800 Spruce 2013 St Historic Survey

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Resource Number: 5BL925 Temporary Resource Number: 157508425002 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, most of the historic character -defining features have been preserved. 800/804 Spruce is built very close to the sidewalks along LaFarge and Spruce. The grassy back yards, one for each unit, are located south of the building and enclosed with chain link and wire fences. 800/804 Spruce is one of the few buildings in Jefferson Place that once had a commercial use. It is also one of the few duplex residences in the subdivision. 9. Changes in Condition: None. 10. Changes to Location or Size Information: None. 11. Changes in Ownership: New Owner: Dan C. and Rebecca M. Harris, PO Box 1271, Lyons, CO 80540-1271 12. Other Changes, Additions, or Observations: Further research has yielded more information about the ownership and use of the building. This building played a significant role in the local community. For many years, the eastern part of the building (804 Spruce) was used as a printing office for The Louisville Times newspaper and other printing projects, and the western part (800 Spruce) was used as the residence for the owners/editors of The Louisville Times newspaper in the mid 1900s. Louis Gutfelder acquired this property in 1883. It became part of his parcel along with what is now 728 La Farge (5BL919) to the south. The Sanborn maps for 1893, 1900, and 1908 show that the first buildings on Gutfelder's parcel were actually along Spruce, and 728 La Farge had not yet been constructed. The 1904 Louisville directory shows members of the "Goodfellow" family living at "Lafarge & Spruce," which likely was a reference to 800 Spruce. Biographical information about Louis and Josephine Gutfelder and their children can be found in the historical information provided for 728 La Farge. The 1893, 1900, and 1908 Sanborn maps each show two buildings on this site, although the footprint of the building on the very corner (the current location of 800 Spruce) appears to have changed between 1900 and 1908. It could be speculated that the two separate buildings were at some point attached to one another, creating one building. The 1909 Drumms Wall map also shows a building on this site, at the corner of Spruce and La Farge, but this 1909 map shows only buildings that were primary structures on parcels. Thus, the absence of the second building from the 1909 map is not an indication that it was not there in 1909. It is not known how the Gutfelder family used the structures along Spruce after their house at 728 La Farge was constructed and they moved into it, which appears to have been in 1909 or soon after. The Gutfelders may have rented out the property at 800/804 Spruce. Boulder County gives 1920 as the year of construction of this property. In addition to the evidence of the buildings shown on this site on the 1893, 1900, 1908, and 1909 maps, there is also an undated written statement written by Louisville resident Nelle Wolfer Willis, who lived from 1890 to 1976. In describing the history of Louisville newspapers, she wrote, "I believe Mr. Whithers [sic] was owner next in the Old Gutfelder Home on the corner of Spruce & La Farge." This would suggest that when Withers took over the publication of the Louisville Times in the early 1930s, he did so in the same building that had been used by the Gutfelder family in the early 1900s, well before the County's given construction date of 1920. However, a precise date of construction could not be ascertained. The location of this building historically is given as the corner of Spruce and La Farge. Although Louisville addresses were changed in 1937, no earlier numerical address could be found for this property. 2