Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2013 03 18

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Resource Number: 5BL 8000 Temporary Resource Number: 157508405005 2 925 La Farge is consistent with these patterns and blends well with the scale and character of the neighborhood. This property is located on a narrow, mid-block lot. The house is set close to the sidewalk along La Farge, with a shallow grassy front yard and a brick raised planter in front of the house. A concrete sidewalk on the south side of the house leads to a fenced back yard. There are two sheds and a garage behind the house. The back yard is grassy, with planters along the south fence. 9. Changes in Condition: None. 10. Changes to Location or Size Information: None. 11. Changes in Ownership: Owner is now Mark Lloyd Brunner, 913 LaFarge Avenue, Louisville CO 12. Other Changes, Additions, or Observations: Further research has yielded new information about the history of 925 La Farge. The history of this house is very closely connected with the histories of 917 La Farge (5BL7996) and 928 La Farge (5BL918) across the street, as all three were the residences of Porta family members for several decades. In fact, 917 and 925 La Farge are so closely connected with one another that the available records about these properties do not always clearly distinguish between the two. Boulder County gives 1897 as the year of construction for this house, and the information on this house from the 2000 survey that was done states that the original house was located on the east side of the street and was moved across the street to 925 La Farge in 1897. However, the house appears on the 1893 Sanborn map (and on the 1900 and 1908 Sanborn maps, and on the 1909 Drumm’s Wall Map of Louisville). Thus, the exact origin of this house is still unclear. “Tony” Porta purchased 925 La Farge by 1896. Antonio Porta was the owner of 928 La Farge and resident of that house with his wife, Libra. The Portas were among Louisville’s earliest Italian residents. More can be read about them in the report on 928 La Farge. Antonio and Libra Porta had four sons, and evidence suggests that Porta purchased both 917 La Farge and 925 La Farge for one of his sons and his son’s descendants. At least two other sons would also live nearby, but not in Jefferson Place and not as close as across the street from where the parents lived. Many current area residents of the Louisville area are descended from the Antonio and Libra Porta family and in particular from the Henry Sr. and Edith Porta family that was associated with 917 and 925 La Farge. The history of 917 La Farge is connected with the history of 925 La Farge. 917 La Farge was inherited by Antonio and Libra Porta’s son, Henry Porta Sr. This Henry Porta (1873-1954), married Edith (Ida) Zarini (1878-1960) in 1897. Both had been born in Italy. Like his father, Henry worked as a coal miner. Edith Zarini grew up just down the street at 824 La Farge (5BL7992) in Jefferson Place as the daughter of Joseph and Virginia Zarini. At the time of the 1900 census, Henry Jr. and Edith Zarini and their first two children were living with her family at 824 La Farge. An obituary from 1937 shows that Henry’s mother, Libra Porta, and Edith’s mother, Virginia Zarini, died close in time to one another, and there was a double funeral for them at the St. Louis Church, which at the time was located close to their homes, at 833 La Farge (5BL7994). The obituary goes on to state: “Both the Zarini and Porta families are very popular in the Louisville district where they had been residents for years.” The following photo from the Louisville Historical Museum shows Henry Porta Sr. on the left in the back row with his brother, John Porta, next to him and Santino Biella (owner of 825 La Farge, 5BL) on the right in the back row (the two seated men are Nick DiFrancia and Celeste Romano):