627 LaFarge Ave Historic Survey - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Resource Number: 5BL11283 Temporary Resource Number: 157508435006 1962. No major modifications are evident. Building permits for the current garage and shed were issued in 1987. 30. Original location X Moved Date of move(s): V. HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 31. Original use(s): Domestic, Single Dwelling 32. Intermediate use(s): N/A 33. Current use(s): Domestic, Single Dwelling 34. Site type(s): Urban residence 35. Historical background: This building is part of Jefferson Place, the first residential subdivision in Louisville. However it is not the original house on the lot. A previous owner of this property, Jean DiGiacomo Shaufer, has stated that she recalls that the year of construction for the house at 627 La Farge was 1960. Boulder County gives 1963 as the year of construction for the house, but the County Assessor cards for 1963 and 1977/78 do not appear to actually state what year the house was constructed. On the 1948 card for a previous house at this location, the Assessor's office made a later notation that the original house was gone. The 1948 assessor's card indicates that the earlier house had been built in 1905 and that it was very small, measuring 16 feet by 20 feet. Owner Georgette Detrez transferred 627 La Farge to Nettie Rappa in 1962, according to a deed that was recorded with Boulder County in 1962. Nettie Rappa lived from 1889 to 1972. She was born Nettie Cardilla in either Italy or Colorado (based on two different federal census records) of Italian parents. Prior to purchasing this property, she lived on East St. and Grant Ave. in Louisville. Her husband, Anthony Rappa, died in 1948. By coming to live at this address, Nettie Rappa came to live very close to her granddaughter, Jean Shaufer, who was living with her own family about fifty feet away in an apartment at 812 Pine St. in the Jefferson Place subdivision, according to Louisville directories. Nettie Rappa's granddaughter, Jean Shaufer, has stated that her father, Nicholas DiGiacomo, poured the cement in front of the house at 627 La Farge and it likely still displays the handprints of Jean's two children, Maria and Greg. Nicholas DiGiacomo, who was a farmer, coal miner, and real estate developer from a prominent Italian farming family in Louisville, died on December 1, 1962. Taking into account Jean Shaufer's recollection of when the house was built, the warranty deed to the Rappa family recorded in 1962, and the information about Nicholas DiGiacomo and the fact that he died in 1962, it appears that the house was constructed circa 1960-62. The 1966 Louisville directory confirms that Nettie Rappa was living in this house in 1966. In 1966, Nettie Rappa transferred the property to her daughter, Lucy Rappa DiGiacomo (1910-2003), and her granddaughter, Jean Shaufer. However, according to her granddaughter, Nettie Rappa continued to reside in the house until her death in 1972. In 1985, her daughter and granddaughter conveyed it outside of the family, according to Boulder County property records. More recent owners included Susan Fischer, Susan and Mark Chapman, Diane Willian, Nancy Schoomaker, Charles and Nancy Conner, and the current owner, Scott Anderson. 36. Sources of information: Boulder County "Real Estate Appraisal Card — Urban Master," on file at the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History in Boulder, Colorado. 3