633 LaFarge Ave Historic Survey - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Resource Number: 5BL921 Temporary Resource Number: 157508435012 A small shed has been added since 2000. This is a small structure with a front gable roof covered with green asphalt shingles. The exterior is clad with vertical composition siding painted dark green with burgundy trim. There is one swinging door facing north and a pair of hopper windows on the east side. Since the 2000 survey, the exterior siding has been painted dark green with dark burgundy and white trim. The main entry door is no longer painted but has a dark stain finish. Landscape or special setting description: Jefferson Place Subdivision is a historic residential neighborhood adjacent to downtown Louisville. The subdivision is laid out on a standard urban grid of narrow, deep lots with rear alleys. Houses are built to a fairly consistent setback line along the streets with small front lawns, deep rear yards and mature landscaping. Small, carefully maintained single-family residences predominate. Most of the houses are wood framed, one or one and one-half stories in height, featuring white or light-colored horizontal wood or steel siding, gabled or hipped asphalt shingled roofs and front porches. While many of the houses have been modified over the years, the historic character -defining features of the neighborhood have generally been preserved. 633 LaFarge is consistent with these patterns, although the house is currently painted a dark color. It blends well with the scale and character of the neighborhood. 9. Changes in Condition: None. 10. Changes to Location or Size Information: None. 11. Changes in Ownership: Same ownership as 2000 inventory form. 12. Other Changes, Additions, or Observations: Further research has yielded new information about the history of 633 La Farge. This property has a common history with the properties at 722 Pine Street (5BL11317) and 720 Pine Street (5BL11316) located just to the west. All three properties have been in the same family for over 100 years, and for 633 La Farge, the ownership by one family has continued for nearly 130 years. Part of the significance of the history of these properties is that they reflect the early settlement of Louisville by numerous German-speaking immigrants. These properties have made up more or less a family compound, with different family members living in different houses; at different times, the houses were also rented out. It has been determined that Joseph and Agatha Stecker (or Stecher, or Stacher) came to the United States from Austria in 1881, according to their own reporting for the federal census. A naturalization record for Joseph Stecker that was summarized in Boulder Genealogical Quarterly, February 1994 (the record of which appears at www.Ancestry.com) indicates that Joseph came to the United States in 1882. The Stecker family first acquired at least Lot 1 of Block 7 in 1882. (It is not clear from the online County property records whether this transaction also included Lots 2 and 3, but no separate warranty deed covering these lots was located.) The 1885 Colorado state census shows the "Stecher" family living in Louisville. Boulder County property records indicate that the Steckers acquired Lot 5, which constitutes 720 Pine, in 1889. It appears that they acquired 722 Pine, which is Lot 4, in 1909 (although this warranty deed was not recorded until 1932). The 1948 Boulder County Assessor card for this house gives the date of construction as 1900. The Architectural Inventory Form for the Colorado Cultural Resource Survey that was completed in 2000 for 633 La Farge concluded that the house was contracted for in 1898 and completed in circa 1900. Looking at the Sanborn maps for 1893 and 1900, a one story structure can be seen in a slightly different location on this corner, and it is not until the 1908 Sanborn map that there appears a 1 1/2 story house in the same location as the current structure. It can therefore be concluded that the likely time of construction was between 1900 and 1908. The house also appears in the approximate correct location on the 1909 Drumm's Wall Map of Louisville, but it seems to be only on Lot 1, not on both Lots 1 and 2, as the 1908 Sanborn map would indicate. Joseph and Agatha Stecker had five children, of whom only one, Annie, lived to adulthood. Two sons died in the 1890s in Louisville and are buried at Sacred Heart of Mary Cemetery (located between Louisville and Boulder), as are their parents, Joseph and Agatha. 2