Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2009 10 19

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1880 by Charles C. Welch, a prominent Colorado businessman who played the major role in the founding of Louisville and the opening of its first coal mine, the Welch Mine. The family of Bartel (the name has also been given as Barth) Banzek owned the property from 1894 to 1897, but apparently had another structure on this site prior to this structure (which was built in 1900). From 1897 until 1918 Thomas Lynch owned the house with his wife Sarah. They both immigrated from the United Kingdom – Thomas was from Ireland and Sarah was from England. From 1918 until 2009, the property was owned by the Madonna family, a prominent Italian-American family with a long history here in Louisville. According to a Madonna relative, the basement of the house was dug after the house was already there. The cooking and canning for the family took place in the basement on a large stove. It is also well remembered by several current Louisville residents that John Madonna made wine in the basement. Grapes were crushed in a wine press and the skins fed to the chickens. In fact, in the 1920s, the Madonna family would share with five to nine other families the costs of a box car full of grapes brought from California to Louisville. It has been stated by a Madonna family member that one box car of grapes would result in there being several hundred gallons of wine for these families for a year, and that the Madonna family wine press was used to make thousands of gallons of wine in the cellar of 701 Walnut over the years. Several of the ten Madonna children, born in the house, stayed in Louisville. Daughter Rose married Joe D’Amato and they operated Joe’s Fruit Store at 920 Main St. Son Pete Madonna ran the store after Joe passed away. The recipe for the popular sausage at Joe’s was the Madonna family recipe, according to the oral history of Pete Madonna. Son John Jr. owned and operated the Bugdust Pool Hall next door to Joe’s at 916 Main St. Daughter Flora Banyai is still a Louisville resident. Beth Madonna passed away in February 2009 after having been the last member of the family to reside at 701 Walnut. Her obituary stated that she “lived 91 of her 97 years on the same corner in downtown Louisville where she watched the town grow.” Please see attached historical research for a complete detailed history of the property. The following research materials are attached for your review: Demolition permit request Copies of letter to the applicant Building site historical research 2009 assessor’s Information & Arial Map STAFF RECOMMENDATION: In reviewing the property, the reviewers were not taken as much by the main structure as they were the accessory structure. In looking at the main structure, there aren’t any defining architectural elements that would be considered significant in Louisville history and the original windows of the main structure appear to have been removed and replaced with smaller windows. However, there is a significant amount of social history attributed with this structure that does have direct ties to the history of the City of Louisville. Because of this, staff recommends the HPC place a stay on the permit. Staff