Historic Westside Neighborhood Home, Art and Gift Tour

2007

330 Bross Street / Schey House – built 1905

Solomon Schey was born on December 24, 1853, in Germany. According to They Came to Stay⁵, when he was only thirteen, Solomon journeyed to New York City to work for his older brother’s wholesale clothing business. Branching out on his own, in 1879, he opened a men’s clothing establishment in Central City with a friend, M. S. Rafield. As Central City’s mining boom played out, Solomon and his wife, Betsy Firestone, moved to Longmont. Here, Schey and Rafield continued their partnership and opened a clothing store in 1882. The Schey and Rafield Clothing Store was located at 370 Main Street.  This American Foursquare built in 1905 reflects the success attained Solomon Schey.

621 Gay Street / Stewart House – built 1910

This home built in 1910 was the home of Homer C. and Blanche Stewart until 1945.  Homer was an active member of the Masonic Lodge and was elected to marshal in 1934.  Homer worked at the U.S. Post Office in Longmont for 38 years, a number of which he served as assistant postmaster.  The Stewarts sold the home to Barbara Marie Stedman in 1945.  Marie Sjogren of Lyons married Corporal Aldro J. Stedman in June 1944.  In November of 1944, Aldro was killed in an airplane crash while training in Georgia.    Marie lived in the home until 1985.

633 Bross Street / Beattie House – built 1908

This home built in 1908 was the home of Arthur A. and Ida Jaynes Beattie until 1927.  Ida was the daughter of Judge S. D. Jaynes.  Arthur was a foreman at the Empson Packing Company in Longmont.  The Empson’s built the craftsmen style home at 1228 Third Avenue and operated the cannery at 15 Third Avenue.  The Empson cannery canned vegetables produced on Longmont area farms.  In 1920, the plant was sold to Charles Lewis Hover and later merged with the Kuner Pickle Company. 

534 Bowen Street / Nutting House – built 1937

The lot where the home sits was owned by Elias B. Hanson in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  Hanson was a well-known building contractor who introduced the first California bungalow houses to Longmont.  The bungalow style architecture of this home suggests it may have been built by Hanson (also associated with 438 Collyer Street) in 1937 for Madge L. and Fred A. Nutting.  Fred operated the Nutting Motor Company selling Pontiacs and Buicks at 513 Main Street. 

858 Third Avenue / Emmons-Adler House – built 1903

The American Foursquare built by Amos Jesse Emmons in 1903 reflects the result of hard work that began when Amos started farming on his own at the age of sixteen. His father died when he was two and after the death of his mother, he joined the army to fight in the Civil War. Mustered out in 1866, he came to Colorado in search of his brother, George, who had come West in 1864.  In 1876 he married Lovina Robinson and became the father of 7 children. In 1898, Emmons and his family moved to 858 Third Avenue. In 1903, the original house was razed and the present house was built.

Carl H. Adler was born in Culp, Germany and at the age of three, his family moved to the United States. It is uncertain when Alder moved to Colorado. However, he soon established himself as a successful farmer and rancher in the Mead area. In 1919, Adler married Marry Minch and became the father of thirteen children. Adler and his family moved to the home after his retirement in 1951.

2006

1017 Fourth Avenue / Kiteley-Dodd House – built ca. 1903

The Kiteley-Dodd House was built between 1903 and 1910 at 1017 Fourth Avenue. Ralph Kiteley, son of John Arnette Kiteley, came to Longmont with his parents in 1879. Ralph owned and operated the Longmont Hardware Store and at one time had a Nash auto agency there. During the 1930’s Guy and Florence Dodd owned the home. Guy was the son of Alva and Della Gould Dodd (Della was reported to have been the first white child born in the Left Hand Valley). ⁵ The Victorian styled residence was also home to George M. Shaffer, a superintendent of the Great Western Sugar Company factory in Longmont and Ann Biggs, a third grade teacher at Mountain View school.

339 PRATT Street / Donovan House – built 1890

John A. Donovan built the Donovan House in 1890 at 339 Pratt Street. He came to Longmont in 1885 to be associated with his brothers D.C. and T.T. Donovan in their lumber business (originally located on the north side of Fourth Avenue between Main and Coffman). John was elected City Alderman of Longmont in 1898 and Mayor in 1901.⁵

The home is representative of the American Foursquare architectural style (e.g., Denver Square). This style was the most popular vernacular form of the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The hallmarks of the American Foursquare include a height of two-and-one-half stories, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor, a center dormer, and a large front porch with wide stairs. This home features decorative leaded glass windows.

420 Terry Street / Wyman-White House – built 1886

George Wyman, a prominent Mason and president of Longmont’s First National Bank, built the Wyman-White House in 1886 at 420 Terry Street. In 1894 the home was sold to Eben White, an original member of the Chicago-Colorado colony, arriving in Colorado in 1871 or 1872. Eben drove the spring-wagon “stage” between Erie and Longmont before turning to mining in the hills west of Boulder.³ He operated a grocery, then worked for the Emerson-Buckingham bank, and finally established a loan and insurance firm in his own name.

The home is representative of Italianate architectural characteristics. This home features a truncated, hipped roof that is different from the high peaked roofs typical of this time period. Another prominent feature that helps to distinguish an Italianate building are the large bracketed eaves underneath the roof. This home has paired brackets placed underneath a deep trim band.

415 Coffman Street / Pennock House – built 1912

Dr. Vivian R. Pennock built the Pennock House in 1912 at 415 Coffman Street. The son of Longmont pioneers Porter R. and Ellen (Coffin) Pennock, Vivian R. Pennock was born on May 8, 1870.¹ He graduated from Longmont High School and received his medical degree from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1894. Dr. Pennock practiced in Silver Plume and Cripple Creek before moving to Longmont in 1903 with his wife Lillian Large and their three children. Dr. Pennock established Longmont’s first hospital at Fourth Avenue and Coffman Street in association with Dr. C.F. Andrew. The Longmont Hospital Association – the name under which the Longmont Clinic began – is considered one of the oldest group medical practices in Colorado and one of the first of its kind in the United States.²

The home is representative of late 19th and 20th Century Revivals (e.g., Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival). The Revival style is often a combination of various styles and contemporary elements. Generally the Revival house is larger with some elements exaggerated or out of proportion with other parts of the house. Characteristics found in this home include a symmetrical facade and a pediment (triangular gable) that extends forward and is supported on columns to form an entry porch.

819 Sixth Avenue / Wheaton House – built 1909

Hugh and Marie Wheaton built the Wheaton House in 1909 at 819 Sixth Avenue. In the years surrounding 1910, Hugh, and his father W.H. Wheaton, ran a livery business (care, feeding, and stabling of horses for pay) located at 223-225 Main Street. The business is advertised in the 1910-1911 Longmont city directory as “W.H. & H.C. Wheaton – Proprietors Rocky Mountain Livery”.⁴

The home is representative of Late-Victorian architectural characteristics. Victorian architecture consists of those styles that were popular during the last decades of the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria. Notable attributes include steep-pitched gabled roofs and shingled insets.

¹ Architectural Inventory Form, City of Longmont and Cultural Resource Historians, January 2006.

² Longmont Clinic Newsletter, 100th Anniversary Issue, Spring 2006.

³ Architectural Inventory Form, City of Longmont and Cultural Resource Historians, August 2005.

⁴ Architectural Inventory Form, City of Longmont and Cultural Resource Historians, November 2005.

⁵ "They Came to Stay," St. Vrain Historical Society, 1971.

2005

1238 6TH AVENUE / Dworak House – built 1921

Built 1921, the Alfred V. Dworak house exhibits the Cape Cod architectural style.  This style expresses a renewed interest in America's colonial past.  Over the course of a few generations, a modest, one- to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters emerged. Reverend Timothy Dwight, a president of Yale University, is credited with recognizing these houses as a class and coining the term "Cape Cod."

Alfred V. Dworak owned the home from 1945 to 1949.  He graduated from Longmont High School in 1914.  Dworak was an insurance and real estate broker for half a century before his death in 1966.   He served on the Colorado Real Estate Licensing Board in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  A bronze plaque was placed in memory Dworak in 400-block of Main Street in 1969.

960 5TH AVENUE / Townley House – built 1928

This English or Norman Cottage is the modest, very simplified version of the Tudor or Jacobean/Elizabethan styles of residential architecture.  The most distinguishing feature is the steeply pitched roof and steeply pitched projecting front entrance.  Decorative stone and brickwork are also characteristics of this style of architecture.

John Lawrence Townley Jr., son of John Lawrence Townley, first elected treasurer of the Chicago-Colorado Colony, built the home shortly after marrying his wife Nellie Hard.  John Jr. and his family arrived in Longmont in 1871 when he was 9 years old.

Nellie Townley taught in the Longmont school system for 24 years as an English teacher at Longmont junior and senior high schools. Nellie is recognized as one of sixteen graduating seniors of Longmont High School in 1905. She also was State Poetry Chairman for the Federation of Women's Clubs.

310 PRATT STREET / Paxton House – built 1904

Built in 1904 for John W. Paxton, a president of the Longmont National Bank (elected in 1905 and 1909) the home exhibits the American Four Square architecture style. 

The American Foursquare boxy shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots. Many Foursquares are trimmed with tiled roofs, cornice-line brackets, or other details drawn from Craftsman, Italian Renaissance, or Mission architecture.  Popularized by pattern books and Sears Roebuck & Company mail order kits, the American Foursquare spread to residential neighborhoods throughout the United States. Sears also offered a machine that could manufacture cement blocks on site.

Frederick W. Baxter owned the home from 1914 to 1948.  In 1934, Baxter and Roscoe A. Douglas of Johnstown opened the Douglas Cash Store in Longmont featuring ladies ready-to-wear, dry goods, shoes, men’s clothing, furnishings, and notions.

419 TERRY STREET / Bashor House – built 1910

The Nora and Alpheus Bashor House was built by Ann and David Lykins.  The Lykins sold the home to Nora and Alpheus Bashor in 1917. 

Alpheus Bashor was a master of many trades – a successful farmer, apiculturist, writer and for many years the leading auctioneer in northern Colorado”.  A 1903 biography notes that Alpheus Bashor was a frequent contributor to the Longmont Ledger newspaper.  The September 1943 obituary published in the Daily Times-Call states “…kept himself well versed in matters of interest and played his role in the progress of the community”. 

The home features unique architecture characteristics including decorative braces and 18-pane upper-story windows.

537 TERRY STREET / Thompson House – built ca. 1887

John Thompson, who came to Longmont in 1871, built the J.B. Thompson House in the Queen Anne style.  Thompson was an incorporator of the narrow gauge Longmont and Erie Railroad in 1878. He went into the hardware business in 1877, located at 346 Main Street. He was Town Clerk in 1875, Town Treasurer in 1883, and was elected Mayor in 1888. He was also director of the First National Bank, a charter member of the First Congregational Church and active in civic affairs.

In addition to being a public-spirited citizen, he was also a humorist. Before he arrived in Colorado, he wrote a satirical poem about the advantages of the Colorado climate (Experiments in Colorado Colonization). In later years, he wrote humorous articles for the Longmont Call known now as the Longmont Times-Call.

921 LONGS PEAK AVENUE / Judish House – built 1939

Built in 1939, Leah and Anthony Judish owned this home from 1945 to 2002.  A 1958 newspaper article recounts the Judish’s efforts to raise a herd of reindeer in a five acre lot just south of Third Avenue on Hover Road. 

Prior to moving to Longmont, the Judishes lived in various parts of Alaska where Anthony was employed by the Department of Interior looking after a herd of 30,000 reindeer.  In the late 1940’s, Judish had ten reindeer shipped by air freight from Nome to Seattle and then trucked to Longmont.