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Resource Number: 5BL 8027 <br />Temporary Resource Number: 157508415009 <br />rear alleys. Houses are built to a fairly consistent setback line along the streets with small front lawns, deep <br />rear yards and mature landscaping. Small, carefully maintained single-family residences predominate. Most of <br />the houses are wood framed, one or one and one-half stories in height, featuring white or light-colored <br />horizontal wood or steel siding, gabled or hipped asphalt shingled roofs and front porches. While many of the <br />houses have been modified over the years, most of the historic character -defining features have been <br />preserved. <br />817 Spruce Street is consistent with these patterns and blends well with the scale and character of the <br />neighborhood. <br />9. Changes in Condition: None. <br />10. Changes to Location or Size Information: None. <br />11. Changes in Ownership: Same ownership as 2000 inventory form. <br />12. Other Changes, Additions, or Observations: <br />Further research has yielded new information about the history of 817 Spruce. <br />This property and home were historically associated with the home at 801 Spruce (5BL11320), just to the west of 817 <br />Spruce, due to shared ownership of the two properties by the Fiechtl (pronounced Fee'-tle) family. More recently, 817 <br />Spruce has been in the same family, the Scarpella/Davies family, for the past 60 years. <br />Leopoldina and Peter Fiechtl Sr. were residents of Louisville by the time of the 1885 Colorado state census, having <br />emigrated from Austria in the early 1880s. Peter Fiechtl was born in 1856 in Austria, while Leopoldina was born in <br />1858 in Germany. <br />Given this unusual surname, it is often misspelled — for example, as "Fihtl," "Feightle," "Feictil," and "Fiechtle." <br />However, for clarity, this report will refer to the family name as "Fiechtl," which is believed to be the correct and legal <br />spelling for this family's name. <br />Lots 15 and 16 of Block 2 of Jefferson Place include the parcels of both 801 Spruce and 817 Spruce. Peter Fiechtl <br />Sr. purchased Lots 15 and 16 by 1888 from W.A. Willis, who had acquired the lots from Jefferson Place developer <br />Charles Welch in 1883. W.A. Willis was a Louisville area pioneer and was at one time a Boulder County <br />commissioner. The deed transferring the property from Welch to Willis in 1883 was not recorded until 1903. The date <br />of the recording of the warranty deed from Willis to Fiechtl is 1888, but it could have been signed and in effect earlier. <br />The 1885 Colorado State Census shows the Fiechtl family in close proximity to others in this section of Jefferson <br />Place, suggesting that they could have been already living on this corner by 1885. <br />A few other transactions relating to this property appear to have taken place in the period of 1898 to 1906, but <br />nothing was found that would alter the basic legal ownership by Peter Fiechtl beginning by 1888 at the latest. <br />Peter Sr. and Leopoldina had two sons, Benedict ("Ben") and Peter Jr. Ben was born in 1881 in Austria and was <br />brought to the US as an infant or small child. Peter Jr. was born in Louisville in 1890. The father and two sons <br />worked as coal miners in the Louisville area. The Louisville directories for 1892, 1896, and 1898 show Peter Fiechtl <br />as a resident of the town. <br />Evidence shows that upon reaching adulthood, Ben lived with his family at 817 Spruce, next to his parents who still <br />lived next door at 801 Spruce. Peter Jr. is believed to have never married. <br />Boulder County gives 1900 as the year of construction for this house. No house is shown on this site on the 1893 or <br />1900 Sanborn maps. However, a structure that appears to be a house is shown on the 1908 Sanborn map. Based on <br />this evidence, the 2000 survey report on this property concluded that the house was constructed between 1900 and <br />1908, and this is a reasonable conclusion based on the evidence. <br />2 <br />