either side of the oriel contain blind windows bearing name and date
inscriptions and semi - circular pediments. The rear facade of the school is a blank wall with the
exception of a simple oriel.
Historic Information: Nelson School opened in September 1897. Called "a model structure of
its kind" by the Stillwater Gazette, the building was designed by the architectural firm of Orff and
Joralemon of Minneapolis. It was named after Socrates Nelson, the real estate speculator whose
name is included in the district. It replaced an earlier one -story frame school. The public school
system stopped using this as a school building in the 1950s, although it continued to hold District
834 administrative offices through 1977. After a battle over its preservation, it was purchased by
a group of investors known as the nelson School Partners in 1980. They renovated the school into
apartments, now converted to condominiums."
Address: 713 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1384
Historic Name: David Tozer
Date Built: 1870s
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple two bay gable front with an addition in the rear and an enclosed
front porch.
Historic Information: David Tozer purchased Lots 26 -28, Block 4, in November of 1868 for
$200. He built two rental homes on the lots that took the numbers 713 South Fourth Street and
715 South Fourth Street. Tozer, a successful lumberman, lived in the neighborhood at 704 South
Third Street. He built several rental houses in the area; they remained in his ownership until after
the turn of the century.12
Address: 715 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1385
11 St. Paul Dispatch, January 30, 1979; Stillwater Daily Gazette, September 25, 1897.
12 S Deeds 543; SAM 7, Roll 5.
6
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Name: David Tozer
Date Built: 1870s
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple two -bay gable end with an addition in the rear and an enclosed
front porch.
Historic Information: David Tozer purchased Lots 26 -28, Block 4, in November of 1868 for
$200. He built two rental homes of the lots that took the numbers 713 South Fourth Street and
715 South Fourth Street. Tozer, a successful lumberman, lived in the neighborhood at 704 South
Third Street. He built several rental houses in the area; they remained in his ownership until after
the turn of the century.13
Address: 719 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1386
Historic Name: John Sinclair
Date Built: 1877
Contributing
Physical Description: A plain two -bay gable front with an enclosed front porch. On the south
side is a very interesting one -story small peaked addition with six over six windows and a
sidelight on the front door.
Historic Information: John Sinclair, a logger, bought Lots 24 & 25 in October 1874. By 1877,
the tax assessor's value of the lots had risen from $480 to $1150, indicating a home on the
property. This house at 719 South Fourth Street was home to James A. Sinclair and Tillie
Sinclair, as well as Mr. & Mrs. John Sinclair.14
Address: 801 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1387
Historic Name: Anna Maloy
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: This is a two -story cube Italianate with a tin roof, a one -story addition on
the south side and an enclosed front porch.
Historic Information: Anna Maloy obtained a Warranty Deed on Lots 22 & 23 in May of 1873
from Elizabeth Churchill, but it appears she had already built a house on the lots. The Stillwater
Gazette in its listing of improvements in the city, noted a house built in Nelson's Field (as the
South Hill was then called) by Mrs. Maloy worth $900. The tax assessor's record, less
enthusiastic, has the note, "$300 house" penciled in. When house numbers were later assigned in
the 1880s, this house took the number, 801 South Fourth Street. By the time, the house number
was assigned, the house was in the possession of the Patrick Barron family who lived there for
quite a while.15
Address: 807 South Fourth St.
'3 S Deeds 543; SAM 7, Roll 5.
14 Deeds 54; SAM 7, Roll 5; SAM 7, Roll 6; 1884 Stillwater City Directory.
15 SAM 7, Roll 3; Z Deeds 259; 1884 Stillwater City Directory; Stillwater Gazette, November 14, 1871
7
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1388
Historic Name: Timothy & Abbie Kilty
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple two -bay gable front with an enclosed front porch.
Historic Information: The Irish -born couple, Timothy and Abbie Kilty, bought Lots 20 & 21,
Block 4, in September 1871. His new house is noted in a list of improvement published in the
Stillwater Gazette of November 14, 1871. The 24' by 26' house was located in Nelson's Field (as
the South Hill was then called) and worth $800. The tax assessor's record for 1873 specifies a
house worth $400 on Lot 21. The 1877 Stillwater City Directory lists: "Timothy Kilty, laborer,
res. 4th nr. Churchill." By 1880, they had ten children living in the house with them, ranging
from age 27 to age 6. There was also one boarder. When house numbers were assigned, this
house took the number, 807 South Fourth Street. A City of Stillwater Building Permit #32 taken
out on April 29, 1886, gives us some additional information on this house. The Permit says the
house was built about 1873 by a J. Powers at a cost of $700. The original house, according to the
Permit, was one - and - one -half stories high, 18 feet wide and 26 feet deep with a 16 -foot by 16-
foot cellar. To this original structure had been added a kitchen in the rear. The reason for this
1886 Permit was to allow this older kitchen addition to be removed and replaced with a new $25
kitchen addition. The owner was Timothy Kilty (who signed with an "X "); the "architect' was
listed as L.W. Clarke, (he was the city engineer) and the builder as Michael Carroll, a carpenter
who was living in the neighborhood at 924 South Fourth Street.16
Address: 815 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1389
Historic Name: Kilty
Date Built: 1883 ca.
Contributing
Physical Description: A typical Italianate cube with an addition on the rear and a remuddled bay
on the south side.
Historic Information: This house at 815 South Fourth Street was built about 1883 by a member
of the Kilty family. Without a Kilty family genealogy, it is difficult to sort out the various family
members and their relationships. The first name appearing on this property is Patrick Kilty.17
Address: 817 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1390
Historic Name: Kilty
Date Built: 1883 ca.
Date Built: 1883 ca.
Physical Description: This is a large five -bay Italianate with an open front porch. It presently
appears to have four units in it.
Historic Information: This is another Kilty house. Timothy and Patrick Kilty bought Lot 18 in
May 1883, and they built a house at 817 South Fourth Street on it soon after. 18
16 U Deeds 764; City of Stillwater Building Permit #32; SAM 78, Roll 9; 1880 Census.
17 SAM 78, Roll 13.
18 7 Deeds 173; SAM 78, Roll 13.
8
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Address: 823 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1391
Historic Name: Stillwater Oil Company
Date Built: 1923
Noncontributing
Physical Description: This small one story, one bay commercial building was originally a
service station. It no longer retains sufficient integrity and is therefore noncontributing to the
district.
Historic Information: 823 South Fourth Street was built as a gasoline service station in 1923 by
the Stillwater Oil Company and its proprietor, J. J. Kilty. The contractor was W. E. Meier who
lived nearby at 915 South Fourth Street. According to the building permit, the cost was $2,500;
the size of the building was 75 feet wide and 67.5 feet deep. It was to be heated with a stove and
have metal ceilings.19
Address: 901 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1392
Historic Name: Charles & Carrie Glaser
Date Built: 1901
Contributing
Physical Description: A two story Germanic - influenced building with a bar in the lower portion
and apartments above. The exterior is buff - colored stucco with raised timber beams. There is an
addition in the rear, which was originally opened as a pool hall.
Historic Information: Before there was a Meister's Bar at 901 South Fourth Street, there was
first a house. James & Ellen Welch purchased Lot 28, Block 13 from Elizabeth Churchill in April
of 1875; they took out a mortgage to build a house at 117 West Churchill the following year.
James is listed in the 1877 and 1887 Stillwater City Directories as a laborer. In the summer of
1901, local carpenter, Adolph Sprich built a store and house on Lot 28. The $2,000 building was
two story, 38 feet wide and 40 feet deep. The cellar was seven feet deep, 34 feet by 36 feet, with a
cement floor. The first floor was hardwood; the second floor was clear pine. The owners were
Charles and Carrie Glaser and they operated a bakery (901 South Fourth St.) and home (903
South Fourth St.) out of the building.20
Address: 909 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1393
Historic Name: Thomas & Elsie Ward
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: A plain gable front with a 1900s open porch.
Historic Information: Thomas and Elsie Ward bought Lots 26 & 27, Block 13, from Elizabeth
Churchill in September of 1871. According to the Stillwater Gazette's listing of improvements in
its issue of November 14, 1871, Tom Ward had built a 24 -foot by 26 -foot home in Nelson's Field
19 City of Stillwater Building Permit #2011.
20 Z Deeds 240; M Mtgs 120; City of Stillwater Building Permit #1028.
9
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
(as the South Hill was then called) that was worth $800. The tax assessor was not so sanguine,
giving the house a value of $350 in 1873. That house was later to take the number, 909 South
Fourth Street. Ward was a lumberman, and the family lived there for decades.21
Address: 913 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1394
Historic Name: James McGee
Date Built: 1883
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front with a small ell on the south side and a picture window in
front.
Historic Information: James McGee bought Lot 25, Block 13 in April of 1881, and by 1884,
Edward McGee, a farmer, is listed as the resident of 913 South Fourth Street.22
Address: 915 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1395
Historic Name: Mary McGrath
Date Built: 1895
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple gable end with an enclosed front porch.
Historic Information: John and Mary Gillispie purchased Lot 24, Block 13 from Elizabeth
Churchill in August of 1873, but it does not appear he built on the Lot. Instead the first house on
this property, 915 South Fourth Street, was built in 1895 when Mary McGrath took out a
mortgage from the Stillwater Fire Department Relief Association.23
Address: 919 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1396
Historic Name: Henry & Mary White
Date Built: 1873
Contributing
Physical Description: A two -story gable end that has been severely remodeled with new
windows and a pop -out bay.
Historic Information: Henry C. White, a lumberman, and his wife, Mary, obtained a Warranty
Deed for Lot 23, Block 13 from Elizabeth Churchill in June of 1877. The couple was born in
Maine: he in 1844; she in 1851. By 1880, they had two daughters in the house: Florence, 9; Alice,
2; and one son, Henry, 4. However, it appears he had a $100 improvement (a small or partial
house ?) as early as 1873 according to the tax assessor's records. By the time house numbers were
assigned in the 1880s, Henry White was listed at 919 South Fourth Street 24
Address: 921 South Fourth St.
21 SAM 78, Roll 9; X Deeds 393; 1877 and 1887 Stillwater City Directories.
r2 Z Deeds 134; 8 Deeds 140; 1884 and 1887 Stillwater City Directories.
23 Z Deeds 643; 7 Mtgs 96.
24 10 Deeds 67; SAM 78, Roll 9; 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
10
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1397
Historic Name: Timothy & Catherine Crowley
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: An attractive gable front with a 1900s open porch.
Historic Information: Timothy and Catherine Crowley obtained a Warranty Deed from
Elizabeth Churchill for Lot 22, Block 13, in March of 1873. But it appears the home he built at
921 South Fourth Street preceded the Warranty Deed. The Stillwater Gazette in listing
improvements made in the city notes, under the location "Nelson's Field" (as the South Hill was
then called), "Tim Crowley,res.18x24.....$250." By 1887, the home was in the name of James
Crowley.
Address: 1001 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1398
Historic Name: John Conklin
Date Built: 1883
Contributing
Physical Description: A nicely preserved cube Italianate with a step down addition in the rear.
The brackets and window hoods remain.
Historic Information: After going through several owners, John Conklin, a widower, bought
Lots 20 & 21, Block 13 in January of 1881. In the fall he took out a mortgage with the St. Croix
Valley Savings Bank, and soon after built the home at 1001 South Fourth Street. The 1883 Tax
Assessor's record lists the value of the property at $1,400.25
Address: 1009 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1399
Historic Name: Thomas Sutherland
Date Built: 1873
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front house with a lot of additions and changes including an
enclosed front porch, a bay of sorts on the south side, and dormers.
Historic Information: Around Christmas in 1881, Thomas Sutherland obtained the deed to Lots
18 & 19, Block 13 from Edmund & Ida Butts. However, it appears that Sutherland, a contractor
and builder, actually constructed the house at 1009 South Fourth Street in 1873. A building
permit for repairs taken out in April of 1886, notes that a $700- 16 foot by 25 foot one -story
dwelling house with a 16 foot by 22 foot ell and two chimneys, was built on these two lots in
1873. The permit also notes an unusual fact: that the foundation walls were seven feet deep and
18 inches thick, thus creating a full basement under the house. Sutherland later moved to
Hutchinson, Minnesota. Around midnight on a spring evening in 1932, Albert Kreuger suffered a
loss of $2,400 when garages on his property at this address burned.26
25 Stillwater Gazette, November 14, 1871; Z Deeds 253; 1877, 1882, 1887; Stillwater City Directories;
1880 Federal Census for Stillwater, Family #139.
26 8 Deeds 540; SAM 78, Roll 13; 1887, 1894 Stillwater City Directory; Fire Dept. records; City of
Stillwater Building Permit #25.
11
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Address: 1015 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1400
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1986
Noncontributing
Physical Description:
Historic Information: 1015 South Fourth Street is today, a new house built in 1986, but this is
the second house on these two lots. The first one was built as early as 1873.27
Address: 1019 South Fourth St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1401
Date Built: 1900 ca.
Historic Name: Daniel F. Day
Contributing
Physical Description: This is a simple gable front house with a 1900s open porch. There is a
one -story addition on the rear.
Historic Information: Daniel F. Day purchased the lots occupied by the house at 1019 South
Fourth Street in September of 1871 from Edmund and Ida Butts. Butts was an attorney who dealt
extensively in real estate. Within two years, Day had put up a home on the property. We know
this for certain because he did not pay the contractor, and a lien was filed in May 1873 against the
owner and the property. This particular lien is very interesting because it gives us an idea of how
families determined the style of their houses.
"[John Green, dealer in hardware stoves and tinware] "agrees to furnish all the
materials and erect and build a dwelling house...said dwelling house to be of
wood also of good merchantable lumber all the work to be done in a good
substantative and workmanlike manner; in size to be 20 by 28 feet two stories in
height with 20 foot posts [studs]. The windows to be 14 in number — number 6 on
first story and number 7 on second and one in loft to be of same size and pattern
as those in the dwelling house of J.M. Knight [804 South Third Street] in
Stillwater and glazed... The lower floors to be doubled and the upper floor single
all to be well laid... The sides and ends of said house to be covered with rough
boards and the boards with tar paper and sided with good siding... the cornice to
be of the same style and finish as that on the dwelling house of Alex Underwood
in said city. Gutters of tin to be put on the rough steps at the outside doors."
The total of the lien, the cost of this house, was $880.44. The 1874 Tax Assessor's record
notes the value of the house and lots at $1,080. Day is listed in the City Directories as a laborer.28
Address: 704 South Second Street
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1402
Historic Name: Lawson Dailey
Date Built: 1877
Contributing
27 Washington County Tax Assessor's Office.
28 A Liens 89; SAM 7, Roll 4; T Deeds 619; 1877, 1887 Stillwater City Directories.
12
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Physical Description: A typical cubed Italianate with an addition on the rear, and some odd
additions on the south side. In front, up and down, is an enclosed porch. The original brackets are
still to be seen.
Historic Information: Lawson Dailey bought Lot 1, Block 3 from Betsy Nelson on a Bond for
Deed — similar to our Contract for Deed — in September of 1874. Three years later, the tax
assessor placed a value of $1100 on the lot, indicating a good sized home, which took the number
704 South Second Street, had been built. Dailey worked for a time as a planer in one of the mills;
later he took up fence building. The Dailey family lived in the house past the turn of the century.
According to two building permits, Lawson Daily took up the sale of stoves from his building at
704 South Second Street. The first permit, on March 30, 1901, was apparently for a $150
addition, 18 feet by 30 feet, one -and -a -half stories high that would provide "More room & shop
for stoves." The second permit in August of 1901 was for a $450 building two stories in height,
20 feet by 52 feet, with a veneer of iron, and unfinished ceilings. The purpose was for a "stove
store and shop." Lawson and his son, Russell, who lived next door at 708 South Second Street,
built both buildings. A third permit taken out in 1903 adds on a $300 store room and notes that
the "Building is sheathed up with nice lumber papered and sided with steel. Roof is fire proof
rooffelt paper." The 1906 -07 Stillwater City Directory also lists Daily as selling ranges 29
Address: 708 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1403
Historic Name: Russell Dailey
Date Built: 1880
Contributing
Physical Description: The house is in the Italianate styl, box -like, with an addition on the rear
and a second story sleeping porch on the front. Some of the original brackets remain.
Historic Information: Lawson Dailey who built his house next door at 704 South Second St.
sold part of Lots 2 & 3 to George D. Hall for $1650 in June of 1880. That high a price indicates a
home at 708 South Second Street on the property, but as late as 1879, the tax assessor's records
indicate no value beyond that of the lot. The logical conclusion is that Lawson Dailey either built
a house on the lot in 1880, or George Hall held an unrecorded contract that allowed him the build
the house. The latter might make more sense because the following year, Hall sold to John Karst
for $378 plus the assumption of a $1400 mortgage.30
Address: 709 South Second St.
Inventory No: 712 819
Historic Name: Seymour, Sabin & Company
Date Built: 1875
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple front gable with a large picture window on the first floor. The
exterior is a wood shingle. Apart from the front window, all others are rectangular 4/4 double -
sash windows with a modest triangular hood.
29 SAM 7, Roll 6; E Bonds 250; 1877 & 1887 Stillwater City Directories; City of Stillwater Building
permits #1026 & 1032, 1132.
30 SAM 7, Roll 8; 5 Deeds 529; 8 Deeds 66.
13
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: Seymour, Sabin & Company purchased Lot 28, Block 2, in 1872.
Seymour, Sabin was primarily a manufacturing company using the prison labor on a contract
basis, but they also built houses on speculation. This medium sized house, which today has the
number, 709 S. Second Street, was one of those. Within three years, the house had been sold to
John F. Conklin, for many years, the Street Commissioner (somewhat equivalent to the head of
Public Works) for the City of Stillwater.31
Address: 712 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1405
Historic Name: Demeter & Alice Kalinoff
Date Built: 1913
Contributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with craftsman details, leaded glass windows, and what
appears to be an original front porch.
Historic Information: W. H. Harris purchased Lots 4 & 5, Block 3, from Betsey Nelson on a
Bond for Deed in September 1873. Within a year, Harris had begun the construction of a house
on these lots; but alas, he did not seem to have the necessary cash or credit. Seymour, Sabin &
Co, a local manufacturing and lumber company, and McKusick, Anderson, another lumber
company, each filed a lien against Harris in 1874 for $236.10 and $216.38 for lumber and
materials used "to construct a dwelling." Harris apparently could not keep up his payments to
Nelson for she took back the property and sold it to Fred Pennington. From the tax assessor's
records, it appears the two lumber companies reclaimed their materials for there does not appear
to be a house on the property by 1877. Two years later, under the ownership of Pennington, the
value of the lots and improvements jumped from $600 to $1900. In the fall of 1888, Pennington
took out a building permit to allow the Northey Brothers, local contractors, to add two wings to
the original house as a cost of $1,000. That same permit notes that the original house was two -
stories, 22 feet by 32 feet. Pennington was a lumberman with Sauntry, Tozer, & Pennington. This
house had the number, 712 South Second Street. The story is that Dr. Demeter & Alice Kalinoff
bought this house, and found that it would cost almost as much to install electricity and plumbing
as it would to build a new house. Therefore they demolished the original house, and in 1913, they
had Frank Linner (pronounced Lin -near) & Co. build a new house on the original foundation..
According to the building permit, the house was to cost $5,000, be 30 feet by 31 feet, two story
with a hip roof. 32
Address: 713 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1406
Historic Name: Augustus & Caroline Godfrey County: Washington
Date Built: 1868/1894
Contributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with a picture window in front and a second story bay.
Historic Information: In May 1868, Edmund G. Butts, a Stillwater attorney and real estate
dealer, sold Augustus and Caroline Godfrey, Lot 26, Block 2. The following month they began
31 SAM 7, Roll 5; 5 Deeds 194, 195; 1877 & 1881 -82 Stillwater City Directory.
32 E Bonds 50; A Liens 112, 114; SAM 7, Roll 8; SAM 7, Roll 6; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of
Stillwater Building Permit #'s 373, 1548.
14
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
the building of a house which today has the number, 713 S. Second St. Unfortunately they were
not able to pay the contractor, Thomas Sinclair, for his work, and he filed a lien against the
property in December of 1869. It read, in part: "Augustus C. Godfrey and Caroline Godfrey in
a/c [account] with Thomas Sinclair June 1868 for lumber for building house on lot No. 26...June
28, 1869, excavating & furnishing materials and building cellar and cistern on same
premises... three days hauling materials at @$5...furnishing cement and plastering cistern. " The
total money owed Sinclair: $254.45. The tax assessor placed a value of $300 on the structure.
This would be one of the oldest houses in Churchill, Nelson, Slaughter's Addition. In 1894,
according to a building permit application, an addition — or a new house — was built on Lots 26
& 27. According to the permit, the structure was to be 26 feet by 28 feet deep, one - and -a -half
stories in height, and cost $900. The owner at this time was William Heffernam and the
contractor was the Stillwater Manufacturing Company.33
Address: 717 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1407
Historic Name: Frank Chartrand
Date Built: 1888
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple front gable with a bay on the south side and a screen porch in
front.
Historic Information: Edmund G. Butts, a Stillwater lawyer and real estate dealer, sold Lot 25 to
William W. Gilbert in February, 1871; Gilbert sold the same Lot to Hubert Hall, who in turn sold
it to William Patner in May of 1872. The tax assessor's records for the following year list a small
$200 structure on the property. Patner (or Patrew) continued to own the lot for well over a
decade, but, because he is never listed in the Stillwater City Directory, it does not appear he lived
here. In the fall of 1888, a Frank Chartrand applied for a building permit to build a dwelling on
this lot. The house was to two - stories in height, 24 feet by 28 feet, with a cost of $900. Chartrand
lists himself as both the owner and builder of this home which took the number, 717 S. Second
Street. 34
Address: 720 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1408
Historic Name: George Watson
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: A front gable with a large ell (with dormer) on the south side, and a
picture window in front on the open porch.
Historic Information: 720 South Second Street occupies Lots 6,7,& 8, Block 3. In his annual
valuation of properties in Stillwater, the tax assessor made a note for 1872 that the value of Lot 7
included a $350 house, and the name "Watson" was added in pencil. The following year, the note
33 In the Stillwater Messenger of January 6, 1871, Thomas Sinclair is listed as one of Stillwater's house
builders; SAM 7, Roll 2; S Deeds 419; A Liens 66; City of Stillwater Building permit #794.
34 SAM 78, Roll 9; T Deeds 454; X Deeds 15; City of Stillwater Building Permit #345.
15
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
"Watson's house" was added again in pencil. However, the actual Warranty Deed transferring the
property from Elizabeth Churchill to George Watson was in March of 1873, followed by
Watson's mortgage in 1874. Two years later, in the fall of 1876, Watson sold the property to
Edward O'Brien, a liquor dealer on North Main Street. In the summer of 1889, the Stillwater
Construction and Furnishing Company made a $250 "Addition to Main House & Porch
reshingling roof and slight changes inside." 35
Address: 723 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1409
Historic Name: James H. Griffen
Date Built: 1872
Contributing
Physical Description: An unusual two -bay cubed Italianate with an addition in the rear and a tin
roof.
Historic Information: Edmund G. Butts, a Stillwater attorney and real estate dealer, sold Lot 23
to James H. Griffen, a saw blade sharpener, in September of 1873. He must have immediately
begun construction of a house at 723 S. Second Street, because the tax assessor's record notes a
$200 house on the lot followed by the penciled notation: "Griffith's House." The following year,
in June 1874, Griffen bought Lot 24, completing the property.36
Address: 806 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1410
Historic Name: John & Kate Glaspie
Date Built: 1890
Contributing
Physical Description: A small Queen Anne with a small parade porch under a turret in front, and
several additions on the back.
Historic Information: John Glaspie, a local real estate dealer who lived at 719 S. Third St., and
his wife, Kate, purchased Lots 9, 10, & 11 from the Stillwater Construction and Furnishing
Company for $900 in May, 1889. In turn, they sold part of Lots 9 & 10 to James and Ellen
Dwyer in July of 1890. Either the Glaspies or the Dwyers built the house at 806 South Second
Street between 1889 and 1891.37
Address: 807 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1411
Historic Name: Lewis W. Clarke
Date Built: 1870
Contributing
Physical Description: A one story converted train depot with some additions on the south side.
35 SAM 7, Roll 3; SAM 78, Roll 9; Z Deeds 53; K Mtgs 75; 1 Deeds 223; City of Stillwater Building
Permit #426.
36 Z Deeds 407, 465; SAM 78, Roll 9; 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
3731 Deeds 148; 1894 Stillwater City Directory.
16
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: George Low and his wife, Ossina, who lived at 808 South First Street,
were prominent people in this early neighborhood. She was a florist with a greenhouse on their
lots, and owned extensive property in her own name. George Low was a carpenter and later the
general manager of the Stillwater Construction and Furnishing Company which built several
houses in this area. The 1887 Stillwater City Directory has a brief description of the company:
Stillwater Construction and Furnishing Company. This company was organized March
20, 1887, with a joint stock of $3,000 and with the following officers. F.E. Joy, president;
H.V. Quackenbush, secretary and treasurer, George Low, general manager. Their
business consists in the construction of any class of buildings required, in furnishing
material and in general contract work. They have built the new Ascension Episcopal
church and other structures. They employ twenty men and furnish anything required from
the foundation stone to the parlor ornament of a building.
George and Ossina Low bought Lots 20 and 21, Block 2 (behind their own residence) and in the
period between fall 1888 and spring 1889, they moved the old St. Paul - Duluth train depot from
downtown Stillwater (the new Union Depot had just been completed) to these lots, took out two
mortgages of $800 and $1,000, with the Stillwater Building Association, had the old one -story
depot (22 feet by 52 feet) which, they claimed on a building permit, had been 50% damaged by
decay and moving, transformed by the Stillwater Construction and Furnishing Company into a
dwelling at 807 South Second Street, which they then sold to the Stillwater Construction and
Furnishing Company in March of 1889. The transformed house ended up in the possession of the
Lewis W. Clarke family. He was the city engineer for many years, and also worked in the
construction of houses in the neighborhood.38
Address: 808 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1412
Historic Name: Frank and Augusta Grace
Date Built: 1890
Contributing
Physical Description: A small Queen Anne identical in construction to 806 South Second.
Historic Information: In May 1889, John Glaspie, a local real estate dealer who lived at 719 S.
Third St. and his wife, Kate, bought Lots 9,10, & 11 from the Stillwater Construction and
Furnishing Company for $900. The Glaspies must have had the home built at 808 South Second
Street, for when they sold one -half the property to Frank and Augusta Grace in January of 1891,
the price for the property had increased to $1525; moreover the sale was subject to a lease with
Horace W. Davis who was paying $15 a month rent.39
Address: 814 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1413
Historic Name: William McPherson
Date Built: 1874
38 City of Stillwater Building Permit #385(B); 28 Deeds 219; X Mtgs 90,91.
3931 Deeds 456; 27 Deeds 575; 1894 Stillwater City Directory.
17
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Contributing
Physical Description: A large kind of cross gable house with a turret and a large addition on the
rear. It appears extensive remodeling was done in the 1890s.
Historic Information: William McPherson bought Lots 12 and 13, Block 3, in October of 1874.
The tax assessor's record for that same year lists a value of $1400 for the lot and improvements
— indicating a medium size house, which took the number, 814 South Second Street. McPherson
worked for E.L. Hospes & Co, a hardware dealer in downtown Stillwater. In April of 1888,
George Walters, a policeman and owner of the house took out a building permit to repair the
original house. According to the permit, the original house was one -story, 22 feet wide by 38 feet
deep. The proposed repairs were necessary because of "decay,' and would cost $90. They
included a new roof and "repairing of outside of Building." In the winter of 1909, a new $150
front porch was added to the house. The appearance of the house suggests that major renovation
and additions were done in the 1890s.40
Address: 815 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1414
Historic Name: Kate Glaspie
Date Built: 1896
Contributing
Physical Description: A modified Queen Anne with a later front porch, sleeping porch in the
rear, and fish scale shingles.
Historic Information: Mary and Patrick McGoldrick owned Lots 16, 17, 18, 19, and it appears
they built a home which took the number 815 S. Second Street, in the early 1870s. In the 1877
Stillwater City Directory, Patrick McGoldrick is listed as living on the corner of Second and
Churchill Streets. What happened to this first house is uncertain, but John and Kate Glaspie
purchased Lots 18 & 19, Block 2, in 1891. John was, at this time, engaged in real estate dealing
working out of his house at 719 South Third Street. Less than two years later, John died
unexpectedly at age 49. Perhaps with the insurance money, Kate Glaspie had this $1,200, two -
story house, 28 feet by 40 feet, built by the Stillwater Manufacturing Company in 1896. In 1910,
the home's third owner, Daniel Doyle, added on a $400 front porch, and in 1919, a sleeping porch
was added. This is a fancy version of a turn of the century house in the Midwest — the kind of
old house seen in Walt Disney movies. The front porch has capitals on the porch columns,
dentils, fish scale shingles, brackets, stone pillars supporting the porch, recessed panels in the
porch, and touches of gingerbread. The leaded glass sidelights on the front door and the six sided
door knobs; the spacious front hallway with fireplace; the newell post, stair rail spindles, and the
radiators with ears are all typical of this period. The back stairs, second floor sleeping porches,
and walk -up attic all indicate a typical Queen Anne style house of the 1890s. The owner has
decorated the house in period colors and wallpapers, and furnished the house with furniture
appropriate to its age.41
Address: 819 South Second Street
4° SAM 7, Roll 4; Y Deeds 266; 1877 & 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit
#'s 273, 1371.
41 Stillwater City Directories 1892 -1894; Ci915
48 Deeds 309; 58 Deeds 572.
ty of Stillwater Building Permits #'s 901, 1382, 1751;
18
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1415
Historic Name: Thomas Shattuck
Date Built: 1881
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple front gable with a bay on the south side and a screen porch on
the front.
Historic Information: Samuel C. Norton purchased Lots 16 & 17 in August of 1880, and a
month later, he took out a mortgage with the Stillwater Building Association which it appears he
used to build the house at 819 S. Second Street. No sooner was it built then he sold it to Thomas
Shattuck, a Stillwater policeman, who lived there for a number of years. When Shattuck bought
the property and house, the tax assessor valued it at $1100.42
Address: 822 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1416
Historic Name: Charles Holcombe
Date Built: 1891
Contributing
Physical Description: A large cross gable with an open porch, a picture window, and an addition
on the rear.
Historic Information: The home at 822 South Second Street appears to be the second house
built on Lots 14 & 15. The 1873 Tax Assessor's record indicates a house valued at $250 on Lot
15, along with a note the assessor penciled in "Weldon's house." The following year, the two lots
are valued at $1000 with the name, "James Anderson ", penciled in. Neither of these names are
recorded in the deed books, indicating perhaps, that both were buyers with unrecorded contracts.
In 1876, Christine & Charles Holcombe purchased the property and the house. In 1880, Charles
Holcombe was elected Sheriff, and the family moved into the sheriff's residence of the
Courthouse. But in 1892, the St. Croix Lumber Company of South Stillwater [Bayport] filed a
lien against Charles Holcombe in the amount of $1155.58 regarding the fact they had "delivered
to one Charles P. Holcombe... between Oct 3 and Dec 15, 1891...lumber, sash, doors, and other
building materials...which said materials were used by said Holcombe in and about the erection
and construction of a dwelling house... " A City of Stillwater Building Permit #611 taken out on
October 15, 1891 confirms the building of this house. The Permit lists the size as 32 feet by 32
feet, one - and - one -half stories high, costing $1,500. The builder was Sven Berglund.43
Address: 903 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1417
Historic Name: John Sullivan
Date Built: 1873
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple gable front with an interesting and unusual segmented front door
transom.
42 SAM 78, Roll 11, Roll 13; 5 Deeds 606; P Mtgs 219; 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
43 SAM 78, Roll 9; SAM 7, Roll 4; 1 Deeds 273; A Liens 709.
19
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: The house at 903 South Second Street has a very simple history. John
Sullivan purchased Lot 28, Block 15 from Elizabeth Churchill in July of 1872. The tax assessor's
record of 1873 lists a $250 house with the owner as John Sullivan. Sullivan is listed again in the
1887 Stillwater City Directory as a laborer, residing at 903 S. Second St. 44
Address: 904 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1418
Historic Name: Herman Drews
Date Built: 18941875
Contributing
Physical Description: A large cross gable double front gable with a turreted peak one one gable.
Fish scale shingles, a screened in wrap around porch, and a corner entrance distinguish this
attractive house.
Historic Information: In the spring of 1872, Watson Hall, a painter, bought Lot 1, Block 14,
from Mortimer Webster, a local real estate speculator and developer. During the summer he had
built his $400 house that later took the number, 904 South Second Street. However he did not pay
his carpenters, R. G. Blanchard and Dan Robinson, and they filed a lien against Hall and his
property. The total of the lien was $31.74, reckoned as a little over 10 days of skilled labor at
$3.00 a day. In October, 1894, Herman Drews applied for a building permit to have William
Beiging build him a house on the south side of Churchill between Second and Third — on Block
14, Lot 1. The house was to be two -story, 26 feet wide by 46 feet deep, and costing $1,700. (This
house appeared to have had the number 117 E. Churchill Street.) On a December afternoon in
1904, there was a large fire in the house; the estimate of damage was $2,241.32. The owner at the
time was J. F. Thoreen. A building permit confirmed the cost of repairing the damage at $600. In
1909, Thoreen spent $250 and had indoor plumbing installed: a toilet, sink and bath tub. Three
years later, he spent $1,000 remodeling the house.45
Address: 905 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1419
Historic Name: Timothy Sullivan
Date Built: 1886 ca.
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple gable front with an interesting segmented front door transom,
and an unusual front door surround.
Historic Information: John Sullivan purchased Lot 27, Block 15 in the spring of 1882 for $200.
Four years later, he sold it to his brother ( ?), Timothy Sullivan for the same $200. Timothy built
the house that remains today at 905 South Second Street.46
Address: 910 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1420
44 SAM 78, Roll 9; X Deeds 30.
45 W Deeds 160; A Liens 82; SAM 78, Roll 9; 1877 Stillwater City Directory; Fire Department records;
City of Stillwater Building Permit #'s 828, 1199, 1362, 1501.
46 7 Deeds 496; 19 Deeds 229.
20
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Name: John Blake
Date Built: 1880 ca.
Contributing
Physical Description: A classic three -bay cube Italianate with a step down addition in the rear.
There is a classic 1900s front screen porch and some original 4x4 storm windows.
Historic Information: John Blake, listed as a laborer, may have built the house at 910 South
Second Street, around 1875 before he actually obtained a Warranty Deed from Edmund Butts, an
attorney and real estate speculator active in the neighborhood. The tax assessor put the value of
the structure at about $200, a small value even for those days. By 1877, Blake is listed in the
Stillwater City Directory as living on "2 "d s. Churchill." In 1882, the property passed to Fred
Scott, the proprietor of the North Star Pharmacy. Given the style and size of the present house, it
may have been Scott who rebuilt or enlarged the house to its present size and style. In the spring
of 1910, a building permit was taken out for $2,100 worth of work, among the items was to raise
the ell and build porches. On a winter morning, shortly after the Christmas of 1917, there was a
fire in the home; the loss was estimated at $808.11.47
Address: 911 South Second Street
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1421
Historic Name: Patrick & Betsey McCarthy
Date Built: 1878
Contributing
Physical Description: A classic three bay cube Italianate with a one -story addition in the rear
and an open front porch.
Historic Information: Patrick & Betsey McCarthy purchased five lots: 22 -26 from Emma Marsh
in July of 1877, taking back a mortgage from her. He immediately built a good sized house which
we know today as 911 South Second Street. Patrick is listed as a "laborer." Seven years later, he
sold off Lots 22,23,24 to Robert Siebert.48
Address: 914 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1422
Historic Name: Lindsley C. Everitt
Date Built: 1876
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple front gable with a rather nice enclosed front porch circa 1910-
20.
Historic Information: The house at 914 South Second Street has an interesting early history.
The S-1/2 of Lot 4 and all of Lot 5, Block 14, was sold by A.M. Dodd, an attorney and real estate
speculator in the neighborhood, to Lindsley C. Everitt in November of 1874. In the spring of
1876, D. L. Burlingham, a house painter, filed a lien against A.L. Booth on this property for
"furnishing material and painting ...100 yards with two coats at .17 cts." The total of the lien
was $17.00. But who was Booth; his name never shows up in the records. The lien itself makes
the situation clear: Booth was in possession of the small house "under a Contract to purchase the
47 1 Deeds 400; 8 Deeds 613; SAM 7, Roll 5; 1877, 1884 Stillwater City Directories; Fire Department
records; City of Stillwater Building Permit #1525.
48 M Mtgs 208; 15 Deeds 133, 141; 1877 Stillwater City Directory; SAM 7, Roll 6.
21
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
same, and said house is situate upon land owned by L.C. Everett." Alas, it seems that Booth was
never able to fulfill his Contract for his name does not appear in any subsequent land records.49
Address: 915 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1423
Historic Name: Robert & Catherine Siebert
Date Built: 1886
Contributing
Physical Description: A good sized cross gable with three bays with fish scale shingles and a
gingerbread porch circa 1900.
Historic Information: In November 1884, Robert & Catherine Siebert purchased Lots 22, 23, 24
for $700 from their neighbor to be, Patrick McCarthy. According to a building permit taken out in
April of 1886, Robert Siebert, a carpenter, built them a rather lavish home costing $1800 at 915
South Second Street. The house was two stories in height, 22 feet by 32 feet, with a 15 -foot by
20 -foot addition and a seven - and - one -half foot deep cellar that was 15 by 17 feet. The house was
probably financed with the aid of a mortgage they took out from the St. Croix Savings & Loan.5°
Address: 920 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1424
Historic Name: Nelson Foster
Date Built: 1882
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with a front picture window and an interesting and unusual
front door surround.
Historic Information: Nelson Foster purchased Lots 6 & 7 on a Bond for Deed [Contract for
Deed] in January of 1880. Two years later, he took out a mortgage and built the house that has the
number today, 920 South Second Street. In the fall of 1886, Foster took out a building permit to
make an addition to the house. The builders were the Northey Brothers, busy local contractors.
The addition was listed as 18 feet by 24 feet deep, one - and -a- half - stories; the cost was $800. 51
Address: 1001 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1425
Historic Name: Michael S. Mockler
Date Built: 1875
Contributing
Physical Description: The house is a classic cube Italianate with a step down addition in the rear,
and a small portico over the front door.
Historic Information: Mortimer Webster sold Lots 20 & 21 to Michael S. Mockler in May of
1875, taking back a mortgage from Webster. The tax assessor's record for that year has a notation
penciled in: "$600 added for house." This house would later, when numbers were assigned,
49 SAM 7, Roll 5; Z Deeds 171; A Liens 143.
5° 15 Deeds 141; X Mtgs 8; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit #9.
51 F Bonds 258; Q Mtgs 36; City of Stillwater Building Permit #143.
22
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
become 1001 South Second Street. When Mockler died in 1881, his heirs sold the property back
to Webster for $2,000.52
Address: 1004 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1426
Historic Name: Mortimer Webster
Date Built: 1876
Contributing
Physical Description: A very unusual one story cube with a hip roof, additions on the rear, and a
tin roof. Screen porch in front.
Historic Information: The house at 1004 South Second Street occupies Lots 8 & 9, Block 14.
Mortimer Webster, a real estate dealer and developer, purchased the two lots for $900 in May of
1875. That is a high price for two lots in this area, and may indicate a house on one of the lots. A
year and a half later, in December 1876, Webster sells one of the lots, Lot 9, to John Simmons for
$1500, surely indicating a house on the lot. Simmons sells the lot back to Webster, who in turn
sells Lot 9 to Almina Kellogg in June of 1878 for $1550. The following year, Almina purchases
Lot 8 from Elizabeth Churchill. When was this house built? The tax assessor's records indicate
the value of Lot 9 jumped from $100 to $1100 between 1875 and 1877.53
Address: 1007 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1427
Historic Name: Jim Settlemeyer
Date Built: 1922
Contributing
Physical Description: An attractive classic 1920s bungalow with original windows and enclosed
front porch.
Historic Information: The present house at 1007 South Second Street is apparently the second
house at this address. There is a record of a fire in 1912 at this address; a fire that started at 4:00
in the morning, and caused $1,800 in damage. The present house was, according to the building
permit, built in 1922 by a local carpenter, Henry Mohr, according to plans provided by the Bluff
City Lumber Company. The $4,500 one -and -a -half story house was 26 feet by 32 feet with cedar
shingles on the roof and stucco on the outside walls. The owner at the time was Jim
Settlemeyer.54
Address: 1008 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1428
Historic Name: M. C. Mosier
Date Built: 1918
Contributing
Physical Description: A very plain gable front with exposed rafter tails.
52 1 Deeds 28; K Mtgs 288; 8 Deeds 476; SAM 7, Roll 4.
53 1 Deeds 27, 279, 584; 5 Deeds 524; SAM 7, Roll 5; SAM 7, Roll 6.
54 City of Stillwater Building Permit #1912; Stillwater Fire Dept. records.
23
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: The present house at 1008 South Second Street is, surprisingly, the third
house to have this address. The first house was built about 1876 by a man named Merit Smith,
and according to a building permit taken out in April of 1887. The original house was one -story,
22 feet by 22 feet, with a hip roof, and kitchen addition on the rear. Local contractors, Bieging &
Schmidt, built the second house in 1890. It too was a small house: one -story, 32 feet by 30 feet.
The owner was most likely Merit Smith whose name appears on the building permit as
"architect." The third — and present — house was built in 1918 by a carpenter named John Peters
for the owner, M. C. Mosier. Like its predecessors, it was a small house: one -story, 26 feet by 40
feet, with a peaked roof and maple stairs.55
Address: 1012 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1429
Historic Name: Winfield & Althea Moore
Date Built: 1882
Contributing
Physical Description: A three -bay gable front with enclosed front porch c. 1910.
Historic Information: It is not clear from the existing records exactly who built the home at
1012 South Second Street. From the tax assessor's records, it would appear that this house on the
S -1/2 of Lot 11 and Lot 12 was built about 1882. We also find a Warranty Deed dated August,
1882 in which Winfield & Althea Moore buy the S -1/2 of Lot 11 and the N -3/4 of Lot 12 from
Samuel Packard for $1,575, a value surely indicating a house on the property. It does not appear
either Packard, who was a bridge tender, nor the Moores ever lived in the house. A building
addition permit taken out in September of 1886 by the then owner of the house, Mathew Butler, a
mail carrier, notes that the original two -story house cost about $600. Butler is spending $200 to
add "porch in front — slight changes in the interior of house & general repairs." The builder is
listed as L. W. Clarke, who appears to have dabbled in construction when not occupied with his
job as city engineer. In the spring of 1913, when Andrew Hanson was the owner, a $1,000 worth
of remodeling was done, including a new kitchen.
Address: 1013 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1430
Historic Name: Frederick & Thekla Kern
Date Built: 1879
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A small front gable with what appear to be return eaves. Picture window
in front.
Historic Information: Mortimer Webster, a local developer and real estate speculator sold
Frederick & Thekla Kern Lot 17 and the S -1/2 of Lot 18, Block 15 in August 1879 for $1,400 —a
price that would indicate there was a house on the lot. The Kerns, in turn, sold the property to
Joseph Pecha for $1,300 in September 1870s 1880. The 1881 Tax Assessor's record notes a
house on the lot. Today that house has the number, 1013 South Second Street.56
55 City of Stillwater Building Permits #'s 198, 494, 1684; 12 Deeds 556; Yearly tax assessors records for
the 1870s.
56 10 Deeds 445, 505; SAM 78, Roll 13; City of Stillwater Building Permit #124.
24
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Address: 1017 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1431
Historic Name: Margaret Organ
Date Built: 1882
Contributing
Physical Description: A simple gable front with a fancy portico over the front door, and a pop
out (new) front bay.
Historic Information: Edmund Butts, a local attorney and real estate dealer, sold Lots 15 & 16
to Thomas Organ on a Bond for Deed in June of 1873, receiving a Warranty Deed about nine
months later. There is no indication he built upon his lots, but in 1882 he sold the property to
Margaret Organ who within the year built the house that remains at 1017 South Second Street. In
the summer of 1886, a $225 one - and -a -half story stable, 20 feet by 24 feet was built on the
property. 57
Address: 1018 South Second St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1432
Historic Name: Frederick Wilman
Date Built: 1883
Contributing
Physical Description: A classic three -bay cube Italianate complete with window hoods and
brackets.
Historic Information: For $560 Samuel Packard sold the S -3/4 of Lot 13 and all of Lot 14,
Block 14, to Frederick Wilman on a Warranty Deed in September 1883. The following month,
Wilman, a jeweler, received a mortgage from the Stillwater Building Association. He had the
house at 1018 South Second Street built, and lived there for years.58
Address: 703 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1448
Historic Name: John O'Shaughnessy
Date Built: 1870
Contributing
Physical Description: A classic three bay Stillwater Italianate cube with hip roof, center
chimney, and a very stylish entrance porch c. 1910.
Historic Information: Discontent at living out near Lily Lake, far from downtown, the Irish born
John & Mary O'Shaughnessy, aged 31 and 29, purchased Lots 28, 29, 30, Block 3 on a Warranty
Deed for $500 in June of 1870, taking back a mortgage from the seller. Within a year, the tax
assessor records a substantial $800 house on Lot 29 taking the number, 703 South Third Street.
By 1880, there two parents, eight children, two boarders, and a servant living in the house. John
O'Shaughnessy was a prosperous dealer in boots and shoes. He was also, at one time, an agent for
the new Singer Sewing Machine company, the Cascade Clothes Washer and the Cunard Mail
Line Steamship Company. A small note in the Stillwater newspaper, The Republican, dated
November 3, 1870 reads "Mr. J. O'Shaughnessy is this week moving into his new house out on
57 E Bonds 21; Z Deeds 71; 10 Deeds 91; Stillwater Bldg Permit #87.
58 12 Deeds 270; S Mtgs 521.
25
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Third Street. It is quite a tastefully built residence. We notice quite a number of new houses in
that neighborhood. The suburbs are building up rapidly." The family lived there over 50 years.
In 1925, James O'Shaughnessy spent $3,600 rearrange the interior of the house. The 13`h child of
this family, Ignatius Aloysius O'Shaughnessy, was to make his fortune in oil, and become a
leading philanthropist of Minnesota some 75 years later. 59
Address: 704 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1449
Historic Name: David & Margaret Tozer
Date Built: 1874
Contributing
Physical Description: An Italianate cube with an ell and additions in back. Amenities include
arched windows, a stylish portico, and a new bay on the ell.
Historic Information: David and Margaret Tozer bought Lots 1, 2 & 3, Block 4, from Edmund
and Augusta Butts in April of 1868 for $300. David was age 45 at this time, a prosperous
lumberman who believed in owning real estate. As the careful reader will note, Tozer was an
early investor in the South Hill buying a number of lots in this immediate area in the late 1860's
before the Courthouse and Central School were built. On most of his lots he built rental property,
but on these lots he built his own rather (for the day) sumptuous brick house in 1874, a house
valued about $2,500 by the tax assessor. In the fall of 1888, Tozer took out a building permit to
allow Sven Berglund, a local carpenter and contractor, to build a $1,000, one -story 18 foot by 29
foot addition (with a porch in front) to the house to serve as a library. Like the original house, this
addition would be brick veneer. The size of the original house is noted in the permit as being two -
story, 28 feet by 30 feet with a hip roof. This estate, which came to include lots 27 -30 behind the
house, took the number 704 South Third Street. In 1936, in the midst of the great depression,
David's daughter, Olive Waldref, paid local contractor Edwin Olsen, almost $11,000 for "
complete remodeling of present building both inside & exterior, addition of 9x10 to main building
and a 20x20 garage, also new." David was born in New Brunswick; his wife's family was from
Scotland by way of Canada. In 1880, they had four children living in the house with them: David,
Jr., 16; Ford, 9; Julia, 6; and Olive, 3. There were in addition two servants: Amelia Gaudiere, 19
and John Parant, 22.60
Address: 712 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1450
Historic Name: George & Sarah Rooney
Date Built: 1914
Contributing
Physical Description: A typical foursquare of the period with a front gable, full screen porch in
front, bay on the north side.
59 T Deeds 237; I Mtgs 15; SAM 78, Roll 8; History of Holcombe's Additions Residential Area by Donald
Empson, p.97; 1877 Stillwater City Directory; 1880 Federal Census for Stillwater, family #103; City of
Stillwater Building Permit #2101.
so S Deeds 377; SAM 7, Roll 4; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; 1880 Federal Census of
Stillwater, family #126; City of Stillwater Building Permit #'s 371, 2436, 2444.
26
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: George & Sarah Rooney bought Lots 4 to 7, Block 4 on a Warranty Deed
in June 1868. In September and October of 1875, they hired Oliver Belisle at $2.75 per day
(skilled carpentry cost $2.75 -$3.00 a day) to help him build a house that later took the number,
712 South Third Street. Belisle worked 9 -1/4 days for 25.43. The tax assessor's value of $1680
on the lots and house would certainly indicate a good sized home. George is listed in the 1877
City Directory as a teamster. The 1880 Census lists the Canadian -born George as one of three
families living in a single residence; with him are his daughters, Irma and Florence, and his sons,
George and Lee. James Brotherton, a boarder, is also sharing the household. What happened to
this first house on the lot is uncertain, but in the summer of 1914, Robert McGarry, who had been
living in the old house, contracted with local contractor, Frank Linner & Co. to build a new house
on the lot. According to the building permit, the $4,000 house was to be two -story, 30 feet by 32
feet, with a cement basement.61
Address: 715 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1451
Historic Name: John McCarthy
Date Built: 1939
Contributing
Physical Description: A large house characteristic of the period in which it was built with a
limestone facade around the front door, and a small addition on the north side.
Historic Information: There was a house on Lots 26 & 27, Block 3, as early as 1872 when the
tax assessor noted a $300 improvement, with the word "house" penciled in. John McCarthy, one-
time Postmaster of Stillwater, lived in this house, which took the number 713 S. Third Street, for
over two decades. Today the two lots are occupied by a newer house built in 1939 that takes the
number 715 South Third Street. Emil Johnson was the owner, and apparently the builder of this
newer house thal 880, according to the building permit, cost $3,500. The original house was a
small house, 22 feet by 34 feet, one -story, with oak flooring.62
Address: 718 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1452
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1870s
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front with an ell on the south side, a front leaded picture window
and porch from the turn of the century.
Historic Information: The history of this house is uncertain. Lots 4 to 7 were in the hands of
George & Sarah Rooney (see 712 South Third Street) until the 1880s. The early tax assessor's
record for 1870 indicates there is a $500 house on Lot 7; today the house occupying Lots 6 & 7 is
718 South Third Street. It could be the Rooney's built this house first, then rented it while they
built 712 South Third Street. In the spring of 1897, there were, according to a building permit,
substantial changes made to this house. The ell part was moved from the south side to end of the
building, and a new porch was added in front and a small porch in the rear.63
61
62 SAM 5, Roll 2; 8 Deeds 325; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit #2567.
63 S Deeds 451; SAM 7, Roll 2; City of Stillwater Building Permit #928.
27
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Address: 719 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1453
Historic Name: John & Kate Glaspie
Date Built: 808 1888
Physical Description: A large earlier Queen Anne (not so elaborate) with tower, decorative
shingles on the body of the house, decorative windows. Very attractively painted.
Historic Information: The 1872 Stillwater Tax Assessor's record indicates a $200 improvement
on Lots 24 & 25, Block 3, with the word "house" penciled in. Allen & Martha Arnold were the
owners of the property, but two years later, in August of 1874, they sold the property to a single
man, Charles McKenzie for $800. The 1877 Stillwater City Directory lists Charles McKenzie, a
laborer, living on the corner of 3`d & Locust streets, while a Daniel McKenzie, a mill hand, was
living on the east side of 3`d, south of Goodwood [Willard] which would fit the number 719 S.
Third Street. In July of 1888, Charles McKenzie, still single and now living in Duluth, sold the
property to John & Kate Glaspie for $1625, a price that indicates there was a house on the two
lots. However what house there may have been was demolished, for a building permit taken out
in September of 1888 details a new house being constructed for John Glaspie on these two lots.
This new house, which remains today, was two stories in height, 35 feet by 48 feet, and valued at
$5,000, a very expensive house for the time. At the same time, Glaspie also had a $1,000 one-
and -a -half story barn, 22 feet by 27 feet constructed as well as a $200 wood shed. The contractor
for all three was Thomas Sutherland, who lived only a short distance away at 1009 S. Fourth
Street. Sutherland built several other houses in the neighborhood. (see index). In 1921, local
carpenter, Emil Bieging was paid $350 to put hardwood floors on the first floor.'
Address: 801 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1454
Historic Name: David & Margaret Tozer
Date Built: 1880
Nonontributing
Physical Description: A small gable front with an addition on the rear and an enclosed front
porch.
Historic Information: In 1878, David Tozer, a lumberman whose lived down the block at 704 S.
Third, bought Lots 21, 22, 23, Block 3 for $100 per lot, or $300 total. In 1880, he built moderate
size rental houses at 801 South Third Street, 805 South Third Street, 807 South Third Street, one
on each lot. The properties remained in his possession until after the turn of the century. On New
Year's Day, 1905, at 2:20 in the morning, a major fire severely damaged the house at 801 South
Third Street. Michael Welsh was the tenant at that time, and the damage was estimated at
$1,244.40. It took the fire department one - and - one -half hours to put out the blaze.65
Address: 804 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1455
Historic Name: J.M. Knight
" SAM 5, Roll 2; Z Deeds 307; 24 Deeds 554; City of Stillwater Building Permit #'s 357, 367, 368, 1820.
65 SAM 78, Roll 11; 1 Deeds 619; 60 Deeds 478; fire department records.
28
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Date Built: 1871
Contributing
Physical Description: A large gable front with fish scale shingles and an open front porch. There
is a cement carriage step in front with the address and the name John J. Kilty.
Historic Information: J.M. Knight secured a Warranty Deed to Lots 8,9, & 10, Block 4 from
Elizabeth Churchill in May of 1873 for $375, the price of the lots alone. The 1871 Stillwater
Gazette, in listing the improvements in the city, noted a residence worth $1,600 had been built on
Third Street by J. M. Knight. Five years later, Wilmot A. Hursey bought those same three lots and
the house at 804 South Third Street for $1400. In the summer of 1902, according to a building
permit, Adolph Sprich, a local carpenter, increased the size of the house with a $1,500 "two
addition by build to the old Building also a new Roof to be constructet and the second floor have
entirely new Walls on the Outside." Late in the evening of May 14, 1909, when John J. Kilty
owned the property, a barn on the lots burned with a loss of $921.66
Address: 805 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1456
Historic Name: David & Margaret Tozer
Date Built: 1880
Contributing
Physical Description: A small 1 -1/2 story with an open front porch and
Historic Information: In 1878, David Tozer, a lumberman whose lived
Third, bought Lots 21, 22, 23, Block 3 for $100 per lot, or $300 total. In
size rental houses at 801 South Third Street, 805 South Third Street, 807
on each lot. The properties remained in his possession until after the turn
Address: 807 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1457
Historic Name: David & Margaret Tozer
Date Built: 1880
Contributing
Physical Description: A small 1 -1/2 story with an addition in the rear.
Historic Information: In 1878, David Tozer, a lumberman whose lived
Third, bought Lots 21, 22, 23, Block 3 for $100 per lot, or $300 total. In
size rental houses at 801 South Third Street, 805 South Third Street, 807
on each lot. The properties remained in his possession until after the turn
Address: 808 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1458
Historic Name: Wilmot & Mary Hursey
Date Built: 1889
an addition in the rear.
down the block at 704 S.
1880, he built moderate
South Third Street, one
of the century. 67
down the block at 704 S.
1880, he built moderate
South Third Street, one
of the century. 68
66 Stillwater Gazette, November 14, 1871; X Deeds 315; 1 Deeds 486; Fire Dept. records; City of Stillwater
Building permit #1072.
67 SAM 78, Roll 11; 1 Deeds 619; 60 Deeds 478.
68 SAM 78, Roll 11; 1 Deeds 619; 60 Deeds 478.
29
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front with a turret, open front porch added later, and an addition
on the rear. There is a primitive stained glass window in the front.
Historic Information: The house at 808 South Third Street is mostly on Lot 10, Block 4. That
lot was variously in the hands of J.M. Knight and Wilmot Hursey who built and occupied the
home at 804 South Third Street. In May of 1889, Wilmot & Mary Hursey applied for a permit to
have the Northey Brothers, local contractors, build them a house at 808 South Third Street. The
house was quite expensive: $1,600; it was 2 stories, 26 feet wide and 46 feet deep. The cellar was
to be seven feet deep, 14 feet by 14 feet. It was not until 1893 that the exact dimensions of the
present property were pieced together, when Mary Hursey sold Lot 10 to William Chalmers, and
Christine Jackson sold the north 5 feet of Lot 11 to William Chalmers.69
Address: 811 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1459
Historic Name: Lydia & George Gaslin
Date Built: 1902
Contributing
Physical Description: A gable front house with an open front porch.
Historic Information: In August of 1872, Edmund Butts, a real estate dealer in the
neighborhood, sold Lydia and George Gaslin, Lot 20, Block 3, for $100. The following year, the
tax assessor noted an $800 house, which later took the number 811 South Third St. on the lot,
indicating a good sized home. However, an article in the Stillwater Gazette, November 14, 1871,
on improvements throughout the city notes, on Third Street, the "Geo Gaslin residence $1,000 ".
The Gaslin owned the property for the next decade, but they are not listed in the Stillwater City
Directories of that period suggesting the house was rental property. That house was apparently
either demolished or moved, for a building permit taken out in November of 1902 details a new
house on this lot built by contractor Eugene Schmidt for the owner, James W. Foley who lived
next door. The house was to be built 20 feet wide and 44 feet deep at a cost of $1,500. The cellar
was to be under the entire house.70
Address: 813 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1460
Historic Name: James W. Foley
Date Built: 1896
Contributing
Physical Description: A large gable front with most of its details covered or removed, but there
is a parade porch.
Historic Information: In April of 1896, William Chalmers sold Lot 19, Block 3 to James W.
Foley on a Warranty Deed for $350, a price that indicates there was no building on the lot. Foley,
a bookkeeper, built his home at 813 South Third Street on the lot the same year. According to the
6935 Deeds 521, 558;
70 SAM 78, Roll 9; X Deeds 83; Washington County Tax Assessor's office; City of Stillwater Building
Permit #1088.
30
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
building permit, the contractors were Adolph Sprich and Eugene Schmidt; the cost of the house
was estimated at $1,650. It was to be two stories high, and approximately 30 feet by 35 feet."
Address: 814 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1461
Historic Name: August & Christine Jackson
Date Built: 1877
Contributing
Physical Description: A large 4 bay Italianate with a peak in the front roof line. A tin roof,
beautiful eave brackets, and a very plain front door portico.
Historic Information: The Swedish -born August & Christine Jackson bought Lot 11, Block 4 in
July of 1876, and Lot 12, Block 4, two years later in August of 1878. Jackson, who was born in
1850, was a carpenter and contractor, and it is quite likely that he personally built this home at
814 South Third Street in 1877. By 1880, they had five children under the age of six, as well as a
boarder, living in the house with them. In the spring of 1886, Jackson built a $200 one - and -a -half
story stable, 26 feet by 18 feet deep on his property.72
Address: 821 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1462
Historic Name: William Chalmers
Date Built: 1895
Contributing
Physical Description: A very attractive Queen Anne with Palladian windows, fish scale shingles,
a tower, open front porch.
Historic Information: The first home at 821 South Third Street originally had the house number,
743 South Third Street. William Foran, a raftsman, and later, a foreman for Isaac Staples,
purchased Lots 16,17,18, 19 for the astounding price of $2400, which included an $850 house on
Lot 16. That high price for these lots is reflected in subsequent annual tax assessor's records. In
any case, Foran lived in a house at the address, 743 South Third Street in the 1880s. In the
summer of 1895, this house was moved south to Block 1, Lot 20 of Marsh's Addition. (Today
this is the location of a newer house built in 1955 at 1117 Fifth Street South). In its place,
William Chalmers, president of the St. Croix Lumber Company, had a $3,500 house built by local
contractors Adolph Sprich and Eugene Schmidt. According to the building permit, the house was
to be 28 feet by 42 feet, 2 stories, with a cellar floor of concrete.73
Address: 822 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1463
7146 Deeds 9; 1905 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit #889.
72
73 SAM 78, Roll 9; X Deeds 103; 1877 & 1884 Stillwater City Directories; City of Stillwater Building
Permits #854 & 859.
31
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Name: Mary E. Capron
Date Built: 1890s
Contributing
Physical Description: This building is a conglomeration, but it appears most of the elements
(turret, dentils, brackets, porch pediment) date from the turn of the century.
Historic Information: This building is a conglomeration, but it appears most of the elements
(turret, dentils, brackets, porch pediment) date from the turn of the century. There are no records.
Address: 901 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1464
Historic Name: Walter Johnson
Date Built: 1912
Contributing
Physical Description: A very plain one -story concrete /brick building
Historic Information: In a shuffle of buildings in the summer of 1912, Walter Johnson, who had
a grocery store at 1003 South Third Street, moved the house on the corner, 903 South Third
Street, one lot south where the house took the new house number, 905 South Third Street. On the
now vacant corner lot, he had a store built, which took the number, 901 South Third Street.
According to the building permit, the concrete block structure was to cost $3,000, be two -story,
30 feet by 60 feet, with a flat tar gravel roof. Over the years, it has had many uses, but its initial
use was as the grocery store of Walter Johnson who took up residence next door at 905 South
Third Street.74
Address: 904 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1465
Historic Name: Frank & Mary Joy
Date Built: 1874
Contributing
Physical Description: A 907 three bay Italianate with a step down addition in the rear
and an open front porch.
Historic Information: David Tozer, a lumberman and real estate speculator, who built a number
of houses in this neighborhood — and lived for many years at 704 South Third Street —
purchased Lots 1 & 2, Block 13 in August of 1873. Within a year, he had built a cubed Italianate
house with its typical hip roof that was to take the number, 904 South Third Street. The Tax
Assessor, making his rounds in 1874, penciled in a note "$1000 added for house." But it appears
the house was enlarged (or finished) shortly thereafter for in May of 1875, Tozer leased the
property "together with the dwelling house thereon" to Frank and Mary Joy. The couple were
both Yankees from Maine, then in their early '30's. The rent on the house was $20.00 per month,
however, the lease stipulated, Joy could purchase the house for $2,400 any time within two years
— less the amount of rent already paid. Joy also got permission to build a stable on the two lots.
But it was March of 1878 before Joy received the Warranty Deed on his purchase. By 1880, the
couple had comfortably settled in with no children, but a 20- year -old Irish servant, Katie Moarity,
74 City of Stillwater Building Permit #1504; see also entry at 905 South Third Street.
32
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
looked after them. In the late 1880s Frank Joy was president of the Stillwater Construction &
Furnishing Company, who did a good deal of business in this immediate neighborhood.75
Address: 905 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1466
Historic Name: D. L. Burlingham
Date Built: 1871
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A kind of muddled cross gable with new windows and severely altered for
the worse.
Historic Information: D.L. Burlingham purchased Lot 27 & 28 in June of 1871 from J.M. &
Sarah Knight. He paid the very large sum of $1,065 for the two lots. The 1872 tax assessor's
record notes a $800 house on the two lots. The Stillwater Gazette, in a list of improvement
printed in its November 14, 1871 issue, notes a new residence by D. L. Burlingham on Third
Street. The value is given as $1,200. The key to the large sale price may be that Burlingham took
back a mortgage for the amount of the sale from the Knights, in other words, the Knights perhaps
provided the financing for a house which later took the number, 905 South Third Street on the
Lots. Burlingham was at this time, a house painter; later he went into the business of selling books,
stationery, and news magazines. But just as in a mystery novel, when you think you have solved
the issue, a new clue comes up. A building permit taken out in June of 1912, records that Walter
Johnson, who had a fancy grocery store at 1003 South Third Street, moved the house that was on
Lot 28 (today the site of the Stillwater Apostolic Church) — which had the number, 903 South
Third Street — to Lot 27 where it took the new number 905 South Third Street, and became the
new residence of Walter Johnson. Thus it would appear the present house at 905 South Third
Street is the second house on that lot, and its history would be that of the house previously at 903
South Third — a house that was also built by D.L. Burlingham in the 1870s.76
Address: 906 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1467
Historic Name: Ida Johnson
Date Built: 1906
Contributing
Physical Description: An attractive foursquare with dormers, leaded glass windows, a gentle two
story bay, and an open porch.
Historic Information: Edward Stewart, a lumberman, obtained the Warranty Deed for Lots 3 &
4, Block 13, in the spring of 1874, and, the tax assessor's record indicates, built a home soon
afterwards. When house numbers were assigned a decade later, this house took the number, 910
South Third Street. Frank Linner & Co. built the present house on these two lots, 906 South Third
Street, in 1906 for Mrs. Ida Johnson. The house cost $3,000, was 30 feet by 40 feet with a
75 X Deeds 382; 1 Deeds 510; E Bonds 243; SAM 7, Roll 4; 1877, 1887 Stillwater City Directories; 1880
Federal Census of Stillwater, family #129.
76 T Deeds 694; SAM 7, Roll 3; 1877, 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building Permit
#1503.
33
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
mansard roof. It also had indoor plumbing: two water closets, two washbasins, one enameled iron
sink and a bathtub.'"
Address: 907 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1468
Historic Name: Harlow McIntyre
Date Built: 1878
Contributing
Physical Description: A tall three bay gable front with interesting sidelights on the front door
and a bay on the north side.
Historic Information: While there are always some old houses that are difficult to document, the
house at 907. South Third Street is not one of them. Thanks to two liens filed against the home,
we get an extraordinary vision of building a house in Stillwater in the 1870s. After passing
through several owners, Harlow McIntyre purchased Lots 25 & 26, Block 14 in September, 1877
for $400. Six months later, he took out a mortgage, $1,000 at 6 %, from the Stillwater Building
Association. It is uncertain where he spent his mortgage money, but apparently it did not go to
those who built his house. William May, a contractor and builder living on Sixth and Pine Streets,
filed a lien for $239.75 against the property. This amount, which is itemized, represents May's
labor at the skilled rate of $3.00 a day, and his crew's labor at the rate of either $2.25 or $2.50 a
day. May and his crew worked to build this house from June 20 to July 16, 1878. It took 95
man/work days to build this house over a period of 35 calendar days for a labor cost of $239.75.
In November of 1878, Seymour & Sabin Company, a local lumber dealer and manufacturing
company also filed a lien against the property for "Lumber and Woodenware, Doors, Sash and
Blinds" which is a detailed list of items sold between April 24 and Sept 28, 1877 and furnished
for the house. Among the many items listed, some are particularly interesting: flight of stairs
$18.00, front door frame and transom $3.00, 5 windows for bay windows, 12x36 $12.50, 2
window frames for privy $1.50, 32 feet cove molding .96, laying chimneys $37.50, 1040 yards of
plaster $156.00, 18 fence posts $2.25, 1 pair folding doors 7'6" x 8'6" $12.00, front door 4'8" x
7'6" glass panel $13.00. The total amount of the materials was $1,253.17. If you add together the
labor and materials, you can see the total bill for constructing this house was in excess of $1,500,
making it a substantial house for its day. In May of 1886, Judd Orff, the current owner, added a
large one - and -a -half story stable to the lots.'$
Address: 913 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1469
Historic Name: James Gillespie
Date Built: 1886
Contributing
Physical Description: A typical Stillwater cube Italianate with a step down addition in the rear. It
has been severely remodeled.
Historic Information: James Gillespie purchased the N -1/2 of Lot 23, and all of Lot 24 from
Alfred Marcel in September of 1880. Six years later, he took out a mortgage with which it
77 X Deeds 559; Z Deeds 379; SAM 7, Roll 4; 1887 Stillwater City Directory; City of Stillwater Building
permit #'s 1269, 1271.
78 1 Deeds 394; N Mtgs 228; A Liens 195, 221; Stillwater Bldg Permit #35.
34
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
appears he built his house at 913 South Third Street. (For a time, this house had the number, 915
South Third Street.) 79
Address: 916 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1470
Historic Name: Francis & Mary Revoir
Date Built: 1874
Contributing
Physical Description: A small gable front with a step down.
Historic Information: In the 1874 Tax Assessor's record, there is a penciled note on Lot 5,
Block 13: "$300 added for house. " Henry Prince, a real estate dealer, purchased Lots 5, 6, & 7 in
April of 1872. It appears he added a small structure, or perhaps a partial house to Lot 5 before he
sold the lot to Isadore Belisle in the fall of 1875 for $400. (Or perhaps Belisle had an unrecorded
Contract under which he built the house.) Two years later, Belisle sold the property to Francis
Revoir, a laborer, who is listed in the 1877 Stillwater City Directory as living at this location. The
1880 Federal Census for Stillwater (family #111) lists Francis, age 60, and his wife, Mary, age
58; both of them were born in Canada. They had a son, Prosper, age 20, and a daughter, Mary,
age 16, living with them. Today that house has the number, 916 South Third Street. 80
Address: 918 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1471
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1890s
Contributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with a turret at the intersection. It shows the long narrow
windows typical of the 1890s.
Historic Information: Francis Revoir owned Lot 6 as well as Lot 5 (see 916 South Third Street
above). In 1887, he sold this lot to Lawson Dailey; in 1905 Dailey sold it to James C. Sullivan.
Somewhere between these three owners, 918 South Third Street was built 8'
Address: 919 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1472
Historic Name: Michael Gillespie
Date Built: 1880
Contributing
Physical Description: A basic gable front with a small ell and enclosed front porch.
Historic Information: Michael Gillespie bought his property in October of 1879; the following
June he took out a mortgage with the Stillwater Building Association and built his home at 919
South Third Street. In his later years, Gillespie was a dealer in wood and coal.82
795 Deeds 589; X Mtgs 344; 1887 Stillwater City Directory.
S0 X Deeds 212; Y Deeds 636; 1 Deeds 449; SAM 7, Roll 4.
8119 Deeds 472; 60 Deeds 418.
82 5 Deeds 253; P Mtgs 118; 1881 -2, 1887 Stillwater City Directories.
35
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Address: 920 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1473
Historic Name: Allard
Date Built: 1880
Contributing
Physical Description: A basic gable front with an enclosed front porch and a newer chimney on
the side.
Historic Information: The Allard family built this home at 920 South Third Street around
1880.83
Address: 1001 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1474
Historic Name:
Date Built: 1880s
Contributing
Physical Description: A basic three bay gable front with an ell. Transom over the front door.
Historic Information: From all appearances, it was built circa 1880.
Address: 1002 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1475
Historic Name: John Gieriet
Date Built: 1876
Contributing
Physical Description: A three -bay Italianate style home with an addition in the rear. The
addition has a half round roof.
Historic Information: John Gieriet purchased Lots 8 & 9, Block 13, in June of 1876, and he
built a substantial house — which later took the number, 1002 South Third Street — within a
year. Apparently his residence was in question, for in 1877, he filed a homestead declaration on
his property. John ran a "saloon and billiards" on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets."
Address: 1003 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1476
Historic Name: Prosper N. Rivard
Date Built: 1884
Contributing
Physical Description: A basic gable front with what must be a large addition on the rear. This
was once used as a store.
Historic Information: According to a building permit application dated in December of 1891,
Prosper N. Rivard wished to add to his original building at 1003 South Third Street — which was
one -story, 18 feet wide and 26 feet deep — a $75 one -story addition 12 feet by 16 feet. This
83 15 Deeds 258; SAM 78, Roll 11.
84 1 Deeds 191; E Bonds 496; SAM 7, Roll 6; 1877 Stillwater City Directory.
36
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
addition was to be used as a store. In March 1901, he spent $400 for more living and store space
in an 18 foot by 20 foot, two story addition. The first floor ceiling was to be of iron. In 1912, this
was the store of Walter Johnson who subsequently moved to 901 South Third Street. Lots 20, 21,
22 were owned by Rivard family.85
Address: 1006 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1477
Historic Name: Thomas & Susan Sutherland County: Washington
Date Built: 1882
Contributing
Physical Description: An asymmetrical Italianate cube with a narrow two story addition on the
north side.
Historic Information: Thomas Sutherland, a Canadian-born contractor and builder, along with
his wife, Susan, purchased this property in the fall of 1881, and built a house at 1006 South Third
Street soon afterward. Sutherland lived for a time behind this house at 1009 South Fourth Street.
He also lived at other addresses in this immediate neighborhood. In 1894, Sutherland moved to
Hutchinson, Minnesota. The house was purchased by Frederick Swenson purchased the house,
then hired a local contractor, Baird & Johnson, to raise the roof of the house and add a second
story on for a cost of $200.86
Address: 1007 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1478
Historic Name: Lawson Dailey
Date Built: 1882
Nonontributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with an addition on the rear and an enclosed entry porch.
Historic Information: Lawson Dailey, a carpenter, purchased Lots 18 & 19 in July of 1881. It
appears he built the houses a 1007 South Third Street and 1009 South Third Street soon after his
purchase. Dailey, who lived at 704 South Second Street, apparently built these as rental houses.
In 1920, Frank Linner & Co., local contractors, did $3,000 woth or remodeling on 1009 South
Third Street, including a 10 x 16 foot addition in the rear, and new floors inside.87
Address: 1009 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1479
Historic Name: Lawson Dailey
Date Built: 1882
Noncontributing
Physical Description: A gable front with a small ell and enclosed front entry porch.
85 City of Stillwater Building Permits #636, #1025.
86 0 Deeds 413; SAM 78, Roll 13; 1894 Stillwater City Directory; 1880 Federal Census for Stillwater,
Family #137; City of Stillwater Building permit #806.
87 SAM 78, Roll 11; R Deeds 72; City of Stillwater Building Permit #1795.
37
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Information: Lawson Daily, a carpenter, purchased Lots 18 & 19 in July of 1881. It
appears he built the houses a 1007 South Third Street and 1009 South Third Street soon after his
purchase. Dailey, who lived at 704 South Second Street, apparently built these as rental houses.
In 1920, Frank Linner & Co., local contractors, did $3,000 worth of remodeling on 1009 South
Third Street, including a 10 x 16 foot addition in the rear, and new floors inside.88
Address: 1010 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1480
Historic Name: Louis Billoou
Date Built: 1876
Contributing
Physical Description: A basic gable front.
Historic Information: Henry Prince, a local real estate speculator, sold Lot 11, Block 13 to
Louis Billoou in the spring of 1876. At the end of the summer, Louis took out a mortgage with
the St. Croix Lumber Company and built a small house that has the number, 1010 South Third
Street today.89
Address: 1013 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1481
Historic Name: Lawson Dailey
Date Built: 1884
Contributing
Physical Description: A cross gable with an addition on the rear and enclosed entry porch.
Historic Information: In November of 1883, Lawson Dailey bought Lot 17, Block 14, from
Alice E. Castle. He built the house at 1013 South Third Street within a year. Like 1007 and 1009
South Third Street, this was another of his rental houses.90
Address: 1014 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1482
Historic Name: Alexander Durocher
Date Built: 1877
Contributing
Physical Description: A smallish gable front with an ell and addition on the rear.
Historic Information: Edmund Butts, an attorney and local real estate speculator, sold Lot 12,
Block 13, to Alexander Durocher in September, 1877. Durocher, a carpenter, must have built his
house — which took the number, 1014 South Third Street — almost immediately for he is listed
in the 1877 Stillwater City Directory at that location.91
Address: 1019 -1021 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1483
88 SAM 78, Roll 11; R Deeds 72; City of Stillwater Building Permit #1795.
89 1 Deeds 179; M Mtgs 5; 1884 Stillwater City Directory.
90 SAM 78, Roll 13; 12 Deeds 357.
91 1 Deeds 434.
38
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Historic Name: Amanda Paige
Date Built: 1873
Contributing
Physical Description: An unusual side by side duplex with an addition on the rear. Dentils, eave
brackets, and rounded window hoods remain.
Historic Information: The history of the house at 1019 -1021 South Third Street (Lots 15 & 16,
Block 14) is difficult to decipher. The 1873 Tax Assessor's record has a penciled note added to
Lots 11 -17, Block 14: "Pages House." The value of the house is given as $150. The following
year, the value of just Lot 16 is given at $1280 with a penciled note: "$1100 added for house."
The owner is given as Mortimer Webster, a real estate speculator in the neighborhood. By 1877,
the value of these two lots is noted by the tax assessor as $2200 — indicating a quite large house
— and the owner is listed as Amanda Paige. However the first recorded deed on this property is
in June of 1879 when Elizabeth Churchill sold the lots to Louise and Sturgess Selleck who took
up residence there. Sturgess and Louise were from the East; he from Connecticut, she from Ohio.
The 1880 Census lists him as being 55; she as 52. They have a daughter and a grandson living
with them as well as (a sign of prosperity perhaps) two servants. Most likely the earlier
transactions were in the form of unrecorded contracts or bonds for deed. Churchill often had
trouble paying the taxes on her lots, and it is not possible to record a deed if there are unpaid
taxes. Louise Selleck sold the property to Alice E. Castle in October of 1882. An 1899 building
permit notes that the owners were spending about $700 on a new addition and repairs to the main
building.92
Address: 1022 South Third St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1484
Historic Name: Daniel O'Neil
Date Built: 1877
Contributing
Physical Description: Quite an attractive gable front with a door in the center front second floor
and rounded window hoods. There is a large addition in the rear with Gothic like features. A large
open porch.
Historic Information: Daniel O'Neil purchased Lots 13 & 14 from attorney and real estate
speculator, Edmund Butts in May of 1875. In August of the same year, he took a mortgage from
Seymour, Sabin & Co., a lumber dealer and manufacturing concern in Stillwater. Two years later,
in 1877, the tax assessor placed a value of $1050 on Lot 14 indicating a substantial house on this
property. When house numbers were assigned in the mid- 1880s, this house took the number,
1022 South Third Street.93
Address: 203 East Willard St.
Inventory No: WA -SWC -1485
Historic Name: S. Blair McBeath
Date Built: 1911
Contributing
92 5 Deeds 419; 10 Deeds 480; 1881 -82 Stillwater City Directory; SAM 78, Roll 9; SAM 7, Roll 4; SAM 7,
Roll 6; 1880 Federal Census for Stillwater, family #112; Stillwater Bldg Permit #983
93 1 Deeds 26; K Mtgs 357; 1877 Stillwater City Directory.
39
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Physical Description: A typical four square of the period with a front attic dormer and a full
front screened porch.
Historic Information: S. Blair McBeath, an attorney and manager of the collection department
for the Northwest Thresher Company, contracted with local contractor, Frank Linner (pronounced
Lin -near) & Co. in the summer of 1911 to build him a $4,000 two -story house, 30 feet by 32 feet
with a hip roof. This attractive house took the number 203 East Willard Street. From all evidence,
this seems to replace an earlier house on these lots that was built by Michael O'Brien about 1874.
The house number of that earlier house appears to have been 219 E. Willard.94
94 City of Stillwater Building Permit #1463; 1906 -7 Stillwater City Directory; T Deeds 740; 1884 Stillwater
City Directory.
40
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
STATEMENT OF SIGNFICANCE
The Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition is one of the city's oldest residential
neighborhoods, with its earliest homes dating to 1868. Following the construction of the
Washington County Courthouse in 1867, growing numbers of residents purchased lots within the
newly available land just to the south.
The district is locally significant within the context of the development of residential
neighborhoods. The period of significance begins in 1868 with the date of construction of the
oldest remaining building and ends in 1940, with only a single home being constructed after
World War II. Indeed, only four were constructed after 1920.
In Minnesota, towns along the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers were settled nearly a decade
before the interior, due not only to navigation on the rivers, but also to the Dakota, who owned
much of the territory to the west until the the Treaties of Traverse de Sioux and Mendota.
Although this district represents the second phase of Stillwater's residential development, it is a
remarkable collection of early Minnesota residential architecture. Of the 101 properties within the
district, eighty -six date from the nineteenth century.
The district also illustrates the statewide historic context, the St. Croix Triangle Lumbering,
1843 -1914. Unlike many Minnesota River towns that relied on brick for early construction,
within this Addition, all the homes are constructed of wood.
Stillwater's Early Residential Neighborhoods
Although the St. Croix River and the commercial district are the popular images of
Stillwater, its historic residential neighborhoods play a significant role in defining the city's
quality of life. Census data show that Stillwater's population has been a blend of many ethnic
elements, principally old stock American and Western European during the early years, and the
flow of immigrants through the St. Croix gateway provided cultural heterogeneity. The earliest
townsfolk were transplanted Yankees from New England, followed by other Native Americans
and foreign emigrants.95
Beginning in the 1840s, many Europeans emigrated to the United States and were attracted
by the undeveloped lands of Minnesota. Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians came to Washington
County in great numbers; during the middle and late nineteenth century, hundreds per year
walked over the Stillwater levy or disembarked at the Union Depot, usually en route to someplace
else. A significant number did not move on but stayed in Stillwater, where the native American
majority learned to accommodate a diversity of people and lifeways. One writer described the
city's population mix in 1870 as "four- tenths American, two - tenths Irish, two- tenths German,
one -tenth Scandinavian, one -tenth French, Scotch, etc. "96 The peak of immigration was reached
by the 1890s and the arrival of foreign -born newcomers to Stillwater declined steadily thereafter.
After the old stock Americans and Anglo Irish immigrants, the most important foreign group
were the Germans, who migrated to Minnesota during territorial times and continued to come in
95 The historic context on Stillwater's residential development relies heavily of Robert Vogel, Stillwater
Historic Contexts: A Comprehensive Planning Approach (Stillwater: City of Stillwater, 1993).
96 W McClung, Minnesota As It Is in 1870 (St. Paul, 1870), 269.
41
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
significant numbers throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century. They were mainly
members of the urban proletariat or rural laborers, with a significant minority of tradespeople and
mechanics. Collectively they had a pronounced impact on the local cultural and business scenes.
Once in Stillwater, they formed churches and fraternal organizations, sponsored celebrations of
German culture, and established outlets for ethnic food, drink, and entertainment.
Whatever their ethnic makeup, Stillwater households were basically nuclear in structure and
census records suggest a rough average of six persons per household during the late nineteenth
century, when the single - family house seems to have been the norm. Although household size
declined steadily after 1910, a married couple with minor children formed the typical if not
statistically average household unit. Among all social classes, old people were commonly cared
for by the families of their grown children. However, neighborhood homeowners also took in
temporary boarders and census records show that some of the wealthier residents had servants
within their households.97
Stillwater had a hierarchy of places to live. The dichotomy between Stillwater's largest
neighborhoods began early, as respective residential districts came to be identified as enclaves for
the social and economical elite in the case of North Hill or as a bastion of working -class values
and tastes. Over the decades, these qualities became deeply rooted in Stillwater lore, so that 100
years later the two neighborhoods are still viewed, however in accurately, as representing a
division between the upper and lower class segments of Stillwater's population.
North Hill acquired a reputation as the aristocratic part of town, as resident of Paul Caplazi
said in his reminiscences, called the North Hill the "aristocratic part of Stillwater. "98 It was
stamped early with the brand of Victorian era capitalist optimism and as the city grew this
became the image of the town. Because of the steep slopes, development on North Hill acquired
extensive grading and many homesites were terraced. "The effect of these attractive places, and
the public buildings on the rising bluff, when seen from the lake is very striking," noted Warner
and Foote.99
The counterpart to North Hill was the neighborhood between Willard and Hancock streets,
known as South Hill. It emerged in the late nineteenth century as a residential district occupied
mostly by mill workers, mechanics, and tradespeople, but with a sprinkling of wealthy capitalist.
During the boom years, land prices in Stillwater multiplied with astonishing speed and farsighted
individuals like Socrates Nelson bought farmland and proceeded to subdivide their tracts into
blocks and Lots, which were then offered to the expanding urban population.
Most of the popular housing types of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries can be found in
Stillwater's residential neighborhoods. Equally prevalent are the vernacular gable front and Gable
front and wing forms that reflect the building booms of the 1870s and 1890s, and the mass plan
bungalows from the 1900s to 1930s.
The fabric of Stillwater's residential neighborhoods was to a great extent the result of local
builders access to quality building materials. The first dwellings and outbuildings were
constructed from the wood or stone, but the early exploitation of the northern forests and the
establishment of sawmills soon provided local builders with an inexhaustible supply of cheap
lumber.
97 Robert Vogel, Stillwater Historic Contexts,
98 Reminiscences of Life in Stillwater (unpublished manuscript, 1944), 9.
99 Warner and Foote, Washington County, 555.
42
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Limestone and sandstone were also quarried locally and were an important building material,
although relatively few stone masonry buildings were built. Concrete block became popular after
1910 for foundations and retaining walls. Wooden shingles were the most common roofing
material for all types of buildings constructed before 1900; afterwards, houses were roofed with
asphalt or asbestos shingles or, in rare instances, with metal sheets.
Churchill, Nelson & Slaughter's Addition
Following the initial settlement of Stillwater in the years before the Civil War, it became
clear that future growth would require residential development on the bluffs surrounding the
central city. In 1867 construction began on the new Washington County Courthouse, and plans
were laid for a new Central high school, the largest in Stillwater, near the new courthouse.100
First, a road would need to be opened between the hilltop and the town. Construction of
South Third St. between Chestnut and Willard streets was a massive public works project that
included the filling of a major ravine and grading down through the bluff. Prior to 1870 South
Hill, also called Nelson's Field, could be accessed only by the Main Street steps rising to South
Broadway, or by a winding path snaking down a ravine that spilled east into Nelson Street and
Nelson's Alley. 1 °1
The field and alley were named after Socrates Nelson. Born in Conway, Massachusetts, in
1814, as a young man he attended Deerfield Academy, and then became a merchant in his
hometown. When he was twenty -five, he decided to move to the West, heading first to Illinois. In
St. Louis Missouri, he met his future business partner, Levi Churchill. Four years later Nelson
married Bertha Bartlett, a widow from Conway who had come to Illinois after the death of her
husband.
With his new wife in 1844 Nelson headed north on a steamboat up the Mississippi River to
to the North West frontier. Finding a St. Croix river landing with a newly erected sawmill, Nelson
built a house and store near today what would be approximately the intersection of Nelson Street
and S. Main St.102
Nelson's St. Louis partner, Levi Churchill, was also came from Yankee stock, born in
September 1813 in Woodstock Vermont. Soon after his marriage to Elizabeth Proctor in 1844,
they moved to St. Louis Missouri.
In the outpost settlement of Stillwater, Socrates Nelson collected and sold merchandise, then
shipped goods downriver to St. Louis to Levi Churchill. Socrates also acted as a transfer agent on
the Stillwater levee, receiving packages and other goods headed further upriver or inland, and he
arranged to forward them to their ultimate destinations. However it became obvious to the
residence of the frontier territory that the future lay not in furs and trading, but in land and town
sites.
As one of the first residents of the location, Socrates and Betsy Nelson and their St. Louis
partners, Levi and Elizabeth Churchill, split waterfront land of Stillwater with two other pioneer
families. John McKusick bought out his sawmill partners, and claimed the area between the old
"°° This account relies heavily on Donald Empson, The East Half of the Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter
Addition Residential Area, Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota (2003).
101 Enuna Glasser, "How Stillwater Came to Be," Minnesota History 24 (September 1943), 195 -206.
102 W. H. C. Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1888), 59; History of
Washington County (Minneapolis: North Star Publishing Company, 1881), 590.
43
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
prison site and what is today Nelson's alley. Joseph R. Brown took the northern part of the
waterfront, between what would be today the site of the old territorial prison and Browns Creek.
Nelson and Churchill's claim extended 1/2 mile south of Nelson's alley. All three claims extended
three quarters of a mile west from the river. As a local historian wrote:
In 1815, a verbal agreement was made with regard to land claims, by which Rounds
claims recognizes extending along the Lakeshore North of battle hollow, where the
Minnesota state prison now stands. Felt the battle hollow, along the Lakeshore to Nelson,
extending three force of a mile west, was the claim of thus no company, originally held
by Fisher. South of Nelson's alley, 1/2 mile down the lake, three force a mile west was S.
Nelson's claim.1°3
The original claim, supplemented by subsequent purchases, made the Nelsons and the
Churchill's owners of much of what is today known as South Hill. When the new land office
opened in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, one of the first purchases was made by Churchill and
Nelson in 1849, acquiring the northeast quarter of section 33, 160 acres between what is today
Orleanians and Willard streets. Churchill was apparently the partner more active in land
speculation. In 1845, for example, he was one of several proprietors of the town of Fillmore in
Andrew County, Missouri.
Land was not Nelson and Churchill's exclusive focus. Nelson was involved in a number of
commercial ventures in the fledgling city. He was a developer of Baytown Township, and along
with others, built a steam sawmill on its riverfront. He was active in public life, serving as
territorial auditor from 1853 to 1857, and as a state senator. Of his personal nature, one historian
remembered him as "of a free and generous disposition in all his relations of life. "104
They acquired the land just as a rush of new settlers came to the city. An editorial in the St.
Croix Union in December 1856 described the frenzy:
Less than two years ago they sneered at Stillwater's being anything outside of the
basin, or original limits. We will recollect that we were laughed at by some, for pitching
our tent out in Holcomb's addition - -it being then a wild unbroken wilderness. What are
now the facts? There are over 100 houses out there now - -some of them first- class - -and
about 600 inhabitants. Lots which when we located there two years ago could be had
for $25, cannot now be purchased for less than $100 - -and they are constantly rising.
Lots of been enhanced in value fourfold within the past two years, and the way we read
the signs of the times, they lack much of having reached their maximum.1°5
Recognizing the quick profits that were available in the land, speculators and investors
moved quickly to plat more additions in Stillwater. As the St. Croix Union reported:
103 Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest, 40.
104 Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest, 40-41.
105 St. Croix Union, December 5, 1856.
44
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Stillwater forever
Another addition to Stillwater
Additions to Stillwater are all the rage now. Within a few days past, Jacob Marty
has sold to Joshua Carter and Gov. Ramsey, 140 acres of land lying west of Stillwater
and adjoining Holcombe's addition, for $7000. It is soon to be surveyed into town lots.
We rejoice to see this movement.
There are now three heavy St. Paul capitalists and speculators deeply interested in
Stillwater; R. F. Slaughter, Col. H McEntee, and Gov. Ramsey. We are glad to know
that St. Paul speculators are vitally interested here, because it argues that they now see
what we saw nearly 3 years ago; that is, that Stillwater is destined in evidently to be a
great place. They now see the Stillwater is not a one -horse town town. They now see
the Stillwater has unrivaled advantages — that she has much capital — that a railroad is
to come here probably before one runs to St. Paul, and that Stillwater is rapidly
advancing in all that contributes to material prosperity and greatness.106
In January 1857, Churchill and Nelson began to act. On January 12, they deeded an
undivided one half of the Northeast one quarter of section 33 (forty acres) to Robert Slaughter of
St. Paul for $5000. Slaughter, who is involved in several other editions in Stillwater, was a
consummate real estate salesman; his specialty was selling local lots to out -of -state speculators.
The following May, slaughter sold one half of his portion to Hillary Hancock of Minneapolis.
Hancock was the twin brother of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock. He was an attorney for the
Minneapolis milk company during these years. Hancock paid $2500 for his 20 acres.
The four men and their wives platted Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition to
Stillwater on June 15, 1857. A local news story predicted that their future "seemed secure ":
Real estate and business in Stillwater
The price of land in our city and vicinity is advanced with astonishing rep entity
during the last two years, and from present appearances we shall see still greater
improvements in the future. During the past week Mr. H. R. Murdoch purchased 10
acres of land adjoining Cooper's addition, from Mr. Slaughter, for $100 per acre. Two
years ago this same land was sold for five dollars per acre.
There are yet many splendid investments and fortunes to be made in the city,
which is yet in its infancy — and every day presents new evidences of its future
greatness. On every side preparations are being made for the erection of a capacious
warehouses, substantial — and in some key instances — fine private dwellings, and
everything promises a season of unprecedented popularity.
With nearly 500 lots for sale in this edition alone, the four partners in their
financial future seemed secure. But soon after a calamitous chain of events spread
across the United States is the economy collapsed in 1857. Even worse a cash shortage
made normal transactions almost impossible. City lots became virtually worthless.
Those who were formerly wealthy found themselves bankrupt.
Churchill and Nelson managed to sell only a couple of lots in block 10 before the Panic of
1857. And as the economy collapsed and the real estate market withered, Nelson realized that the
106 St. Croix Union, December 12, 1856.
45
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
sale of his lots will ultimately depend upon better access to the top of South Hill. To promote his
property, Nelson did what many other land developers and speculators did in the nineteenth
century; they donated some of their lots a public development. In this case they donated a whole
block of the building for a new Washington County Courthouse. They knew that the building of a
courthouse would make their own lots much more valuable. The developers would also benefit
because the city would finally be forced to provide easy and quick access up the bluff to the
courthouse.
As Churchill and Nelson anticipated, the building of the new courthouse served as the
impetus for other development. A new, large public school, Central school, was constructed just
across from the courthouse and across S. 3rd St., Soon, Father Michael Murphy purchased lots for
the new St. Michael's Church. With the building of the courthouse and other institutions nearby,
and the opening of the 3rd St., the lots in the Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughters addition began to
sell, houses were built, and the neighborhood began to take shape.
The two men most responsible for these changes were both dead by this time. Levi Churchill
died at the age of forty -four in St. Louis, Missouri, on Christmas Eve 1857. He left his entire
estate to his wife, Elizabeth, who in turn assigned responsibility for the affairs of the Stillwater
partnership to her brother, John Proctor, an attorney and a well -known Stillwater resident.
Socrates Nelson died on May 6, 1867, at the age of fifty- three. His wife, Betsy, continued his
business affairs with assistance from local businessman and surveyor, Harvey Wilson. The other
two partners, Robert Slaughter and Hillary Hancock, discourage no doubt by the panic of 1857,
sold their claim to the addition to Churchill and Nelson in August 1857.
One of the best glimpses into daily life in the Addition during the late ninteenth century
comes from Albert Caplazi. In 1944, he wrote:
At that time Elliotts on the northwest corner and Days on the northeast corner of
Fourth and Hancock streets were the last houses on Fourth Street. Lumber and labor
was cheap in the 70s and 80s it is said. Many families had a cow or two in the 70s and
early 80s. There was lots of free pasture from Hancock Street south to park and
Highway 212 and west to Lily Lake was nearly all woods. There was no herd law, and
cows could run at large. They would be turned out in the morning and come home in
the evening to be milked.... From Hancock Street south to Fairview Cemetery and
from 4th St., west to Holcomb Street was 40 acres of woods, which was cleared,
broken, and sewed to grain in the late 70s. It was called Marsh's field. Mrs. Marsh was
Betsy (Ella) Nelson, the daughter of Socrates Nelson, who owned much of the land in
that vicinity.
Albert Caplazi built a house on the southwest corner of Fourth and Willard and at one
time had a dairy of about fifteen cows, until the herd law went into effect about 1885
and the cows were not allowed to run at large.
By 1900 most of the lots had been sold. With a growing population, the one -story
neighborhood elementary school proved inadequate, so in 1897, the school district built a fine
brick school that remained in use until the 1950s. In the early twentieth century, a small
commercial area grew around the corner of East Churchill Street and South Fourth Avenue,
including a bar, service station, and movie theatre.
46
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
Properties
Street Street SHPO No. Date Contributing
No.
114 Churchill St. W WA -SWC -1357 1915 Contributing
215 Churchill St. E WA -SWC -1351 1883 Noncontributing
218 Churchill St. E WA -SWC -1352 1886 Noncontributing
704 First St. South WA -SWC -1359 1895 Contributing
712 First St. South WA -SWC - 1362 1881 Contributing
720 First St. South WA -SWC -1364 1883 Contributing
802 First St. South WA -SWC -1366 1879 Contributing
808 First St. South WA -SWC -1368 1906 ca. Contributing
912 First St. South WA- SWC -1370 1884 Contributing
918 First St. South WA -SWC -1373 1892 Contributing
920 First St. South WA -SWC -1375 1900 ca. Contributing
1002 First St. South WA -SWC -1377 1884 Contributing
1006 First St. South WA -SWC -1378 1895 ca. Contributing
1018 First St. South WA -SWC -1383 1897 Contributing
713 Fourth St. South WA -SWC - 1384 1870s Contributing
715 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1385 1870s Contributing
719 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1386 1877 Contributing
801 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1387 1872 Contributing
807 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1388 1872 Contributing
815 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1389 1883 ca. Contributing
817 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1390 1883 ca. Contributing
823 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1391 1923 Noncontributing
901 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1392 1901 Contributing
909 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1393 1872 Contributing
913 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1394 1883 Contributing
915 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1395 1895 Contributing
919 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1396 1873 Contributing
921 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1397 1872 Contributing
1001 Fourth St. South WA- SWC -1398 1883 Contributing
1009 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1399 1873 Contributing
1015 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1400 1986 Noncontributing
1019 Fourth St. South WA -SWC -1401 1900 ca. Contributing
704 Second ST. South WA- SWC -1402 1877 Contributing
708 Second St. South WA -SWC -1403 1880 Contributing
709 Second St. South WA -SWC -1404 1875 Contributing
712 Second St. South WA -SWC -1405 1913 Contributing
713 Second St. South WA -SWC -1406 1868 Contributing
717 Second St. South WA -SWC -1407 1888 Contributing
720 Second St. South WA -SWC -1408 1872 Contributing
47
41 !*
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
723 Second St. South WA -SWC -1409 1872
806 Second St. South WA -SWC -1410 1890
807 Second St. South WA -SWC -1411 1870
808 Second St. South WA -SWC -1412 1890
814 Second St. South WA -SWC -1413 1874
815 Second St. South WA -SWC -1414 1896
819 Second St. South WA -SWC -1415 1881
822 Second St. South WA- SWC -1416 1891
903 Second St. South WA -SWC -1417 1873
904 Second St. South WA -SWC -1418 1894
905 Second St. South WA -SWC -1419 1886 ca.
910 Second St. South WA -SWC -1420 1880 ca.
911 Second St. South WA -SWC -1421 1878
914 Second St. South WA -SWC -1422 1876
915 Second St. South WA -SWC -1423 1886
920 Second St. South WA -SWC -1424 1882
1001 Second St. South WA -SWC -1425 1875
1004 Second St. South WA -SWC -1426 1876
1007 Second St. South WA -SWC -1427 1922
1008 Second St. South WA -SWC -1428 1918
1012 Second St. South WA -SWC -1429 1882
1013 Second St. South WA -SWC -1430 1879
1017 Second St. South WA -SWC -1431 1882
1018 Second St. South WA -SWC -1432 1883
703 Third St. South WA -SWC -1448 1870
704 Third St. South WA- SWC -1449 1874
712 Third St. South WA -SWC -1450 1914
715 Third St. South WA -SWC -1451 1939
718 Third St. South WA -SWC -1452 1870 ca.
719 Third St. South WA -SWC -1453 1888
801 Third St. South WA- SWC -1454 1880
804 Third St. South WA -SWC -1455 1871
805 Third St. South WA -SWC -1456 1880
807 Third St. South WA -SWC -1457 1880
808 Third St. South WA- SWC -1458 1889
811 Third St. South WA -SWC -1459 1902
813 Third St. South WA -SWC -1460 1896
814 Third St. South WA -SWC -1461 1877
821 Third St. South WA -SWC -1462 1895
822 Third St. South WA- SWC -1463 1890s
901 Third St. South WA -SWC -1464 1912
904 Third St. South WA -SWC -1465 1874
905 Third St. South WA- SWC -1466 1871
906 Third St. South WA -SWC -1467 1906
907 Third St. South WA -SWC -1468 1878
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Noncontributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Noncontributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Noncontributing
Contributing
Contributing
48
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
913 Third St. South WA -SWC -1469 1886
916 Third St. South WA -SWC -1470 1874
918 Third St. South WA -SWC -1471 1890s
919 Third St. South WA -SWC -1472 1880
920 Third St. South WA -SWC -1473 1880
1001 Third St. South WA -SWC -1474 1880s
1002 Third St. South WA -SWC -1475 1876
1003 Third St. South WA -SWC -1476 1884
1006 Third St. South WA -SWC -1477 1882
1007 Third St. South WA- SWC -1478 1882
1009 Third St. South WA- SWC -1479 1882
1010 Third St. South WA -SWC -1480 1876
1013 Third St. South WA -SWC -1481 1884
1014 Third St. South WA -SWC -1482 1877
1019 Third St. South WA -SWC -1483 1873
1022 Third St. South WA -SWC -1483 1877
203 Willard St. East WA -SWC -1483 1911
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Noncontributing
Noncontributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
Contributing
49
East Half, Churchill, Nelson, and Slaughter's Addition
Local Historic District, Stillwater, Minnesota
NE Churchill, Nelson, Slaughter Addition
v�Y 500 '.
S ` 215 506
518
513 522
521 6�
vies 607
604
4
610
612
N `: 519,
604.
612.
613 `. 618 ..
623 622 8T
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W�St- - 628
0 p14,17-U SL 504 607/609
615
673
305
313 708 W N 704
w
710
715
712
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715 16
719
720
723 718 801 724
805. ;804 805 802
809 - - 807 806
808 -- 811 810
813 812 816
NI , v .8.16. i N 817
�l824 w 823 826
713
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719
w 801
a!
807 808
815 814
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704
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718 ; .__ 718
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304 822
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EAST CHURCHILL STREET
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911 ' 9c x908 908 912 -. -- ` phi -_ 913 906 a 907 914 1 V ! . 911 _ 912 915 916 't T 913 - ---+ w
919 920 913 916 LL 921 920 ,I- 919 920 coI 915 916- --
921
923 ' 1002 ! 1003 924 _ 1001 1002 1003 ; 1004 i 1001 929
1006 1002
1007 1008 06 oil - 1015 1014 �. 10009 1008 Ft 1007
x 1006 x
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1021 1020 , 1019 1022 ; 1019 1022 102111018 ; 1017 1018
319 1104- ; t
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EAST ' BURLINGTON STREET
1207 1206 t- N 1204 w
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103 117 Willi N ° t" ` .-
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50
tAA,a,&, d-4,;miedo-
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
tAAAa, eA;242€60-&
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Daniel J. Hoisington
STILLWATER HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION
2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STILLWATER HOMES 3
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES 10
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIORS STANDARDS 19
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES 23
NEW CONSTRUCTION 33
APPLYING THE GUIDELINES 45
THE REVIEW PROCESS 54
SUCCESS STORIES 39
GLOSSARY 61
FURTHER READING 66
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 70
INTRODUCTION
I.'
e City of Stillwater is a dynamic
d vibrant community, nestled along
the bluffs of the St. Croix River, one
of America's protected Wild and
Scenic Rivers. Stillwater is a stand
alone City within the Metropolitan
Urban Service Area (MUSA), located
just twenty miles east of the Twin
Cities metropolitan area. The City is
a historic community with a growing
population of 18,225 residents accord-
ing to 2010 Census and 7,414 housing
units with a median home value of
$242,000.
Preservation Guidelines for
Neighborhoods offers practical tools
and resources for renovating tradi-
tional houses. These guidelines are
intended for the homeowner who is
interested in remodeling, yet wants to
recreate the original exterior design of
their house. Rebuilding older houses
not only restores their historic feel,
but also attracts investment by lend-
ers. For homeowners, smart rehab
can translate into a sound, long -term
investment. And at the same time,
home renovations that follow tradi-
tion are helping to rebuild Stillwater's
history.
The Preservation Guidelines
includes a brief introduction to the
history of Stillwater's neighborhhods,
plus a look at architectural styles
commonly found in the city. It is
helpful to understand the context
of why the city's home look the way
they do. The guidelines are illustrated
with drawings of common architec-
tural details. The photographs are of
Stillwater houses, except as noted.
Partial views were taken of houses in
other parts of Minnesota.
The next chapters detail the practi-
cal issues of rehabilitation. The stan-
dards of the preservation community
are explained, followed by specific
details to help you through the deci-
sion- making process.
Finally, this book offers resources
that can help you with your home
rehabilitation.
2 ���ea.t,rmea PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
The goal of many homeowners
when they restore their homes is to
do the right thing to maintain existing
features and restore original elements.
Today, the housing real estate market
favors tradition, unlike a few decades
ago when original design didn't
matter. Today, a large number of
Americans appreciate our architec-
tural heritage, a fact plainly evident in
many Stillwater neighborhoods.
The Washington County Courthouse has
been a centerpiece of local preservation
efforts. In recent years, it underwent a
major renovation.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STILLWATER'S NEIGHBORHOODS
Stillwater, 1860
lthough the St. Croix River and the
commercial district are the popu-
lar images of Stillwater, its historic
residential neighborhoods play a
significant role in defining the city's
quality of life. Census data show
that Stillwater's population has been
a blend of many ethnic elements,
principally old stock American
and Western European during the
early years, and the flow of immi-
grants through the St. Croix gateway
provided cultural heterogeneity. The
earliest townsfolk were transplanted
Yankees from New England, followed
by other Native Americans and
foreign emigrants.
Beginning in the 184os, many
Europeans emigrated to the United
States and were attracted by the
undeveloped lands of Minnesota.
Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians
came to Washington County in great
numbers; during the middle and late
nineteenth century, hundreds per
year walked over the Stillwater levy
or disembarked at the Union Depot,
usually en route to someplace else.
A significant number did not move
on but stayed in Stillwater, where the
native American majority learned to
accommodate a diversity of people
and lifeways. One writer described
the city's population mix in 1870 as
"four- tenths American, two - tenths
Irish, two - tenths German, one -tenth
Scandinavian, one -tenth French,
Scotch, etc." The peak of immigration
was reached by the 189os and the
arrival of foreign -born newcomers to
Stillwater declined steadily thereafter.
After the old stock Americans
and Anglo Irish immigrants, the
most important foreign group were
the Germans, who migrated to
Minnesota during territorial times
and continued to come in signifi-
cant numbers throughout the latter
part of the nineteenth century. They
were mainly members of the urban
proletariat or rural laborers, with a
significant minority of tradespeople
and mechanics. Collectively they had
a pronounced impact on the local
cultural and business scenes. Once in
Stillwater, they formed churches and
fraternal organizations, sponsored
celebrations of German culture, and
4 &&a .t, dli;ziutwha PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
established outlets for ethnic food,
drink, and entertainment.
Whatever their ethnic makeup,
Stillwater households were basically
nuclear in structure and census
records suggest a rough average of
six persons per household during
the late nineteenth century, when the
single - family house seems to have
been the norm. Although household
size declined steadily after 191o, a
married couple with minor children
formed the typical if not statistically
average household unit. Among
all social classes, old people were
commonly cared for by the families
of their grown children. However,
neighborhood homeowners also took
in temporary boarders and census
records show that some of the wealth-
ier residents had servants within their
households.
Stillwater had a hierarchy of places
to live. The dichotomy between
Stillwater's largest neighborhoods
began early, as respective residen-
tial districts came to be identified as
enclaves for the social and econom-
ical elite in the case of North Hill or
as a bastion of working -class values
and tastes. Over the decades, these
qualities became deeply rooted in
Stillwater lore, so that 100 years
later the two neighborhoods are still
viewed, however in accurately, as
representing a division between the
upper and lower class segments of
Stillwater's population.
North Hill acquired a reputation
as the aristocratic part of town, as
resident of Paul Caplazi said in his
reminiscences, called the North Hill
the "aristocratic part of Stillwater." It
was stamped early with the brand of
Victorian era capitalist optimism and
as the city grew this became the image
of the town. Because of the steep
slopes, development on North Hill
acquired extensive grading and many
homesites were terraced. "The effect
of these attractive places, and the
public buildings on the rising bluff,
when seen from the lake is very strik-
ing;' noted Warner and Foote.
The counterpart to North Hill was
the neighborhood between Willard
and Hancock streets, known as South
Hill. It emerged in the late nine-
teenth century as a residential district
occupied mostly by mill workers,
mechanics, and tradespeople, but
with a sprinkling of wealthy capitalist.
During the boom years, land prices in
Stillwater multiplied with astonishing
speed and farsighted individuals like
Socrates Nelson bought farmland and
proceeded to subdivide their tracts
into blocks and lots, which were then
A BRIEF HISTORY
offered to the expanding urban popu-
lation.
Most of the popular housing types
of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries can be found in Stillwater's
residential neighborhoods. Equally
prevalent are the vernacular gable
front and Gable front and wing forms
that reflect the building booms of the
187os and 189os, and the mass plan
bungalows from the 19006 to 1930s.
The fabric of Stillwater's residen-
tial neighborhoods was to a great
extent the result of local builders
access to quality building materials.
The first dwellings and outbuildings
were constructed from the wood or
stone, but the early exploitation of the
northern forests and the establish-
ment of sawmills soon provided local
builders with an inexhaustible supply
of cheap lumber.
Limestone and sandstone were also
quarried locally and were an important
building material, although relatively
few stone masonry buildings were
built. Concrete block became popular
after 1910 for foundations and retaining
walls. Wooden shingles were the most
common roofing material for all types
of buildings constructed before 1900;
afterwards, houses were roofed with
asphalt or asbestos shingles or, in rare
instances, with metal sheets.
5
STILLWATER'S ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
4E/1/ any of the first structures built in Stillwater were vernacular workers' houses,
esigned and built by local carpenters. Labor was cheap, but materials expen-
sive, so the houses were often small, 1-1/2 stories, with gabled, wood shingled
roofs. Most original houses were simple rectangles, but soon porches and other
additions were made to increase living space, forming the familiar "L" shaped
plans that we see today.
With the use of architectural pattern books, more sophisticated styles
popular in other parts of the country became common in Stillwater. Greek
Revival, Italianate and Gothic Revival were among the first to take root in the
185o's- 188o's, followed by the popular "Victorian" styles in the i88o's- 19oo's,
including Second Empire, Stick Style, and Queen Anne.
The following pages introduce and briefly describe several of the most
common styles seen in Stillwater.
8 jah.,4 , diennedoh, PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Greek Revival
1845 -1880
w =Pitched Roof
Raked Cornice
1"'r-- -- Continuous cornice.frie board simulat ng
Greek temple entablature
-- Double hurg. multi -pane window
and with slightly
nel
Pediments s'imulaking Greek temple
Sid
The Greek Revival style in America appeared after Greece won independence
from Turkey in 1830. Americans identified with the Greek ideals of democracy
but its ready acceptance may also reflect the Yankee instinct for a straightfor-
ward architectural style. Its stylistic elements could also be easily be milled and
shaped by available tools in rural areas. As a result, Greek Revival was spread
by carpenter - builders through pattern books but this style also found favor
with a growing number of trained architects in the country. The Greek temple
form of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns became the order of the day as
well as the dominant architectural style from 1830 to 1860.
Many of the city's streetscapes have Greek Revival traits such as gables facing
the street, definitive corner pilaster trim, wide eave returns, wide frieze boards
and window head trim with mold cap.
Characteristics may include:
• Primary low- pitched gable roof with returns at the eaves
• Square or rectangular plan
• Single or 1 -1/2 story massing
• Prominent, proportional columns and pilasters
• Secondary (flat) roofs over porches; portico at entry
• Entry door with sidelights and narrow transom
• Simple, flat trim at corners and frieze board beneath eaves
• Evenly spaced windows
Vernacular Houses of the 19th century are numerous in Stillwater, modestly
sized, and of simple construction. They may have been designed by carpenters
or by the owners themselves, and built with locally milled and manufactured
products. These houses originally had minimal ornamentation and often have
very simple plans and elevations. Local examples are often 1 -1/2 stories.
Characteristics may include:
• Front gable or side gable
• Rectangular or L- shaped plans
• Close proximity to neighboring houses
• Lap siding
• Minimal ornament - of standard millwork (turned or stamped)
• Standing seam steel roof material or wood shingles
• Receding or minimal additions at rear
• 2 over 2 double -hung windows, vertically proportioned
• Chimney in center between rooms
A BRIEF HISTORY
9
19th Century Vernacular
1845 -1910
10 jalwa i, die.4zeaa`a PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Italianate
18$0 -1885
The Italianate style was modeled after the medieval farmhouses of the Italian
countryside.It was very prevalent within its period of popularity, and especially
dominant in the period from 1855 through 1880. Since it was easily adapted
to numerous building forms, it became a popular style for urban and rural
residences and commercial and institutional buildings. The Italianate style is
especially identified as the common architectural theme of mid- to late -19th
century commercial buildings that lined the main street of many American
cities and towns. The Italianate style was also commonly used for the construc-
tion of homes, again easily identified by their common bracketed cornices and
long, narrow windows. Some decorative elements were of cast iron, a newly
developed technology in this period.
Typical characteristics:
• Square or asymmetrical plan, sometimes with projecting bays.
• Hip or gable roof, sometimes with a tower or cupola.
• Narrow clapboard, brick, or limestone exterior and a limestone foundation.
• Symmetrical arrangement of the windows and entry.
• Long narrow windows, sometimes with arched hoods and two - over -two
sash.
•Deep cornices at the roofline, with ornate wooden brackets.
•Porches with slender columns resting on low pedestals and brackets.
•Original color schemes were often based on natural hues imitating stone,
stucco, and brick.
This widely - popular architectural style was introduced by British architects in
the late nineteenth century. Queen Anne houses are defined by their form and
by their articulated surfaces. Broad front porches, sometimes rounded wrap-
around type, play off the bold, asymmetrical facades featuring bay windows,
corner turrets, and a variety of gables. The style is elaborated with spindle
bands, cantilevered wall sections, and bands along wall mid - sections that sepa-
rate different siding types.
In Queen Anne houses, architectural elements create relationships between
solid forms, heightened with light and shadow. Bay windows protrude, roofs
and gables intersect, and porches extend outward with openness framed by
columns. Although these architectural concepts of form and space were more
fully realized in the twentieth century, they played an important role in the
evolution of American residential architecture.
Characteristics may include:
• Steeply pitched roofs, intersecting gables.
• Roof and exterior walls of irregular form.
• Vernacular houses have a major front gable.
• Walls have trim bands, slight wall offsets and overhangs.
• Porches may be full across the front, partial or wrap- around.
• Multiple types of siding materials.
• Multiple window types and sizes.
• Elements from previous styles, such as Ionic columns,pediments from
Greek Revival, or Palladian windows.
A BRIEF HISTORY 11
Queen Anne
1845 -1880
12 daL, .i��rnmeaa PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Gothic Revival
18L5 -1880
The Gothic Revival style is part of the mid -19th century picturesque and
romantic movement in architecture, reflecting the public's taste for buildings
inspired by medieval design. This was a real departure from the previously
popular styles that drew inspiration from the classical forms of ancient Greece
and Rome. While distinctly different, both the Gothic Revival style and the
Greek Revival style looked to the past, and both remained popular throughout
the mid 19th century. The Gothic Revival style in America was advanced by
architects Alexander Jackson Davis and especially Andrew Jackson Downing,
authors of influential house plan books, Rural Residences (1837), Cottage
Residences (1842), and The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). This style
was promoted as an appropriate design for rural settings, with its complex and
irregular shapes and forms fitting well into the natural landscape. Thus, the
Gothic Revival style was often chosen for country homes and houses in rural or
small town settings.
Characteristics may include:
• Pointed arches as decorative element and as window shape
• Front facing gables with decorative incised trim (vergeboards or barge -
boards)
• Porches with turned posts or columns
• Steeply pitched roof
• Gables often topped with finials or crossbracing
• Decorative crowns (gable or drip mold) over windows and doors
• Castle -like towers with parapets on some high style buildings
• Carpenter Gothic buildings have distinctive board and batten vertical
siding
The Second Empire style, also called the French Second Empire style or
Mansard style, was an immensely popular style throughout the United States in
the 186os and 1870s. It was used extensively in the northeastern and midwest-
ern parts of the country. The Second Empire style had its beginnings in France,
where it was the chosen style during the reign of Napoleon III (1852 -70),
France's Second Empire, hence its name. Well- attended exhibitions in Paris in
1855 and 1867 helped to spread Second Empire style to England and then the
United States. The Second Empire style actually harkens back to an earlier time,
the 17th century designs of French architect Francois Mansart, for whom the
mansard roof is named. The mansard roof is the key identifying feature of this
style and was considered both a fashionable and functional element since it
created a fully usable attic space.
Characteristics may include:
• Mansard roof
• Patterned shingle roof
• Iron roof crest
• Decorative window surrounds and dormers
• Eaves with brackets
• One story porch
• Tower
• Quoins
• Balustrades
A BRIEF HISTORY 13
French Second Empire
1845 -1880
14 eAgua i, Lnea_ PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Eastlake -Stick Style
1870 -1890
The Stick Style became a refined adaptation of Medieval building technique.
It translated wall structural timbers into decorative elements on wall surfaces.
Other components such as brackets, protruding cornices and gables likewise
served as display elements instead of as load- bearing structures. Stick Style
applied ornamental features to create complex patterns in high style houses,
while vernacular dwellings applied a limited number of these elements to catch
the eye.
Characteristics include:
• Steeply pitched roofs, with a main gable on the facade, often with cross
gables and smaller gables.
• Wall surfaces that feature patterns of horizontal, vertical and diagonal
boards reminiscent of Medieval half - timbering (straplike flat wood
boards set flush to wall surface).
• Structural elements that emphasize vertical effects, with things such as
bay windows or trim elements.
• Prominent front porch, open type, with railings; lathe- turned columns
and balusters.
• Vertically- oriented windows; main windows often have stained glass in
upper sash.
• Narrow lap siding, sometimes with different width at upper story or with
shingles at gable wall.
• Other elements of High Style houses: arched windows, wrap- around
rectangular front porches.
Prior to the advent of the Prairie Style, several plan books offered vernacu-
lar styles emphasizing simple cube -like houses with hip roofs and broad front
porches, using Colonial Revival elements in a somewhat minimalist fashion.
Called "Prairie Foursquare;' thousands of variations of this style were built in
towns and cities, and on farms throughout all parts of the Midwest.. A small
number occurred as moderated high style.
Prairie Foursquare's period of significance was in the late nineteenth century
and in the first two decades of the twentieth. This style represents the evolu-
tion of American housing production. With the introduction of industrialized
pre -cut lumber in the mid - nineteenth century, it was possible to build more
houses faster. Housing construction became more efficient and this in turn
brought down the cost of housing.
Characteristics may include:
• Square or nearly square floor plan.
• Front facade is symmetrical, but the entrance door may be of set.
• Hip roof, pyramidal- shaped, with front dormer; side dormers; eaves are
often flared at edges.
• Front porch extended nearly the full width of the front facade, even with
an off -set entrance door.
• Wood lap siding or stucco.
• Ornamental detail found in a few specific areas, such as Colonial Revival
elements in attic roof dormer face or dentillated frieze band at porch or
main roof frieze board.
• Evenly spaced windows
A BRIEF HISTORY 15
American Foursquare
1900 -1930
16 Agaa i, ttmee PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Colonial Revival
1895 -1920
What we call Colonial Revival is based on America's domestic architectural
style before the colonies became a nation. The Colonial Revival style began
its long standing run with the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
When the style was revived again in the twentieth century, historic architec-
tural scholarship, guided design of Colonial Revival homes. More attention was
given to reproducing authentic proportions and details of the original houses
of the colonies.
Colonial Revival first took place in Stillwater in the early years of the twen-
tieth century. The style suited the entrepreneurial and business class in a city
with a Northern European heritage that encouraged restrained display of
wealth. Colonial Revival also became a pattern for vernacular house construc-
tion. Builders had access to several houseplan catalogs, thus side - stepping the
need to hire an architect.
Characteristics may include:
• Steep gabled roofs, some with cross - gables.
• Massing is vertical, often with bays.
• Narrow lap siding; flat and wide casing at doors and windows, and
corners.
• Open porches, with hip -type roofs, supported by heavy beams, which
supported by Doric round columns; railings with round - shaped balus-
ters.
• Applied ornament is absent, but the frieze boards and porch beams may
feature modillions and dentillated bands.
The movement to sweep away almost all ornament began in late nine-
teenth- century England. The Arts and Crafts movement promoted simpler
structures, emphasizing functional components and deemphasizing ornament.
Arts and Crafts architects believed in honest use of materials. Humble mate-
rials and architectural design that sought to expose the craft of construction
replaced decorative features. Americans had been prepared for this idea of
simple dwellings and utilitarian structures by the Shaker religious communities
in the early nineteenth century. These artisan- builders crafted their buildings
with a sense of minimalism.
Function was design's sole purpose. About this time Japanese design influ-
ence, similar in simplicity to the Shaker movement, came to America.. From
the English colony of India came the design for a simple dwelling named the
"bungalow " — a Hindi word meaning "shelter."
Characteristics may include:
• Features are very similar to Craftsman houses: wide low- pitched roofs
and wide overhanging eaves. Arts and Crafts houses are usually larger in
size, often two stories in height.
• Houses sometimes set with width parallel to the street, with porches
partially covering the house front facade. Roof dormers facing the street
may be gable or shed dormers.
• Style features of Arts and Crafts houses exaggerated in comparison to
Craftsman houses. Upper sections of gables show simplified stick work,
with vertical members resting on a horizontal beam.
• Two story Arts and Crafts houses often feature a belt course, a wide trim
member topped with a drip cap that makes a visual division between
first and second floors; first floor narrow lap siding, wider lap or shingles
above.
• Beam ends facing outward, top member of triangular braces often extend
slightly with shallow beveled ends.
A BRIEF HISTORY 17
Arts & Crafts
1910 -1940
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR'S STANDARDS
he principles of these historic district
guidelines are based on consistent
national standards grounded in years
of experience.
On the national level, the
Department of the Interior super-
vises federal historic preservation
programs, including the National
Register of Historic Places and the
Historic American Buildings Survey.
In addition, the National Park Service
falls under the Department's auspices,
requiring careful management of
the thousands of historic structures
within that system. Over the years,
the Department developed a set of
common -sense principles to guide
care of those buildings.
Before looking at the standards,
it helps to distinguish between the
possible approaches to a historic
structure.
• Preservation focuses on the main-
tenance and repair of existing historic
materials and retention of a property's
form as it has evolved over time.
• Rehabilitation acknowledges the
need to alter or add to a historic prop-
erty to meet continuing changing uses
while retaining the property's historic
character.
• Restoration depicts a property
at a particular period of time in its
history, while removing evidence of
other periods.
• Reconstruction recreates vanished
or non - surviving portions of a prop-
erty for interpretive purposes.
The Secretary of the Interior's
Standards for the Rehabilitation of
Historic Properties are the benchmark
to work toward when rehabilitating
historic properties in Stillwater. The
Design Guidelines, found in the next
chapter, follow the recommendations
set forth in the Secretary's Standards,
but are written to be more specific
and applicable to Stillwater's historic
resources. The ten standards are inter-
preted below:
i. A property shall be used for its
historic purpose or be placed in a new
use that requires minimal change
to the defining characteristics of the
building and its site and environment.
This standard is most significant
if you are converting a commercial
space into a private residence or
office. When a store becomes a home,
it is often adapted by enclosure of the
storefront, changing the visual flow of
the street and making it less friendly
to pedestrians. The key point to
remember is to avoid the loss of char-
acter- defining features and significant
historic spaces as you plan for future
rehabilitation.
2. The historic character of a property
shall be retained and preserved. The
removal of historic materials or altera-
tion of features and spaces that charac-
terize a property shall be avoided.
The first step in evaluating your
historic property is identifying its
distinctive materials, features, and
spaces. Evaluate the condition of
existing historic materials to decide
whether materials will be repaired,
maintained, or replaced. This will
help you understand what is impor-
tant to preserve as you prepare your
plans for future repairs, maintenance,
or alterations. Aim to preserve the
functional and decorative features
that define the character of the build-
20 ��'Zi ff..aa& .11.
ing, such as historic windows, doors,
columns, balustrades, stairs, and
porches. Also, consider the relation-
ship of the house and outbuildings
to paths, sidewalks, and significant
historic landscaping.
3. Each property shall be recognized as
a physical record of its time, place, and
use. Changes that create a false sense of
historical development, such as adding
conjectural features or architectural
elements from other buildings, shall not
be undertaken.
It is best to avoid the generic "ye
olde shoppe" and stick with the
original design. Study the build-
ing for what it is, learning its date of
construction, its architectural style,
and the stylistic features that are
characteristic of that style. Keep this
information in mind when making
decisions about replacing missing
elements or adding to the house. If the
building is Italianate, it is inappropri-
ate to turn it into a Colonial Revival
storefront with details like fanlights,
pilasters, or pedimented doorways.
Fancy "gingerbread" work doesn't fit
correctly on a 193os service station.
4. Most properties change over time;
those changes that have acquired
historic significance in their own right
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
shall be retained and preserved.
A building constructed in 1890 will
almost certainly have been altered,
even if only to install bathrooms and
modern kitchens. A cornice could
need major repairs, or even replace-
ment, in twenty -five years if it has
not been well maintained. Some such
alterations may now be historically
significant themselves and should
not be readily discarded to create
a pristine "original" building. For
example, if you have an 1890 building
that was remodeled in 1918 to give it
a "Craftsman" look, you may want to
retain the historic alterations.
5. Distinctive features, finishes, and
construction techniques or examples of
craftsmanship that characterize a prop-
erty shall be preserved.
Every historic building contains
materials and finishes that are unique
to its style and period of construction.
This might be the tongue and groove
board floor of a Italianate display
room or the heavy Kasota stone lintels
of a Queen Anne building. This is
especially important if the building
uses Stillwater —made brick.
6. Deteriorated historic features shall
be repaired rather than replaced.
Where the severity of deterioration
requires replacement of a distinctive
feature, the new feature shall match
the old in design, color, texture, and
other visual qualities and, where
possible, materials. Replacement of
missing features shall be substantiated
by documentary, physical, or pictorial
evidence.
With a little detective work, you
can determine the physical history of
your building. Historic images will
help you identify if the building has
been altered, and is missing a distinc-
tive feature like brackets or decora-
tive shingles. The Stillwater County
Historical Society and previous
owners are good sources for historic
photographs.
You may also be able to find clues
on the building itself, such as paint
shadows, nail holes, or patching in
the siding, suggesting that a historic
feature has been removed. When
you replace missing or heavily dete-
riorated features use materials of the
same size and shape as the originals.
7. Chemical or physical treatments,
such as sandblasting, that cause
damage to historic materials shall not
be used. The surface cleaning of struc-
tures, if appropriate, shall be under-
taken using the gentlest means possible.
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIORS STANDARDS 21
Never sand blast historic build-
ing materials to remove paint. This
will result in pitting and texturing
of the materials, particularly wood
and brick. Sand blasting has been
known to hasten deterioration of
historic materials. Pressure wash-
ing with water at a low pressure
can be an effective method to clean
a historic house and prepare it for
painting. Avoid pressure washing at a
high pressure because it can damage
historic materials, or force water into
the interior cavities of a house, partic-
ularly around windows.
8. Significant archeological resources
affected by a project shall be protected
and preserved. If such resources must
be disturbed, mitigation measures shall
be undertaken.
This guideline is less applicable
to downtown Stillwater. However,
the townsite was one of the earli-
est Euro- American settlements on
the upper Mississippi River, so care
should be given to any artifacts
uncovered during construction or
excavation. You might find evidence
of an outbuilding foundation, or a
past burn barrel on your property. It
is important to recognize and docu-
ment, with photographs and draw-
ings, such discoveries. While pieces of
Based on the Standards, no attempts should be made to create
a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjec-
tural features or architectural elements from other buildings.
This building was constructed around 1912 and shows a later,
plainer, architectural style than those on either side. Note,
though, how all three buildings maintain the classic storefront
elements with plate windows and a row of transom windows.
22 iigAa& ./erzneuai PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
broken glass, metal, crockery, or old
marbles are exciting to discover, these
are generally not considered signifi-
cant archeological resources.
9. New additions, exterior alterations,
or related new construction shall not
destroy historic materials that char-
acterize the property. The new work
shall be differentiated from the old and
shall be compatible with the massing,
size, scale, and architectural features
to protect the historic integrity of the
property and its environment.
When adding to a historic prop-
erties, you should weigh how the
addition will complement the historic
building, the site, and surrounding
neighborhood. Most preservation-
ists prefer that an addition simply be
compatible in terms of mass, mate-
rials, and color. The design can be
contemporary, or reference historic
elements of the building, but should
not be a slavish reproduction of the
original building. There is no need to
confuse the historic with the contem-
porary.
Placement is also vitally important.
Typically, a new addition should be
placed on a rear or side elevation to
limit the visual impact from the street.
The size and scale of new additions
should harmonize with the historic
building.
10. New additions and adjacent or
related new construction shall be
undertaken in such a manner that if
removed in the future, the essential
form and integrity of the historic prop-
erty and its environment would be
unimpaired.
An addition should be designed so
that it will become a significant part
of the building's history over time,
which means using quality design and
materials. A new addition respects
the historic building to which it
is attached, and does not obscure,
damage, or destroy character - defining
details, like a bay window or brackets
in the eaves. Keep in mind the idea
that if the addition is removed in the
future, it should be possible to reha-
bilitate the building to its original
form.
DESIGN GUIDELINES
24 e7 ? &* PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
General Guidelines
1. Changes and additions should be compatible with the historic design of the
building.
2. Retain all historic materials and features where possible. New materials and
features should replicate the old in size, shape, and texture.
3. Retain wooden clapboard siding and shingles wherever possible, or replace
with new wood materials to match the old. Siding should match the surface
and width of the original. Details such as cornerboards should be replicated.
4. Retain original masonry and mortar where possible, repointing joints
where missing or deteriorated. Mortar should match the original in composi-
tion, color, and texture, and joints should be of the same size and profile as the
original. Masonry should be cleaned with the gentlest method possible; historic
brick should never be sandblasted.
5. Vinyl and metal siding is not recommended for installation on historic
buildings. Although these products seem to offer an instant make -over, historic
character is usually lost in the process because it is nearly impossible to dupli-
cate the texture and detail of wood with manufactured products. Past and
future water damage and deterioration may also be covered over by new siding.
Without detection and repair, such conditions can damage the building exte-
rior and interior.
1. Repair
Wood siding should be maintained with paint or stain. Deteriorated wooden
siding should be replaced with new wood siding resembling the original in
width, thickness and profile, and texture. New siding should be installed
with the weather (exposed surface) identical to the original. Siding should
be installed horizontally except in those instances where vertical or diagonal
siding was used on the original exterior. Appropriate corner boards, frieze
boards, drip caps, and other features should be included with new siding.
2. Vinyl and Aluminum Siding; other Manufactured Products
Buildings originally clad in wood siding should not be resurfaced with brick,
stucco, artificial stone or brick veneer, or vinyl or aluminum siding. If the
historic siding is determined by the HPC to be unsalvageable, replacement
with a product such as Hardiplank may be approved. Selection and installation
should follow guideline #1, above.
3. Shingles
Buildings originally clad in horizontal wood siding should not be resurfaced
with shingles of wood or other material. Wood shingles used for cladding
material or decoration, such as in the gable ends, should be retained in repair
or resurfacing. Deteriorated wooden siding should be replaced with new wood
siding replicating the original in width, thickness and profile, and texture.
4. Decorative Siding Treatment
Decorative siding treatments, such as paneled herringbone patterns or shin-
gles applied to gable ends, should be retained in repair or resurfacing.
5. Painting
Exterior wood surfaces should be maintained with appropriate paint or
stain. Stained shingles, brick, and stone should not be painted. In most cases,
unpainted historic stucco should not be painted. Exterior paint colors should
be appropriate to the age, style, and condition of the historic building. Properly
maintained with good quality paint or stain, wood is a very durable material. A
good paint job can usually be expected to last between seven and ten years.
DESIGN GUIDELINES 25
Wood Siding & Shingles
Stillwater' historic residential build-
ing stock is primarily of wood frame
construction, and most buildings
were originally clad in wood siding
(clapboards). A few houses are clad
in wood shingles, but in most cases
shingles were used decoratively in
gable ends. Underneath layers of old
asphalt, aluminum or vinyl siding,
historic siding and other details
sometimes remain intact. Often, this
historic wood siding can be success-
fully restored by cleaning, replacing
broken or deteriorated pieces, scrap-
ing and priming as necessary, and
painting.
26 , ,
Windows
Windows give character and
expression to the building. Window
size and spacing is important, as
are the elements that surround the
window: the sill, the lintel or cap, and
decorative moldings. Any alteration —
including removal of moldings or
changes in window size or type —can
have a significant and often detrimen-
tal effect on the building as well as the
surrounding streetscape. If window
replacement is necessary, manufactur-
ers offer a variety of energy - efficient,
traditionally styled units.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
1. Maintain and Conserve
Wherever feasible, historic windows and sash should be repaired rather than
replaced, especially on principal elevations.
2. New Sash: Size and Shape
Existing window openings should be retained. Window openings should not
be enlarged or reduc000ed to fit new units. New window openings should not
be introduced into principal elevations. New windows should be compatible
with existing historic units. Whenever possible, choose new units of wood,
rather than metal. If metal is selected, it must have a baked enamel or other
appropriate factory finish.
3. New Sash: Glazing
The size and number of panes of glass in each sash should not be altered. New
sash, if installed, should duplicate the existing or other appropriate historic
models. Crank -out units should not replace double -hung sash.
4. Trim
Retain all decorative trim around the windows, including lintels, sills, pedi-
ments, and hoods. If trim replacement is necessary the original profile should
be replicated.
5. Storm Windows
Repair or replicate historic wood storms wherever possible. Storm windows
should not have vertical or horizontal divisions that conflict with the divisions
of the historic sash and should be flush with existing trim. If combination
metal storms must be installed, they should have a baked enamel factory finish.
6. Shutters and Blinds
Shutters and blinds should not be installed on buildings not originally
designed for them. Where appropriate, shutters should appear to be operable
and should be mounted to the window casing. Shutters should be constructed
of wood.
DESIGN GUIDELINES 27
Storm windows can help conserve energy, but often look
wrong on an older facade. Interior storm windows are an
option. Always make sure that storm windows match the
existing shape.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
1. Repair
Deteriorated brick, stone, mortar, and other materials should be replaced
with material used in the original construction or with materials that resem-
ble the appearance of the original as closely as possible. The advice of a skilled
mason should be sought for major repair projects.
2. Cleaning and Waterproofing
Masonry cleaning should be conducted only to halt deterioration and by
means such as low pressure water, soft brushes, and /or appropriate chem-
ical treatment. Sandblasting should not be used under any circumstances.
Waterproof and water repellent coatings should not be used unless there is
evidence of past water penetration.
3. Repointing
Original mortar joint size and profile should be retained and /or reduplicated
in repointing. Mortar mixtures should duplicate the original in lime, sand,
and cement proportion and should duplicate the original mortar in color and
texture.
4. Stucco Resurfacing
Repairs to stucco surfaces should duplicate the original in color and texture,
if evidence exists. Smooth or heavy dashed surfaces should be avoided unless
they were used on the original surface.
5. Painting
The original color and texture of masonry surfaces should be retained and
unpainted stone and brick surfaces should not be painted. The removal of paint
from painted masonry surfaces should only be attempted if unpainted surfaces
are historically appropriate and if removal can be accomplished without
damage to the masonry.
6. Resurfacing
Stucco, artificial stone, brick veneer, or vinyl or aluminum products should
not be applied over historic masonry surfaces.
Some of Stillwater's earliest houses
were built of brick and limestone.
Local kilns burned red brick, and
quarries along the river provided
much of the buff colored limestone.
Nearly every nineteenth - century
house in Stillwater rests on a lime-
stone foundation, and there are also
examples of early brick foundations.
Concrete block was used after 1900.
Brick, stone, and mortar are porous
materials susceptible to water damage
from rain, condensation, or rising
damp. It is important to have good
drainage around the foundation, a
sound roof, and working gutters.
DESIGN GUIDELINES 29
Many old houses were built of softer
brick and mortar than is used in new
construction and major masonry
repair usually requires professional
assistance. The mortar used for
repointing joints must be soft enough
to adjust to freeze and thaw cycles.
If new mortar does not contain the
correct mixture of lime, sand, and
cement, stress will be transferred to
the masonry and the material will
crack. It is important that masons
take the time to carefully select proper
mortar mixtures and compatible
replacement brick or stone, if needed.
30 A/./..,&, t% €6
Roof and Chimney
A sound roof protects the building
from the weather. Each style of archi-
tecture has distinctive roof forms,
whether gable, hip, gambrel, mansard,
or shed. In Stillwater the gable is most
common, but there are many varia-
tions.
The shape, texture, and color of the
roof are key design features of the
historic building. New dormers and
other additions to the roof must be
carefully designed.
In Stillwater, wood shingles were
used to roof the earliest houses,
and asphalt shingles became stan-
dard in the early twentieth century.
Longlasting slate, metal, and tile are
other historic roofing materials.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
1. Roofing Materials
Original roofing materials that contribute to the character of the building or
district, such as tile and slate, should be maintained and retained unless badly
deteriorated. If partial re- roofing in tile, slate or asphalt is necessary, replace-
ment roofing should match the old in composition, size, shape and texture.
New roofing material should be appropriate to the character of the building in
composition, size, shape and texture. Rolled roofing may be used only on flat or
slightly sloped roofs that are not visible from the public way.
2. Decorative Features
Historic cornices and cresting, finials and other decorative detail at the roof -
line should be repaired and retained wherever possible.
3. Alterations to Roof Shape
The original roof type, slope and overhangs should be preserved. The roof
shape at the front should not be altered except to restore it to the original docu-
mented appearance or to add architecturally compatible dormers. The shape
of existing dormers should not be altered unless compatible with the original
design. Alterations to the roof shape at the sides or rear should be compatible
with the architectural character of the building.
s. Skylights
Skylights should not be installed on the front roof plane. They should be flat
and close to the roof plane as possible. "Bubble" type skylights should not be
installed.
6. Rebuilding Chimneys
If rebuilding is necessary, original brick details such as decorative panels and
corbels should be replicated. In the absence of evidence of the original appear-
ance, repair or rebuilding should be compatible with the building type or style.
(See Masonry Guidelines.)
7. Chimneys and Stovepipes
New chimneys and stovepipes should not be installed on the front roof plane.
1. Maintain and Conserve
Wherever feasible, the features of historic entries should be repaired rather than replaced, especially
on principal elevations.
2. Size and Shape
Historic entry openings should not be enlarged or reduced to fit a new door. New entry openings
should not be introduced into principal elevations, and new openings and doors should be compatible
with existing historic units.
3. Trim
Original or historic features of the entry, including hoods, columns, sidelights, fanlights, and tran-
soms and hardware should be retained. If replacement is necessary, historic trim details should be
retained.
4. Doors
Wherever possible, historic paneled doors (and hardware) should be repaired and weather - stripped
rather than replaced. If replacement of original or historic doors is necessary the replacement should
be compatible with the material, design, and hardware of the older door. Steelcovered hollow core
doors should not be installed unless they are compatible with the appearance of the house. Historic
trim should not be removed for the installation of steel doors.
5. Sliding Glass or French Doors
Sliding glass or French style doors should be confined to the rear of the building where they are not
visible from the public way.
6. Storm and Screen Doors; Security Doors
Storm doors should be compatible with the inner door in shape and style. Historic trim at the entry
should not be removed for the installation of grill -style security doors.
DESIGN GUIDELINES 31
Entries
The entry— including the door,
door surround, and sometimes side-
lights and a transom —is usually the
focal point of the facade. The size
of the entry is directly related to the
mass and scale of the building. As
with windows, any alteration to size,
shape, or trim details can have a
detrimental effect on exterior appear-
ance. Wherever feasible, historic
doors should be repaired rather than
replaced, especially on principal
elevations where they are charac-
ter- defining.
32 d , .may 2e4
Additions
Additions are part of the past lives
of many historic houses, and often
account for the variety of styles
layered on a single building.
Compatible additions provide for
current and future needs and the
continued use of existing historic
buildings. Additions must be carefully
designed to relate to the principal
building as well as adjacent build-
ings. In most cases, additions should
appear contemporary, but compat-
ible in character with the original,
and sympathetic but not imitative in
design. All applicable zoning regula-
tions should be consulted in planning
new construction.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
i. General Character
New additions should be designed to create minimal loss of historic fabric.
Character - defining features of the original historic building should not be
destroyed, damaged, or obscured. New additions should conform to the size,
scale, massing, height, materials, and facade proportions of the historic build-
ing and surrounding structures. The original building should remain intact as
an historic building. The design of the new building should be highly compati-
ble with the original but also a product of its own time.
2. Siting
Additions should be located on an inconspicuous elevation of the historic
building, usually the rear. New additions should be compatible with the setback
of the existing historic building and the adjacent streetscape. Additions should
not destroy the character of the site, including topography, mature vegetation,
and significant views and vistas.
3. Materials and Details
Materials and details should be compatible with the original building and the
surrounding area; wood and masonry are preferable to other manufactured
materials.
4. Building Elements
Roofs
The skyline or roof profile should relate to the predominant roof shapes of the
historic building. Roofing materials used on additions should be appropriate
to the design of the building and the visibility of the roof. Roof hardware such
as skylights, vents, and metal pipe chimneys should not be placed on the front
roof plane.
DESIGN GUIDELINES
Windows and Entries
Vertically- oriented, double -hung sash are the predominant historic window
type in Stillwater, although there are exceptions. For additions, the proportion,
size, rhythm, and detailing of windows and entries should be visually compati-
ble with that of the existing historic building, and the rhythm of solids to voids
created by openings in the facade of the new structure should also be visually
compatible.
Porches
Porches are a standard feature of many historic houses in Stillwater. Whether
enclosed or unenclosed they are an important part of the streetscape. The front
entry of any new addition should be articulated with a design element such as
a porch, portico, or landing. This element should be appropriately detailed and
compatible with the size and scale of the building.
33
34 cAGLta, .1csznea
Decorative Trim
Decorative trim includes the brack-
ets, dentils, capitals, paneling, and
mouldings that decorate many houses.
Trim may be of wood, concrete, stone,
or metal. Save any trim that must be
removed and use it as guide in dupli-
cation. Where trim details cannot be
matched exactly, they can be approxi-
mated in size and bulk.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
1. Maintain and Conserve
Exterior architectural features including finials, cornices, brackets, columns,
balustrades and railings, and window and door moldings should be retained.
2. Documentation
Original trim details and other architectural features should be photographed
or otherwise recorded before they are removed for repair or replacement.
Deteriorated trim, if removed, should be saved for use in making duplicates.
3. Repair and Replacement
New material used to repair or replace deteriorated trim or other features
should match the original as closely as possible. Deteriorated trim that is
unsalvageable should be replaced with trim identical or similar to the original
design. Simplified trim should approximate the old in design and placement.
4. New Trim
Details should not be added in an effort to make the building look older.
However, in the case of some "pattern book" houses, the addition of certain
trim details such as those typical at the gable and porch may be permitted if
supported by historic photos or pattern book sources.
1. Retain and preserve garages and other accessory structures that contribute
to the historic character of the site and surrounding area.
2. Locate new garages in locations compatible with the main structure of
the site and existing traditional garages in the surrounding area. New garages
should not be attached to the front of the historic house.
3. Select prefabricated accessory buildings with appearance, material and
scale compatible to the main structure of the site and surrounding area.
4. Replace deteriorated garages with new building designs of compatible
form, scale, size, and materials (see New Construction Guidelines)
DESIGN GUIDELINES
Garages
35
There are many historic sheds,
carriage barns and early automobile
garages remaining in Stillwater. Some
were designed to match the architec-
tural style of the house, while others
are simple vernacular buildings.
Nearly all were sited in the rear yard
and reached by an alley or narrow
driveway from the street.
Carriage barns and garages add
to Stillwater' historic character and
should be conserved. New garages
and other accessory structures should
be compatible with the companion
historic house and the streetscape.
36ivia„, .10
Fences & Walls
Fences usually mark the transition
from the public street to the private
yard. Late nineteenth - century fences
in Stillwater included wood dowels or
flat sawn pickets supported by boxed
posts as well as elaborate wrought
iron or simple arched wire. Stillwater'
steep terraces provided a challenge for
the builders of stone and brick retain-
ing walls. These historic walls contrib-
ute greatly to the historic landscape
and should be conserved.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
1. Repair and Conservation
Existing historic fences of metal or wood should be repaired and conserved
wherever possible. Repairs should be compatible with the original materials
and design of the fence.
2. New Fences
New fences should be compatible with the architectural character, materials,
and scale of the principal building and surrounding streetscape. Fences enclos-
ing the front yard should be semi - transparent. Appropriate materials include
wrought iron and painted wooden pickets. In general, complete enclosure by
opaque fences is not appropriate.
3. Chain Link Fences
Chain link fences should not be used to enclose front yards or the front half
of side yards. Fences that allow some visual penetration of front yard space
are preferable to complete enclosure. Chain link fences should not be used to
enclose front yards or the front half of side yards.
4. Repair and Conservation of Retaining Walls
Existing historic walls (and stairs, where applicable) of fieldstone, limestone,
brick, or stucco should be repaired and conserved. Repairs should be compati-
ble with the adjoining masonry. (See Masonry Guidelines.)
5. New Retaining Walls
New walls should be compatible with the architectural character and scale of
the principal building and surrounding streetscape. Masonry retaining walls
should be finished with caps and other appropriate details. Limestone, brick,
and natural -color split -face (rock -face) concrete block are appropriate mate-
rials for the construction of new retaining walls visible from the public right -
of -way. Block with a round, striated, or polygonal profile is not appropriate.
Landscape timber is not appropriate for new retaining walls visible from the
public right of way.
1. Maintain and Conserve
Porches, steps, and handrails that are appropriate to the building and its
architectural development should be conserved and retained.
2. Repair and Replacement
Historic porches, steps, or handrails that require complete rebuilding or
partial replacement should be reconstructed using historical research to deter-
mine an appropriate design. Reconstructions should be compatible with the
period and style of the building in material, design, and detail. Concrete should
not be used to replace wooden porch floors or steps.
3. Railings
The original spacing, section, and profile of railings and balusters should
be maintained in replacement or repair. Unless historical evidence indicates,
reconstruction should include a bottom rail and balusters should not be
nailed directly to the step or deck. Metal railings should not be used to replace
wooden railings.
4. Posts and Columns
If replacement is necessary, porch posts and columns should be replaced
with units that replicate the original materials, size, and scale. Elaborate details
such as carving, turning, gouging, or stamping may simplified if necessary.
Wooden posts should not be replaced with metal posts or supports.
S. Decks
Decks should be constructed only at the rear of the building or where most
inconspicuous from the public street. Railings, steps, and other deck details
should be compatible with the architectural character of the building.
6. Fire Stairs
The detailing of fire stairs should be compatible with the period and style
of the building. In consultation with the building official, fire stairs should be
located as inconspicuously as possible.
DESIGN GUIDELINES
Porches & Steps
37
Porches are an exterior living space
that mark the transition between the
private house and public street. Some
only cover the entry, while others
wrap around the building. Porches
and steps are exposed to the weather
and receive hard use. Some buildings
have had a succession of replacements
that reflect different styles of archi-
tecture. In reconstructing a missing
porch, it is important to select posts
and railings of appropriate scale and
detail. Avoid using undersized ready -
made trim. Changes and additions
that have taken place over the course
of time are evidence of the history
of the property and may have signif-
icance in their own right. A Queen
Anne porch, for example, may have
been placed on an earlier Greek
Revival house.
Streetscape
One important feature of Stillwater'
historic districts and neighborhoods
is the original layout of grid -plan
streets, alleys, and sidewalks and the
regular division of blocks and lots.
The resulting network of spaces is a
part of the city's historic character.
The maintenance and repair of streets,
sidewalks, planting strips, retaining
walls, and fencing requires public
engineering standards that are sensi-
tive to the scale and appearance of
historic areas.
1. The maintenance and design of existing or new streets in or adjacent to
historic districts should respect the original plan of interconnected streets,
sidewalks, and alleys. Streets should not be widened to accommodate through
traffic and alleys should not be vacated. Cul -de -sac and dead -end streets should
not be created in existing grid -plan areas.
2. Preserve the mature neighborhood tree canopy wherever possible, and
replant with regularly- spaced trees where necessary. Planting strips and side-
walks should be preserved and maintained at maximum width.
3. Retaining walls should be compatible with traditional walls in Stillwater,
which were primarily limestone, brick, and poured concrete. While splitface
(rock -face) concrete block is appropriate for the construction of new retaining
walls, block with a round, striated, or polygonal profile should be avoided.
4. Iron or steel fencing should have appropriately scaled and detailed
masonry or steel piers.
5. Surface parking lots should be screened with landscaping, low masonry
walls, or iron or steel fencing of appropriate design.
NEW CONSTRUCTION
ew construction within Stillwater's
residential districts should be
compatible with the existing historic
buildings. New construction includes
additions to historic buildings, new
structures along primary streets, and
secondary structures such as garages,
sheds, outbuildings, or workshops.
Infill structures should align their
facades flush with the adjacent build-
ings to reinforce the rhythm and
consistency of the streetscape.
It is important that individual build-
ings act as part of the entire street
facade. When a building is missing
and a parking lot or park takes its
place, the streetscape is disrupted
when these "holes" exist.
1. Visual Relationship Between the
Old and New
A new building or addition should
relate visually to neighboring contrib-
uting historic buildings. Proposals
for new designs within the Historic
District will be considered for their
specific location and will be evalu-
ated based on their compatibility
with neighboring historic structures.
For a typical building, neighboring
historic structures include those to
each side of the structure and those
directly across the street from the
structure. For a new building located
at a corner, the neighboring historic
structures include all buildings at
the intersection in addition to those
immediately adjacent. Where a build-
ing falls near the edge of the Historic
District, historic buildings located
near but outside of the district will
also be taken into account during the
review process.
The goal is not to create reproduc-
tions of older buildings. The most
successful new structures in the
historic district are ones that are
clearly modern in design but compat-
ible with and sensitive to the charac-
ter of the historic district. Main Street
can be enriched by new buildings
that have merit on their own and are
sensitive to their setting.
2. Scale and Massing of Large
Buildings
Large buildings should be designed
as a series of masses or building
elements compatible with the imme-
diate streetscape. The massing of a
building greatly affects the scale of a
building and underlies all other archi-
tectural features. The typical commer-
cial building in downtown Stillwater
is a three -bay, one- or two -story
brick block with a flat (low slope)
roof. Where a large building in the
Historic District is unavoidable, the
mass of the proposed structure can be
broken down into traditional building
blocks that relate to the scale of the
streetscape, thereby blending into its
context.
3. Replicating Historic Buildings
The design of a new building should
not be an exact replica of any existing
historic building within the district.
Copies of historic buildings among
original ones look awkward and pres-
ent a false historic context. However,
40 d Ewa&, dia
a new structure's design may be
inspired by historic building designs
and features, and may be traditional
in form and detailing.
4. Relationship of Additions to
Historic Buildings
A proposed addition to a building in
the Historic District should be subor-
dinate to the principal facade and
mass of the historic building. This can
be achieved through its setback mass-
ing, width, and detail. The width of an
addition should generally not exceed
two- thirds the width of the principal
historic structure.
5. Building Placement and Setbacks
Historically, the building type
dictated the structure's setback from
the street. Commercial buildings
such as taverns, inns, retail shops,
and stores fronted directly onto the
sidewalk. New construction in the
district should follow the precedent of
adjacent lots.
Historically, most additions to
buildings in the Historic District
were built at the building rear facade
because there was no available build-
ing lot area on the street facade. These
additions were often built up to the
side yard lot lines, and had minimal
visual impact on the appearance of
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
the downtown. When an addition
fronted a commercial street, it was
typically set flush with the existing
building to create the appearance of
a larger, more substantial building.
Proposed additions should follow the
pattern of setbacks of adjacent build-
ings and building additions in order
to blend into the development pattern
of the immediate neighborhood.
6. Building Height and Form
The cornice line on the principal
facade of an addition should be equal
to or lower than the cornice line on
the principal facade of the historic
structure. Likewise, the ridge line
of an addition should be equal to
or lower than the ridge line of the
historic structure. The form of new
buildings should be compatible with
the form of adjacent historic struc-
tures.
The height and overall size of any
proposed new secondary structure
should not exceed the height and
overall size of the principal historic
structure on the lot where it is to be
constructed.
7. Building Width and Rhythm
Historically, the principal structures
of the district fill most if not all the
total frontage width along the street.
Additions and new buildings should
repeat the pattern of filling most of
the street frontage of a single lot.
8. Relationship of the Facade to the
Whole
All parts of a new building facade
should be visually integrated as a
composition, which should relate
to adjacent buildings. The size and
proportions of facade elements such
as doors, windows, cornices, and
water tables emphasize the verti-
cal and horizontal dimensions of a
facade. Exaggeration of these elements
and the use of ribbon windows, verti-
cal stacks of windows, and brick
courses of contrasting colors create a
design that is not compatible and out
of proportion with historic buildings.
9. Roof Form, Materials, and Features
While most commercial buildings
within the district have flat or shed
roofs, some buildings feature other
roof forms.
Historically, the roof form of an
addition placed along side an exist-
ing structure facing a street followed
the form of the principal building.
Continuing the historical precedent,
additions to gable roof structures that
face a street should also have a gable
roof. Additions on a secondary facade
can have a different roof form, such
as a shed roof. Mansard roofs should
be utilized in additions only when the
existing building features a mansard
roof.
On new buildings, the use of one
of the historic roof forms found
in the district is recommended.
Contemporary Mansard roof forms
and materials, which have been over-
used in fast -food restaurants and strip
shopping centers, are not appropriate
to the Historic District.
Skylights with a low profile are
acceptable on all secondary facades
but not on principal facades. It is
recommended that the placement of
skylights relate to the overall fenestra-
tion of the building by relating verti-
cally to other openings in the wall.
The use of dormers and skylights on
the same roof plane (i.e., next to each
other) is not recommended.
to. Exterior Wall Materials
Additions:
An addition should either repli-
cate the existing exterior wall mate-
rial in type, color, and texture or be
constructed of a historic exterior
wall material found in the district.
If wood siding is proposed for the
addition, the width, type, and detail
of the new siding should comple-
ment the proportions and scale of the
existing building. The wall materials
of an addition should be compatible
with the wall materials of the exist-
ing building. Except on secondary
facades, vinyl and aluminum siding
are not appropriate in the district.
Except on secondary facades, stucco
finishes are not appropriate to the
district.
New Construction.
The use of historic exterior wall
materials such as brick, cut stone,
or wood siding and their related
details are strongly encouraged for
new construction. The use of vinyl
or aluminum siding is not recom-
mended. Likewise, vinyl and alumi-
num facings and fabricated plastic
building components are not appro-
priate on primary facades.
The size and type of siding mate-
rials should be compatible with the
building type of the proposed new
building. For example, a garage or
workshop on an alley may have verti-
cal wood siding such as board -and-
batten siding, or may be stucco -faced
masonry. A principal structure in
the district historically would not
have vertical wood siding nor stucco
siding, but rather would have been
NEW CONTRUCTION
41
42 �a, ✓. neap%
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
The height of new structures should be compatible with those of neighboring historic
buildings and the surrounding context. Generally, new buidlings should not be more
than one story taller than their neighbors. The proposal in Figure A (top) is appropriate
to the character of the surrounding structures, while the design in Figure B is not. Taller
buildings should incorporate setbacks as illustrated in Figure C.
sided with a horizontal wood siding
such as clapboards, or would have
been constructed of brick masonry.
11. Windows and Doors
Additions:
It is recommended that the material
of windows and doors in additions
match the material of the window
and doors in the historic structure.
The proportion of windows and doors
in an addition should be similar to
the proportion of original openings.
Replicating the sash type and pane
configuration of the historic windows
is encouraged. If the sash type and
configuration is not replicated, a sash
type and configuration that is compat-
ible in type to the historic sash pattern
is recommended. For example, an
addition to a building should either
replicate the historic one - over -one,
double -hung sash configuration or
at least receive a double -hung sash
configuration with similar dimensions
to the historic fenestration.
New Construction.
The placement and proportion of
windows and doors should relate
to the placement and proportion of
openings on the historic buildings of
the district. It is recommended that
vertically proportioned windows
placed in a three, four, or five -bay
configuration be installed on principal
facades. The percentage of window
openings to total wall surface on a
principal facade should not exceed 33
percent (one- third) of the total wall
area. The use of double -hung sash
windows is encouraged. On second-
ary structures, the size and type of
windows and doors should relate to
the type of structure proposed.
12. Shutters and Blinds
Shutters and blinds are generally
discouraged on additions and on
new buildings. If shutter or blinds
are proposed, they should follow the
historical precedent of original shut-
ters and blinds. New shutters and
blinds should be properly sized to fit
the opening, and should appear oper-
able by being mounted on proper
shutter hardware. Plastic or metal
shutters and blinds are not appropri-
ate. New shutters and blinds should
be fitted with traditional shutter
hardware and should not be surface -
mounted directly onto an exterior
wall surface.
13. Building Accessibility
Where possible, a building addition
should be designed to include features
that make up for any accessibility
deficiencies of the original build-
ing. This approach can eliminate the
need for intrusive alterations to the
original building. All new buildings
except private homes and churches
are required by law to be accessible to
persons with disabilities. New build-
ings in the historic district should be
designed with accessibility features,
so that changes in level are accommo-
dated within the new building, not at
the building exterior.
14. Hardware, Mechanical, and
Electrical Devices
The mounting of small louvers,
registers, exhaust fans, alarm devices,
cable boxes, utility meters, commu-
nications equipment, and other
mechanical and /or electrical devices
should be avoided on principal
facades. To minimize their visual
impact, devices mounted on second-
ary facades should either be painted
to match the color of the material on
which they are mounted or screened
by landscaping features. Air condi-
tioning condenser units should be
screened from public view.
15. Lighting
Exterior lighting of additions and
new buildings should be simple
and in scale with the building. New
fixtures should be simple, unobtru-
sive, and mounted in a traditional
manner. Exterior recessed downlights,
if proposed, should be placed to
avoid dramatic light patterns on the
proposed building facade.
i6. Relationship of New Outbuildings
to The Historic Context
New outbuildings should visu-
ally relate to their historic context.
Outbuildings should be simple in
design, and should relate to the period
of construction of the principal build-
ing on the lot. The design of outbuild-
ings should not be overly elaborate.
Depending on the placement of the
building lot on the street, a proposed
outbuilding will be treated as either a
primary or secondary facade.
NEW CONTRUCTION
43
APPLYING THE GUIDELINES
successful rehabilitation of a historic
home begins with a careful reading of
the property's historic character. With
that understanding, you can develop
a plan and select treatments that are
sensitive to the architectural character
of the storefront.
Your best piece of evidence is right
in front of you —the building itself.
Stop and take an inventory of the
building's architectural character-
istics. What construction materials
were used? Are there key decora-
tive elements such as brackets or
a raised cornice? How does the
storefront relate to the upper stories?
The Washington County Historical
Society has an extensive collection of
historic photographs that can provide
even more evidence about the historic
character of your building.
Next, examine the current physical
conditions so that you can plan the
scope of the rehabilitation. Pay careful
attention to the roof and walls —espe-
cially pointing if the structure is
brick. Water represents the greatest
danger to the long -term stability of a
building. Then look at windows. Their
rehabilitation or replacement is often
the most crucial decision in the ulti-
mate success of a project.
Let's walk through the process,
making some basic observations.
STEP ONE
1. Shape
What is there about the form or
shape of the building that gives the
building its identity? Is the shape
distinctive in relation to the neigh-
boring? For example, most of the
buildings are rectangular in form.
The Simmer Service Station, on the
other hand, is a low, one -story build-
ing with its entrance set at a forty -five
angle to the street corner.
2. Roof and Roof Features
Does the roof shape or its steep (or
shallow) slope contribute to the build-
ing's character? Does the fact that the
roof is highly visible (or not visible
at all) contribute to the architectural
identity of the building? Are certain
roof features important to the profile
of the building against the sky or its
background, such as multiple chim-
neys, dormers, cresting, or weather
vanes? Are the roofing materials or
their colors or their patterns (such
as patterned slates) more noticeable
than the shape or slope of the roof?
For example, the Welch building, now
home of the Stillwater Independent,
stands out because it has a jerkinhead,
or clipped gable, roof.
3. Openings
Is there a rhythm or pattern to the
arrangement of windows or other
openings in the walls? Is there a
noticeable relationship between the
width of the window openings and
the wall space between the window
openings?
Are the entrances centered? Are
they recessed? Is one entrance more
prominent than the others? How is
the primary retail entrance differenti-
ated from other entrances? Is there
evidence that new entrances have
been added or have some been relo-
cated? Are the doors original or are
they later replacements?
Are there distinctive openings or
decorative window lintels that accen-
46 dam,, .,y14
tuate the importance the window
openings, or unusually shaped
windows, or patterned window
sash, like small panes of glass in the
windows or doors as seen in a historic
photograph of the Jansen building,
that are important to the character?
Would adding shutters or blinds
radically change the plainness of the
character of the windows? Is there a
hierarchy of facades that make the
front windows more important than
the side windows? What about blank
walls where the absence of windows?
Creating windows in these spaces
alters the historic character of a build-
ing.
4. Projections
What projects from the walls? Are
there porches, cornices, bay windows,
or balconies that shape the character
of the building? How about turrets, or
widely overhanging eaves, projecting
pediments or chimneys? Consider
the relative weight and scale of each
projection.
5. Trim and Secondary Features
Does the trim around the windows
or doors contribute to the character
of the building? Is there other trim on
the walls or around the projections
that, because of its decoration or
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
color or patterning contributes to the
character of the building? Are there
secondary features such as shutters,
decorative gables, railings, or exterior
wall panels?
6. Materials
What is building made of? Are
the construction materials of wood?
Metal? Brick or other masonry? A
combination? Do the materials or
combination of materials contribute
to the overall character of the build-
ing as seen from a distance because
of their color or patterning, such as
broken faced stone, scalloped wall
shingling, rounded rock foundation
walls, boards and battens, or textured
stucco?
7. Setting
What are the aspects of the setting
that are important to the visual char-
acter? For example, is the alignment
of buildings along a city street and
their relationship to the sidewalk
the essential aspect of its setting?
Consider the different spatial feeling
conveyed by the Washington County
Courthouse where the essential
character is dependent upon the
open lawn and various monuments
between the front door and the street.
Is the specific site important to the
setting such as being on a hilltop,
along a river, or, is the building placed
on the site in such a way to enhance
its setting? Is there a special relation-
ship to the adjoining streets and other
buildings? Is there a view?
STEP TWO
8. Materials at Close Range
Has the choice of materials or the
combinations of materials contrib-
uted to the character? Are there
one or more materials that have an
inherent texture that contributes to
the close range character, such as
stucco, exposed aggregate concrete, or
brick textured with vertical grooves?
Consider the differences between the
rusticated concrete block or the dark
brown rough brick next door. Are
there combinations of materials, such
as several different kinds of stone,
combinations of stone and brick,
dressed stones for window lintels used
in conjunction with rough stones for
the wall?
9. Craft Details
Is there high quality brickwork with
narrow mortar joints? Is there hand
tooled or patterned stonework? Do
the walls exhibit carefully struck verti-
cal mortar joints and recessed hori-
zontal joints? Do the clapboards have
a machine smooth beveled siding? are
there decorative designs executed in
stucco?
Almost any evidence of craft details,
whether handmade or machinemade,
contribute to the character of a build-
ing because it is evidence of the times
in which the work was done, and of
the tools and processes used.
STEP THREE
io. Individual Spaces
Are there individual rooms or
spaces that are important to this
building because of their size, height,
proportion, configuration, or func-
tion, like the center hallway in a
house, or the bank lobby, or the
school auditorium, or the ballroom
in a hotel, or a courtroom in a county
courthouse?
11. Related Spaces and Sequences of
Spaces
Is there an important sequence of
spaces that are related to each other,
such as the sequence from the entry
way to the lobby to the stairway and
to the upper balcony as in a theatre;
or the sequence in an office building
from the entry vestibule to the lobby
to the bank of elevators? Consider, for
example, the interior of the Stillwater
County Bank. Are there adjoining
rooms that are visually and physically
related with large doorways or open
archways so that they are perceived as
related rooms as opposed to separate
rooms?
12. Interior Features
Most often, interiors have been
substantially altered, so one must
look carefully at the evidence. What
interior features define the charac-
ter of the building, such as fireplace
mantels, stairways and balustrades,
arched openings, interior shutters,
inglenooks, cornices, ceiling medal-
lions, light fixtures, balconies, doors,
windows, hardware, wainscoting,
panelling, trim, church pews, court-
room bars, teller cages, waiting room
benches?
13. Surface Finishes and Materials
Are there surface finishes and mate-
rials that can affect the design, the
color or the texture of the interior?
Are there materials and finishes or
craft practices that contribute to the
interior character, such as wooden
parquet floors, checkerboard marble
floors, pressed metal ceilings, fine
hardwoods, grained doors or marble-
ized surfaces, or stenciling, or wallpa-
per that is important to the historic
character? Are there surface finishes
and materials that, because of their
plainness, impart the essential char-
acter of the interior such as hard or
bright, shiny wall surfaces of plaster
or glass or metal?
14. Exposed Structure
Are there spaces where the exposed
structural elements define the interior
character such as the exposed posts,
beams, and trusses in a church or
train shed or factory? Are there rooms
with decorative, nonstructural ceiling
beams?
By now, you should have an under-
standing of the visual aspects of
historic buildings.
In evaluating whether the existing
storefront is worthy of preservation,
recognize that good design can exist
in any period; a storefront added
in 1930 may have greater architec-
tural merit than what is replaced. In
commercial historic districts, it is
often the diversity of styles and detail-
ing that contribute to the character;
removing a storefront dating from
1910 simply because other buildings
in the district have been restored to
their 187os appearance may not be
the best preservation approach. If the
storefront design is a good example of
its period and if it has gained signifi-
APPLYING THE GUIDELINES
cance over time, it should be retained
as part of the historical evolution of
the building.
PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT
Finally, it is time to look at the
current physical condition of the
property. Walk through the building
as determine its general condition.
Mild Deterioration:
Mild deterioration generally requires
only maintenance level treatments.
Do the surface materials need
repair? Is paint flaking? Are metal
components rusting? Do joints need
recaulking where materials meet glass
windows?
Moderate Deterioration:
Moderate deterioration generally
requires patching or splicing of the
existing elements with new pieces
to match the deteriorated element.
Do stone or brick components need
repointing? Is the storefront water-
tight with good flashing connections?
Are there leaky gutters or air condi-
tioner units which drip condensation
on the storefront? Is caulking needed?
Can rotted or rusted or broken
sections of material be replaced with
new material to match the old? Can
material from a non - conspicuous
location be used on the historic facade
47
to repair damaged elements?
Severe Deterioration:
Severe deterioration generally
requires replacement of deterio-
rated elements as part of the overall
rehabilitation. Have existing facing
materials deteriorated beyond repair
through vandalism, settlement, or
water penetration? Is there a loss of
structural integrity? Is the material
rusted through, rotted, buckling,
completely missing? Are structural
lintels sagging? Are support columns
settled or out of alignment?
Now you are ready to draft your
preservation plan. In the next section,
we will look at several buildings in the
historic district.
This section is adapted from Lee
H. Nelson, Preservation Brief #17—
Architectural Character: Identifying the
Visual Aspects of Historic Buildings as
an Aid to Preserving Their Character.
National Park Service.
THE REVIEW PROCESS
he Stillwater Heritage Preservation
Commission requires a prop-
erty owner, planning exterior
alterations to a structure or new
construction within the historic
districts, to complete an applica-
tion form to obtain a Certificate
of Appropriateness (C.O.A.). The
application is reviewed by the
Commission, which consists of eleven
residents of the City, appointed by the
Mayor. The Commission will review
the proposed work according to the
Secretary of the Interior's Standards
for Rehabilitation, and the City of
Stillwater's Design Guidelines. A
building permit will be issued follow-
ing the Commission's approval of the
project plans for the exterior of the
structure.
1. Obtain an application for a
Certificate of Appropriateness from
the City of Stillwater, City Hall,
216 North Fourth Street, Stillwater,
Minnesota, or call 651- 43o -880o.
You must submit the application
for a C.O.A. ten (10) working
days prior to the next regularly
scheduled meeting of the Heritage
Preservation Commission (HPC).
The Commission generally meets
once a month.
2. Call the staff at the City Hall, for
the date and time of the next sched-
uled meeting. Review the City of
Stillwater's guidelines (found in this
book) and The Secretary of Interior's
Standards for Rehabilitation. The
HPC provides specific guidelines and
details on permissible alterations to
the exterior of your downtown build-
ing. You are encouraged to contact
the city staff prior to submitting your
application.
3. Prepare the application for a C.O.A.
and include the following items:
a. Plans drawn to a legible scale show-
ing the proposed alteration, includ-
ing size, description of materials and
work to be completed.
b. A site plan dimensioned to legible
scale showing existing property lines
and any prominent features of the
site.
c. A current photo of the structure.
d. A detailed sketch of the renovation
or repair(s) you wish to perform to
the structure or property.
e. A completed application form for a
C.O.A..
4. Sign and return the application
form for a C.O.A. with your drawings,
photos, and site plan to the City of
Stillwater, 216 North Fourth Street,
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082.
Frequently Asked Questions
Doesn't this just add a layer of
bureaucracy?
When changes or additions are
proposed to designated buildings, the
Heritage Preservation Commission's
review process will be expeditious,
predictable, and integrated into the
normal review given all construc-
tion permits. If the Commission
has neither approved nor denied
the C.O.A. within twenty working
days from the filing, the plans and
permit application shall be considered
approved. The determination will be
given in writing, and if the proposal
50 A1/4.,,,&, /k,-;,„ue
is not approved, the reasons for disap-
proval should be given. As owners
become accustomed to this procedure
it should proceed quickly, taking no
longer than other approvals.
Must I restore my house to its original
condition?
No. The design guidelines are passive.
You are not required to make any
alterations to your property. The
property can remain as it is when
designated and all materials can be
replaced in kind with similar materi-
als. If the roof is asphalt shingles, you
can replace it with asphalt shingles
of any color. You may also replace
existing vinyl or aluminum siding
with a different colored siding of the
same material. You only need an HPC
Certificate of Approval to change the
materials or alter the design.
Do I need permission for ordinary
maintenance to my building?
No. As long as the materials and
design are not changed, you do not
need permission to paint, make
repairs, or replace materials in -kind
(replacing wood siding with the same
type of wood siding, etc.). In addition,
the City Manager is empowered to
approve emergency repairs without
prior Commission action. Work that
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
is specifically exempt from review
includes painting, interior remodel-
ing, and use of the structure.
Can I paint my building any color I
want, even purple and green?
Yes, you can! The Heritage
Preservation Commission does not
regulate paint colors inside or out.
However, owners who contemplate
painting a building are invited to
discuss appropriate color schemes
with the HPC. Note, though, that the
guidelines do not permit painting the
exterior of a brick building that is now
unpainted.
Are there any tax benefits?
At present, there are only a few tax
benefits. If the property is income -
producing, it may qualify for a 2o%
federal historic preservation tax
credit.
Can I alter the office space, re- arrange
rooms, and remodel the interior with-
out HPC review and a Certificate of
Approval?
The HPC has no jurisdiction on the
interior of historic properties, just the
exterior.
Can I put an addition on my historic
property?
Yes, you usually can. The Heritage
Preservation Commission (HPC)
prefers additions to be located away
from public view to preserve the
period streetscape. The HPC encour-
ages people to meet with them early
in the design process and get feedback
on the design. The addition should
be compatible with your building
and appropriate for your streetscape.
Additions also must comply with the
zoning ordinance and receive building
permits.
Is there a fee for a Heritage
Preservation Commission Certificate
of Appropriateness?
No.
Is the HPC Certificate of Approval all
I need?
Not always. You still must have
approved building, fence, sign, elec-
tric and other permits as required by
the City of Stillwater.
Where can I go for assistance in
developing design changes that will be
appropriate for the historic district?
Historic District property owners
who want assistance may contact the
Heritage Preservation Commission.
The Commission cannot develop
plans or designs but can offer some
suggestions based on the Design
Guidelines. Consultations in the early
design stages are especially encour-
aged and can eliminate miscommuni-
cation.
Is there historical information about
my building?
Probably. The Heritage Preservation
Commission completed a survey of
historic properties and inventory
forms are available at the Historic
Preservation Office. The Stillwater
County Historical Society also has
archives and collections on local
properties and people. In addition,
Stillwater County tax records offer a
wealth of information.
What is the difference between a local
historic district and listing on the
National Register of Historic Places?
National Register listing, while largely
honorary, protects properties from
any federal or state sponsored impact.
For example, if a state highway project
was planned for downtown Stillwater,
it would require a review of its impact
on the historic district and possibly
call for mitigation. If the property
is considered contributing to the
district, it also qualifies for the federal
preservation tax credit.
A local district — approved by
local ordinance — places the task of
design review in the hands of a city-
appointed commission, many of
whom own buildings in the district.
Will inclusion in a local Historic
District restrict how I may use my
property?
No. Historic district designations do
not restrict zoning or land use. No
new restrictions are placed on the use
of properties in historic districts.
What might happen to the value of
my property if it is included in the
Historic District?
Designation of an area as a historic
district will not directly affect prop-
erty values. Because the Historic
District properties have some protec-
tion and tax incentives available,
owners may be more inclined to make
improvements to their properties,
and this may increase the value of all
property in a given district. Studies
have shown that property values
typically increase following historic
district designation.
Are all buildings in the historic
districts necessarily historic?
No. The boundaries include several
non - historic properties, such as
THE REVIEW PROCESS
51
the Stillwater County Bank and
the former American Legion Hall.
Changes made to non - historic prop-
erties can often be done in a way that
will enhance or be in keeping with the
integrity of the entire district.
Can new buildings be constructed in
the historic districts?
Yes. New construction and addi-
tions are subject to design review to
ensure that they are compatible with
the surrounding district. New build-
ings do not have to be imitations of
historic ones.
Do I have any say as to whether
my property is included in the local
historic district?
Yes. Before the Commission desig-
nates a property, all residents and
owners of property in the proposed
local district — including those within
30o feet of its boundaries —have the
opportunity to express their views at
a public hearing before the Stillwater
Heritage Preservation Commission.
Its action must be further approved
by the Planning Commission and the
City Council.
If I am unhappy with a decision
made by the Commission concern-
ing my Certificate of Appropriateness
Application, may I appeal?
Yes. Appeals may be made to the
Stillwater City Council, which may
overturn the Commission's decision
by a majority vote of all the members.
Won't this just cause unnecessary
hardship to property owners?
The act of designation should not
cause economic hardship. The ordi-
nance does not restrict the owner's
use of the property. These guidelines
are completely passive —no owner
is required to change his property,
simply to follow standards if a change
is made. In fact, the owner can draw
on the experience and advice of the
Heritage Preservation Commission to
make changes that will enhance the
value of their property Often, small
adjustments are all that are necessary
to conform to the design guidelines.
Finally, as a last resort, owners who
feel they have been unfairly penal-
ized may typically appeal to the city
council.
Couldn't the designation just be
voluntary rather than mandatory?
A voluntary ordinance is inherently
weak. For example, a city would not
typically consider a voluntary zoning
ordinance or building code.
The community interest in historic
preservation is twofold. The primary
purpose of historic preservation is for
its cultural values— sustaining a sense
of place, maintaining the historic
associations of buildings with past
events and people, and preserving
the aesthetic qualities of older struc-
tures. Through careful consideration
of community values, with advice
from knowledgeable historians, the
Heritage Preservation Commission
brings a wide perspective to the ques-
tion of whether a property is histori-
cally significant. Historic designation
is the only protection against demo-
lition or destructive alterations that
might permanently destroy commu-
nity treasures.
Historic preservation is also a sound
economic investment. Study after
study shows that designating a land-
mark or district typically maintains if
not boosts the value of the property,
and as an economic development tool,
historic preservation has proven its
worth.
Yet, a critical mass is necessary
to gain the greatest benefit from a
historic district. Intrusive build-
ings, inappropriate architectural
elements, and empty lots diminish a
sense of place. For that reason, local
historic designation offers a way for
property owners to work together
for the common good by following
these simple design guidelines. These
guidelines are completely passive —no
owner is required to change his prop-
erty, simply to follow standards if a
change is made.
GLOSSARY
a
adaptive use. The conversion of a
building to a use other than that for
which it was built.
alcove. A recess or small room that
connects to or forms part of a larger
room.
architrave. 1) The lowest horizontal
element of a classical entablature;
2) The ornamental moldings (trim)
around windows, doors, and other
wall openings.
awning. A roof -like covering placed
over a door or window to provide
shelter from the elements. Historically
they were constructed of fabric, but
contemporary materials include metal
and plastic.
b
baluster. A shaped, short vertical
member, often circular in section,
supporting a railing or capping.
balustrade. An assembly consisting of
a railing or cap -ping supported by a
series of balusters.
bay. A regularly repeated main
division of a building design. A
building whose facade is five windows
wide may be described as a five -bay
building.
bay window. A window structure
projecting beyond the main wall
plane; if attached to the building
above ground level, properly called an
oriel.
blind. A louvered shutter that
excludes vision and direct sunlight,
but not indirect light and air, from a
house.
bond. Masonry units arranged in
any of a variety of recognizable, and
usually overlap -ping patterns so as to
increase the strength and enhance the
appearance of the construction.
bracket. A projecting support placed
under an architectural overhang such
as a cornice; often ornate.
brick veneer. A non - structural
facing of brick laid against a wall for
ornamental, protective or insulation
purposes.
bulkhead. Located at the foot of a
storefront, the bulkhead is the base
that supports the display window.
c
canopy. An overhanging cover for
shelter or shade.
capital. The top member (cap) of a
column.
casement sash, casement window. A
window sash which is side - hinged; a
window having casement sashes.
casing. The exposed architectural trim
or lining around a wall opening.
cladding. The process of bonding one
material to another.
clapboard. A long narrow board with
one edge thicker than the other to
facilitate overlap; used to cover the
outer walls of frame structures. Also
known as weatherboard, bevel siding,
and lap siding.
classical. 1) Decorative elements
deriving directly or indirectly
from the architectural vocabulary
of ancient Greece and Rome; 2)
architectural harmony based on
the principles of ancient Greek and
Roman architecture.
column. A long vertical structural
member that supports a load; in
classical terms, a cylindrical support
having a base, shaft, and capital.
(Note: In the Doric order the column
has no base.)
context. The surroundings, both
historical and environmental, of a
building or town.
coping. A cap or covering at the top
edge of a wall, either flat or sloping, to
shed water.
54 la-La PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
corbel
corbel. A slightly projecting
architectural element, usually in
masonry, cantilevered from upper
exterior walls; usually topped by a
cornice or coping.
cornice. Strictly, the upper projecting
part of an entablature; in carpenter/
builder terminology, any projected
molding ( "crown molding ") which
crowns or finishes a horizontal fascia;
the exterior assembly which closes the
joint between the wall and roof of a
building.
d
demolition. The intentional
destruction of all or part of a building
or structure.
demolition by neglect. The destruction
of a building or structure caused
by the failure to perform routine
maintenance over a period of time.
display windows. Usually extending
from the transom or cornice /frieze to
the bulkhead and consisting of one
pane of glass, the display window is an
essential element that helps to define a
building's storefront.
Doric. One of the five classical orders,
column usually without a base and
with a simple capital.
dormer. A roofed structure with a
vertical window that projects from a
pitched roof.
double -hung sash window. A window
with two vertical sliding sashes, each
closing half of the window opening.
e
eave. The lower part of a roof that
projects beyond the wall.
elevation. The perpendicular view
of a side of a building; an accurate
drawing of one side of a building that
represents its true dimensions in the
plane perpendicular to the line of
sight.
ell. A wing or addition extended
at a right angle from the principal
dimension of building, resulting in an
"L" shaped plan.
entablature. The horizontal member
carried by columns, composed of
architrave (bottom), frieze, and
cornice (top).
f
facade. The exterior front face of a
building; usually the most ornate or
articulated elevation.
fanlight. A half - circular or half -
elliptical window; often placed over a
door.
fascia. Any long, flat horizontal band
or member.
fenestration. The arrangement and
design of window and door openings
in a building.
frame. The fixed portion of a window
comprising two jambs, a head and a
sill.
frieze. The frieze, located directly
below the cornice, is a decorative
band. Often, the frieze was designed
in conjunction with the cornice.
frontispiece. An ornamental portal or
entrance bay around a main door.
g
gable. The vertical triangular shape
of a building wall above the cornice
height, formed by two sloping roof
planes.
gambrel roof A ridged roof with two
slopes on each side, the lower roof
having the steeper pitch.
general maintenance. Ordinary
maintenance needed to keep a
building or structure in good repair
and does not require a change in
materials.
gingerbread. A pierced wooden
curvilinear ornament, executed with a
jigsaw or scroll saw and located under
the eaves of the roof.
h
head. The uppermost member of a
door -frame or window frame.
header. In brick masonry, a brick
laid so that its end is exposed in the
finished wall surface.
hip. The external angle at the
intersection of two roof planes; a hip
roof has roof planes that slope toward
the eaves on all sides of the building.
hood. A projecting cover placed over
an opening to shelter it.
j
jambs. Either of the vertical sides of
an arch -way, doorway or window
opening.
jerkinhead. A roof form with a
truncated or clipped gable. Also called
a clipped gable or
light. A pane of glass installed in a
window sash.
lintel. A horizontal structural member
that spans an opening, for example a
window lintel.
m
Mansard. A roof that is double
pitched, the lower being much steeper,
designed to allow a full story height
within the attic space.
mass. Bulk or three - dimensional size
of an object.
massing. The combination of several
masses to create a building volume;
organization of the shape of a
building, as differentiated from wall
treatment, fenestration, etc.
jerkinhead
GLOSSARY
55
meeting rail. The rail of each sash in
a double -hung window that meets at
the rail of the other when the window
is closed.
mullion. A vertical member
separating windows, doors, or panels
set in series; often used for structural
purposes.
muntin. A slender member separating
and encasing panes of glass in a
window sash.
0
order. In classical architecture, a
column with base (usually) shaft,
capital, and entablature, embellished
and proportioned according to one of
the accepted styles— Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.
oriel. A window structure projecting
beyond the main wall plane attached
to the building above ground level.
P
Palladian window. A three -part
window consisting of a prominent
center window unit, often arched,
flanked by smaller windows.
pane. A flat sheet of glass cut to size
for glazing use in a window; also
called a light.
panel. A section that is recessed below
or raised above the surrounding area
or enclosed by a frame or border.
parapet. A low guarding wall at the
edge of a roof or balcony; the portion
of a fire wall or party wall above the
roof level.
parge. A coating of cement -based
mortar (stucco) applied over rough
masonry work.
pediment. In classical architecture,
the triangular gable end of a roof
above a horizontal cornice; a simi-
lar triangular form over a door or
window.
piers. Vertical- supporting members
that frame an opening such as a
window or door. Sometimes designed
as a flat column or pilaster, piers are
often used to divide store - fronts,
display windows or the entrance to a
building's upper floors.
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
pilaster. Similar to a column, a
pilaster is a shallow rectangular
feature that projects from a wall and
has a capital and base.
pitch, roof The slope of a roof; usually
expressed as a ratio of vertical rise to
horizontal run (inches vertical in 12
inches horizontal).
plan. A two - dimensional view of a
building, or horizontal section of it,
seen from above; hence, a precise
drawing showing the arrangement of
design, including wall openings and
dimensions.
porch. A structure attached to a
building to shelter an entrance or
to serve as a semi - enclosed space,
usually roofed and generally open -
sided.
portico. A large porch or covered walk
with a roof supported by columns or
piers.
proportion. The relation of one
dimension to another; usually
described as a numerical ratio; in
architecture, proportions determine
the creation of visual order through
coordination of shapes in a design.
q
quoin. A masonry (or simulated
masonry) unit applied to the corner of
a building; often slightly projecting.
r
rail. Horizontal members framing a
panel.
reconstruction. New construction
to accurately recreate a vanished
building or architectural element as it
appeared at a specific period of time.
The work is based on reliable physical,
documentary, or graphic evidence.
rehabilitation. Returning a structure
to viable use while preserving its
distinctive architectural and historic
character.
remodeling. Changing a building
without regard to its distinctive,
character defining architectural
features or style.
restoration. Returning a building to a
particular period of time by removing
later work and replacing missing
earlier work.
reveal.The part of the jamb that is
visible between the outer wall surface
and window or doorframe.
segmental arch
rhythm. A patterned repetition or
alternation of formal elements (doors,
windows, porches, etc.) or motifs in
the same or a modified form.
ridge. The highest point of a roof or
horizontal line where two roof planes
meet.
s
sash. The movable framework holding
the glass in a window
scale. The apparent size and mass of a
building's facade and form in relation
to nearby buildings. Important factors
in establishing the scale of a facade
include the physical relationship of
elements such as window area to wall
area; the shape and size of fenestration
forms such as the subdivision of
windows into lights; the bonding
pattern of the brickwork; and details
such as cornices and trim.
segmental arch. An arch in which the
arched portion is less than a semi-
circle.
shed roof A single - pitched roof over a
small room; often attached to a main
structure.
shutter. An external movable screen
or door used to cover a wall opening,
especially a window; originally for
security purposes; often confused
with louvered blinds.
sidelight. A framed area of fixed glass
alongside a door or window opening.
sill. The horizontal lower member of a
window or other frame.
single pile. A floor plan that is one
room deep.
site plan. An accurate scaled drawing
of a site (lot) as if seen from above,
describing the property boundary
and orientation, the location of
buildings, driveways, walks and
other constructed site improvements,
the retained vegetation, and new
plantings and finished grade contours.
soffit. The exposed undersurface of an
over -head building component such
as a roof.
skylight. A glazed opening in a roof
plane that admits light.
stoop. An uncovered platform and
steps at an entrance.
streetscape. A setting or expanse
consisting of the street, landscaping,
and buildings along a street, as seen
by the eye in one view
street wall. The line formed by the
facades of buildings set back a
common distance from the street.
stretcher. A brick laid with the long
side visible in the finished work
string course. A horizontal course of
masonry or wood trim which projects
from a wall.
symmetrical. A similarity of form
or arrangement on either side of a
dividing line.
t
transom. A horizontal bar of wood
or stone separating a door from a
transom window above it.
v
vernacular. A mode of building based
on regional forms and materials.
w
water table. A horizontal course of
masonry or wood trim separating the
foundation walls from the exterior
walls above.
GLOSSARY 57
Glossary definitions are in part based
on Historic Architecture Sourcebook
by Cyril M. Harris, Ed., New York:
McGraw -Hill Book Company, 1977.
FURTHER READING
History and Historic Buildings
Blegan, Theodore C. Minnesota: A
History of the State. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1963.
Folwell, William W. A History of
Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society, 1956.
Grawe, Paul H., "Rivers, Railroads,
and Regionalism;' in Perspectives on
Regionalism, ed. Ahmed El- Afandi.
Stillwater: Stillwater State College,
1973.
Holmquist, June Drenning, ed. They
Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the
State's Ethnic Groups. St. Paul:
Minnesota Historical Society Press,
1981.
Hubbard, Lucius F., and Return I.
Holcombe. Minnesota in Three
Centuries. St. Paul: The Publishing
Society of Minnesota, 1908.
Kennedy, Roger. Minnesota Houses,
An Architectural and Historical
View. Minneapolis: Dillon Press,
1967.
Merrick, George Byron. Old Times
on the Upper Mississippi: The
Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot
From 1854 -1863. St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society Press, 1987.
Sanborn Map Company, Insurance
Map of Stillwater. New York:
Sanborn Map Company, 1889
(updated 1892); 1894 (updated
1908); and 1917 (updated 1949).
Architectural and Cultural
History
Francaviglia, Richard V. Main Street
Revisited: Time, Space, and Image
Building in Small -Town America.
Iowa City: University of Iowa Press,
1990.
Lanier, Gabrielle M. and Bernard
L. Herman. Everyday Architecture
of the Mid - Atlantic: Looking
at Buildings and Landscapes.
Baltimore: The John Hopkins
University Press, 1990.
Longstreth, Richard. The Buildings of
Main Street. Washington D.C.: The
Preservation Press, 1987. Standard
text about the building types of
commercial areas.
McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field
Guide to American Houses. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
Oldenberg, Ray. The Great Good
Place. New York: Paragon Press,
1989.
Rifkin, Carole. Main Street: The
Face of Urban America. New York:
Harper and Row, 1977.
Rudofsky, Bernard. Streets for People:
A Primer for Americans. Garden
City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1969.
Stilgoe, John R. Common Landscape
of America: 1580 -1845. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1982.
Historic Building Maintenance
and Planning
Bucher, Ward, ed. Dictionary of
Building Preservation. New York:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1989.
Fisher, Charles E. and Hugh C.
Miller, ed. Caring for Your Historic
House: Preserving and Maintaining:
Structural Systems, Roofs, Masonry,
Plaster, Wallpapers, Paint,
Mechanical and Electrical Systems,
Windows, Woodwork, Flooring,
Landscape. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, Publishers, 1988.
London, Mark. Respectful
Rehabilitation: Masonry.
Washington D.C.: National Trust for
Historic Preservation, 1988.
McKee, Harley J., FAIA. Introduction
to Early American Masonry:
Stone, Brick, Mortar and Plaster.
Washington DC: National Trust for
Historic Preservation and Columbia
University, 1973.
Moss, Roger W. ed. Lighting for
Historic Buildings. Washington D.C.:
The Preservation Press, 1988.
New York Landmarks Conservancy.
Repairing Old and Historic
Windows: A Manual for Architects
and Homeowners. Washington
D.C.: National Trust for Historic
Preservation, 1982.
Technical ./Materials information
Series
These booklets, produced by
the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, focus on a broad range
of preservationrelated topics.
2153: The Economics of Rehabilitation
2189: A Guide to Tax - Advantaged
Rehabilitation
2187: Appraising Historic Properties
2157: Safety, Building Codes, and
Historic Preservation
2170: Coping with Contamination: A
Primer for Preservationists
2125: Establishing an Easement
Program to Protect Historic, Scenic,
and Nahlral Resources
2185: Design Review in Historic
Districts
2162: Reviewing New Construction
Projects in Historic Areas
Preservation Briefs series. Washington,
DC: Technical Preservation
Services, National Park Service.
(Available on the National Park
Service website.) These include:
01: The Cleaning and Waterproof
Coating of Masonry Buildings
02: Repointing Mortar Joints in
Historic Masonry Buildings
03: Roofing for Historic Buildings o6:
Dangers of Abrasive Cleaning to
Historic Buildings
07: The Preservation of Historic Glazed
Architectural Terra -Cotta
09: The Repair of Historic Wooden
Windaws
10: Exterior Paint Problems on Historic
Woodwork
11: Rehabilitating Historic Storefronts
14: New Exterior Additions to Historic
Buildings: Preservation Concerns
15: Preservation of Historic Concrete
16: The Use of Substitute Materials on
Historic Building Exteriors
17: Architectural Character: Identifying
the Visual Aspects of Historic
Buildings as an Aid to Preserving
Their Character
25: The Preservation of Historic Signs
27: The Maintenance and Repair of
Architectural Cast Iron
31: Mothballing Historic Buildings
32: Making Historic Properties
Accessible
33: The Preservation and Repair of
Stained and Leaded Glass
35: Understanding Old Buildings: The
Process of Architectural Investigation
38: Removing Graffiti from Historic
Masonry
39: Holding the Line: Controlling
Unwanted Moisture in Historic
Buildings
FURTHER READING
Additional Preservation Briefs
might be useful for interior work:
13: Conserving Energy in Historic
Buildings
59
18: Rehabilitating Interiors in Historic
Buildings: Identifying Character -
Defining Elements
21: Repairing Historic Flat Plaster:
Walls and Ceilings
23: Preserving Historic Ornamental
Plaster
24: Heating, Ventilating, and Cooling
Historic Buildings: Problems and
Recommended Approaches
28: Painting Historic Interiors
34: Historic Interiors: Preserving
Historic Composition Ornament
40: Preserving Historic Ceramic Tile
Floors
6o Aetzta , dle;z4zeaa4 PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Other preservation- related publi-
cations of the Government Printing
Office are available through the
Superintendent of Documents:
Affordable Housing Through Historic
Preservation: Tax Credits and the
Secretary of the Interior's Standards
for Historic Rehabilitation. Susan
Escheric— Stephen J. Farneth, and
Bruce Judd.
Metals in America's Historic Buildings:
Uses and Preservation Treatments.
Margot Gayle, David W. Look, and
John G. Waite. GPO Stock No. 024-
005- 01108 -1, $13.
The Secretary of Interior's Standards for
the Treatment of Historic Properties
with Illustrated Guidelines for
Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring,
and Reconstructing Historic
Buildings. Kay D. Weeks and Anne
E. Grimmer.
Preservation Tech Notes Preservation
Tech Notes are developed by the
National Park Service and are sold
in sets by the National Technical
Information Serviee (NTIS) of the
U.S. Department of Commerce:
The Old -House Journal, a periodical
published by the Home Building
and Remodeling Network, is paeked
with useful information for reno-
vators of commercial as well as
residential property. In addition to
the magazine, the company offers a
variety of books, videos, and other
items of use to those contemplat-
ing or involved in a rehabilitation
project.
Traditional Building Magazine. This
bimonthly periodical is the official
trade magazine of the Restoration
and Renovation Show, an annual
exposition held at various locations
around the country. The magazine
eaters to owners of older buildings
and to design and construction
professionals. The Web site includes
articles from the magazine, informa-
tion on products and suppliers, and
links to suppliers and free product
literature.
Entrances to the Past (video), by Kay
D. Weeks, Kay Ellis, and David
C. Park. Available from Historic
Windsor, Inc., P.O. Box 1777,
Windsor, VT 05089 -0021; 802 -674-
6752; $15.00.
Appraising Easements: Guidelines for
Valuation of Historic Preservation
and Land Conservation Easements.
Available from the Land Trust
Alliance, 1319 F Street N.W., Suite
501, Washington, D.C. 20004 -1006;
202- 638 -4725; $20 includes shipping
and handling.
Awnings and Tents (reprint of 1912
eanvas manufacturer's manual).
Available from the bookstore of the
Awnings Division of the Industrial
Fabrics Association International,
345 Cedar Building, Suite 45o, Saint
Paul, Minnesota 55101; 651- 222 -2508.
Keeping It Clean: Removing Dirt,
Paint, Stains, and Graffiti from
Historic Exterior Masonry, by Anne
E. Grimmer. Available from PRG,
Ine, P.O. Box 1768, Rockville, MD
20849 -1768; 301 -309 -2222; $10.50
includes shipping and handling.
Respectful Rehabilitation: Answers to
Your Questions on Historic Buildings,
edited by Kay D. Weeks and Diane
Maddex. Available from John Wiley
& Sons Distribution Center, 1 Wiley
Drivej Somerset, NJ 08875 -1272;
800 - 225-5945; $17.45 including ship-
ping and handling.
The Window Handbook: Successful
Strategies for Rehabilitating Windows
in Historic Buildings, edited by
Charles Fisher.
Window Rehabilitation Guide for
Historic Buildings.
Historic Color References
Century of Color: Exterior Decoration
for American Buildings, 1820 -1920.
Watkins Glen, NY: American Life
Foundation, 1981.
Moss, Roger W. Paint in America:
The Colors of Historic Buildings.
Washington D.C.: The Preservation
Press, 1984.
Organizations
Washington County Historical
Society, P. O. Box iStillwater,
Minnesota 55987 651- 439 -5956, web
site: www.wchsmn.org
Minnesota Historical Society, 345
Kellogg Boulevard West Saint Paul,
Minnesota 55102 -1906, 651-296 -
5434, web site: www.mnhs.org
FURTHER READING 61
National Trust for Historic
Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts
Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.
20036 202- 673 -4296, web site: www.
nthp.org
State Historic Preservation Office 345
Kellogg Boulevard West Saint Paul,
Minnesota 55102 -1906 651 - 296-5434,
web site: www.mnhs.org
The Preservation Alliance of
Minnesota, 516 Landmark Center,
75 West Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN
55102 -1406, (651) 293-9047, web site:
www.mnpreservation.org
National Center for Preservation
Technology and Training (NCPTI).
The NCPTT, a division of the
National Park Service, is dedicated
to developing new preservation
technologies and training preser-
vationists. The center's Web site
includes the "Preservation Internet
Resources Clearinghouse;' an
annotated database with informa-
tion about online resources for
preservationists. The Web site lists
conferences and educational oppor-
tunities, and provides links to other
preservation - related Web sites, data-
bases, and libraries. Web site: www.
nepttnps.gov.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Stillwater Heritage Preservation Commission
John Brach
Robert Goodman
Jeff Johnson (Vice Chair)
Reggie Krakowski
Brian Larson (Chair)
Elizabeth Welty
City Council
Ken Harycki (Mayor)
Doug Menikheim
Ted Kozlowski
Tom Weidner
Mike Polehna (Vice Mayor)
liViata* eilLmietutL
PRESERVATION IN HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS
Site
Lift Bridge
Lumberman's Exchange
Joseph Wolf Brewery
Warden's House
Post Office
Courthouse
Lowell Inn
CM &StP Depot
Isaac Staples Sawmill
Commander Mill
Stillwater Convention Site
riatidAh-Brunswick Inn
National Guard Armory
Checklist
Address
101 Water St S
402 Main St S
602 Main St N
220 Myrtle St E
101 PineStW
102 2nd St N
233 Water Street
402 Main St N
413 Nelson St
Myrtle & Main
114 Chestnut St E
107 Chestnut St E