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HomeMy WebLinkAbout712 S. Willson NominationNPS Form 10-900 (342) 0MB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries—complete applicable sections______ 1. Name________________ historic Fisher, Burr, House__________________________ and/or common Men's Co-op 2. Location street & number 712 S. Willson Ave.n/a not for publication city, town Bozeman n/a vicinity of state Montana code 30 county Gall a tin code 031 3. Classification Category Ownership district public x building(s) x private structure both site Public Acquisition object in process being considered n/a Status occupied unoccupied x work in progress Accessible yes: restricted yes: unrestricted x no Present Use agriculture commercial educational entertainment government industrial military museum park x private residence religious scientific transportation other: 4. Owner of Property name Diana Lehfeldt street & number 4430 River Road city, town Bozeman n/a vicinity of state Montana 5. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Gallatin County Courthouse street & number 311 W. Main Street city, town Bozeman state Montana 6. Representation in Existing Surveys title Bozeman Historic Resource Survey has this property been determined eligible?yes __ no date 1984 federal state county x local depository for survey records Montana Historic PrMervaMon nffM. city, town Helena state Montana 7. Description Condition excellent x good fair —————— JLO ——————————————— deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one unaltered x altered Check one x original site moved date Descnlbe the present and original (if known) physical appearance The two story masonry structure, a period revival designed in the the Mission Style by the architectural firm of Link and Haire of Butte and Helena, is situated on South Willson Avenue in Bozeman. Fred F. Willson, a Bozeman native was a designer for the firm. He launched his own practice in Bozeman soon afterward. The contractor for the project was John S. Scahill. The architectural firm, designer and contractor were also involved in the T. B. Story mansion, now the S.A.E. House, in the next block to the south. The brick bearing walls of the building are stuccoed and painted on the exterior. There is an arcaded porch across the front of the building that has five large arched openings on the front (west) and one at each end on the north and south. A flight of 7 steps leads from the sidewalk through the central arch to the porch. Two copper lanterns in keeping with the style of the building were mounted on beam ends protruding from the post on either side of the entry there is a curvilinear gable accented by a modified quatrefoil window. The hipped roof was originally covered with Spanish clay tile, later with green asphalt singles, and now again with red tile. The roof line curves slightly as it meets the projecting eaves with exposed rafters. An entry vestibule projects onto the porch. It has an outsized paneled door with a single light, and a second similar door leads from the vestibule into the house. The windows facing onto the porch are casements with eighteen lights in each one. The fenestration is not a balanced composition. Reading from the south, there are paired units, a triple unit, the vestibule (centrally located), a single unit, a paired unit, and a single unit. On the north side of the building there is a square by that accommodates a built-in buffet of the dining room. Above the buffet there are stained glass windows. Leaded glass windows are located on the south side of the building on the first floor near the front. The other windows of the building are double hung 1/1 window units. The sills of the windows of the main floor are part of a continuous projecting stuccoed string course. The basement is partially above grade and is lighted and ventilated by double hung 1/1 wood windows set in window wells. All these units have been replaced in the restoration of the building. The rear (east) side of the building extends in a stubby "U" shape. The legs are one story in height and have hipped tiled roofs like the main roof. The area between the legs has a flat roof and windows that give light to the rear of the second floor of the building. The second floor is also lighted by skylights. A rear door is located in the north "leg" of the east facade. From a landing four steps lead up to the original kitchen and a flight of steps goes to the basement. The stairs are lighted by a single double-hung window on the south side of the leg. The walls on the interior of this section of the house have been stripped and furred out for new insulation and wiring. _. OMB No. 1024-0018 NPS Fonn 10-900-a £ 10_31_a4 (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form Continuation sheet_____________________Item number __________Page The front entry leads into an open space across the entire front of the building that has been partially sectioned. A large brick double fireplace running east-west screens a small area at the south end of the space. This was used as a card room when it was the Men's Co-op and was called the Mush Room when the building was a sorority house. The fireplaces have thick wooden mantels resting on wood supports. Above the mantels there is a large rectangular recess, filled on the north fireplace with a mirror. Projecting copper hoods were attached above the fireplace openings. A bookcase V high fills the remainder of the space from the fireplace to the east wall of the parlors, with the upper space left open. Part of the lighting in the parlors was provided by wall fixtures. A large rectangular opening connects the dining room with the front parlor. The opening is framed by large square columns and built-in bookcases about 4 feet in height. In addition to the built-in buffet the space has china cabinets with leaded glass doors on the east wall. There is dark varnished wainscotting on the walls of the dining area. The entire front section has oak beamed and coffered ceilings; the walls are finished in a similar fashion with plaster sections divided by varnished posts. The floors are hardwood. Of interest is the swinging door between the original dining room and kitchen. It remains today with its ornate push plates and a stained glass light in the upper part. When the building was purchased in 1939 for a Co-op some major remodeling took place. The kitchen and dining facilities were moved to the basement. Later, in the 1960s, additional remodeling took place with lowering the ceilings in the study rooms (formerly bedrooms) on the main floor in the rear of the building (east), carpeting and painting. The main staircase originally ran north and south in the center of the building just east of the parlor/dining area, with the flight to the basement a straight run from the center and a hall leading north to the stairs rising to the second floor. Now an open "UM -shaped stairwell connects the basement to the first floor and up to the second floor. The area behind the main parlor contained the bedrooms, a bathroom and the kitchen. The building is now undergoing restoration to a single-family residence. The charm of the parlors and the dining room with its elaborate built-ins and the parlors remain as originally built. The full basement is now being remodeled. The front section has a brick fireplace under the parlor one. A bedroom is being partitioned off in the northwest corner. The second floor, once a dormitory, will become the master bedroom suite. A garage, originally a barn, stands on the northeast are of the lot. It is frame, but stuccoed and tiled in the same style as the house. The roof is broken by a gabled dormer on the ease that gives access to a loft space. It, too, is being restored. Originally the barn had one large arched carriage entrance on the west with a door beside it. That has been changed to two garage entrances, but the design of the arches has been retained. A point of interest is found in two hitching posts located at the curb on Wlllson Avenue. These posts are octagonal concrete, tapering up to about 30" in height and topped with metal rings. 8. Significance Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 1800-1899 x 1900- Areas of Significance — Check and justify below archeology-prehistoric community planning archeology-historic conservation agriculture economics x architecture education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications industry invention landscape architecture law literature military music philosophy politics/government religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specify) Specific dates 1909 Builder/Architect j.g. Scahill/Link & Haire Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The 1909 Burr Fisher House, commonly known as the Men's Co-op, was designed by the prominent Montana architectural firm of Link and Haire and is architecturally significant as one of the earliest examples of the Mission Revival interpretation of the Craftsman bungalow in the State. Portions of the interior were altered in the course of the remodeling of the building for adaptive reuse as a men's dormitory and boarding house during the 1940s. However, the primary interior spaces and the exterior detail and styling retains a high degree of historic architectural integrity. Although the Fisher family is historically significant in a local context, the relatively brief associations of Burr Fisher with this residence is not sufficient to qualify the building for Register listing under Criterion B. Burr Fisher was the second son of O.W. Fisher, patriarch of a family that eventually developed business interests in lumbering, flour milling, banking and mercantile stores. The family established its roots in Missouri, but as the sons grew up several of them started Golden Rule Stores in Colorado and in various locations in Montana. The second Golden Rule store in the state was established in Bozeman in the late 1890s, and Burr, who had been managing the store in Missoula, moved there. Other brothers were in charge of stores in Missoula, Great Falls and Red Lodge. With most of his sons established in the west, O.W. Fisher, a strong family man, moved his home to Bozeman, and had a large home built on South Central Avenue and College Street in 1904. O.W. Fisher purchased a flour mill in Belgrade and, with his sons Dan and Will P., developed it into a flour milling and export giant. Burr, who had built a home in Bozeman in 1900, bought lots from his father and in 1909 <had this Spanish mission style home built next door. It was designed by the architectural firm of Link and Haire; Fred Willson was at that time working for them and assisted with the design and supervision. The house design is different from any others in Bozeman, either in 1909 or at the present time. A local newspaper, the Republican Courier, reported (Dec. 21, 1909)> "Mr. and Mrs. Burr Fisher have moved into their new bungalow on South Central Avenue. This is one of the most unique as well as prettiest residences in Bozeman. It is built of brick and cement and patterned after the Spanish mission bungalows of southern California." The reasons for choosing this style lost. It is known that Burr was an accomplished musician and interested in the arts. By the time the Fishers moved into their new home a major interest in the Golden Rule Store had been sold, and it became known as Chambers-Fisher and is still operating under that name today. Burr was a vice-president of the store and also of the Gallatin State Bank. However, the wave of Fishers was passing from Montana to the west coast, and by 1912 Burr had moved to San Francisco. Other members of the family, including his parents, settled in Seattle where the family engaged in lumbering, banking, and exporting wheat and flour. '•, ? 9. Major Bibliographical References___________ Fred F. Willson Diary — 1909 Herman Steen, The Q.W. Fisher Heritage, 1961, Frank McCaffrey Publ., Seattle Folk's Bozeman City Directories, 1910-1, 1912-3, 1918, 1922, 1927, 1933, 1935-6, 1937-8, 1940 Bozeman Republican Courier (newspaper), Dec. 21, 1909 Bozeman Daily Chronicle (newspaper), June 16, 1919_________________________________ 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property less than one acre Quadrangle name B°zeman ' **? UT M References Quadrangle scale 1:625000 |4|9|7|0,5,0| |5|0|5|7|3|5|0| Zone Easting Northing cLU I I i I i i I I i I i l i i l El . I I I i I , , I I i I i I ,. I Gl i I I I i I i i I I , I i I i i I B Zone Easting o|__I I I , I i . M . I I I i I Northing i i J_l_l i i Hi . I I I I I . l I I . I . I . . I Verbal boundary description and justification 25' in width off of the north side of Lot 27, all of Lots 28 and 29 and 15' in width off of the south side of Lot 30 (being the south half of Lot 30), in Block 7 of the Fairview addition to the City of Bozeman_____________________________________________ List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state n/a code county code state code county code 11. Form Prepared By name/title John N. DeHaas, Jr., FAIA organization date September 6, 1984 street & number 1021 S. Tracy telephone (406) 586-2276 city or town Bozeman state Montana 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: __ national __ state _x_ local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89- 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. State Historic Preservation Officer signature -8IL title date For N PS use only I hereby certify Attest^date OMB No. 1024-0018NPS Form 10-900-a Exp> 10-31-34 (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form Continuation sheet_____________________Item number 8__________Page______ The next occupants of the house were G. Donald Martin and his family. Martin had come to Montana from Missouri and worked in the Castle area for Two Dot Wilson, taking sheep in payment. He became a prominent sheepman and later president of the Montana Wool Associa- tion. His son attended Montana State College, then the family moved back to the Harlowtown area. In 1918-1919 the college president, James J. Hamilton, and his wife lived in the house. A highlight of the school year was the reception they gave honoring the graduating seniors and to which the entire student body, faculty, alumni and friends were invited. About 1919 the house was purchased by Dr. J. Franklin Blair, a prominent physician and surgeon of Bozeman, who had established the Blair Sanitarium, the forerunner of the present- day Bozeman hospital. He and his family lived there until 1927 when it became the Pi Beta Phi sorority house. Dr. Blair retained ownership of the house and, in the mid-1930s after the sorority moved to the college campus, rented the house to Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Graham. Graham was a major in the army and taught at Montana State College in the ROTC program. The Blair heirs sold the house in 1939 to the Montana State College Student Housing Associa- tion, and the building became "The Men's Co-op." It provided lower income housing, mainly for students, for nearly 45 years. By then the non-profit corporation had expired and serious maintenance problems beset the building. A severe cold spell in December, 1983 resulted in frozen pipes that burst and flooded the bottom floor, the roof leaked and heating problems developed. A petition to the court resulted in liquidation of the corpora- tion's assets and the building was offered for sale by sealed bid. The present owner is now restoring the building and it will once again be a single-family residence.