A bill for an ordinance designating 637 Galapago Street, the Samsonite House, as a structure for preservation. Approves an individual Denver landmark designation for property located at 637 Galapago Street in Council District 3. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 1-15-19.
I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting in results. 1313 accountable. 1539 has passed. Councilman Cashman, will you please put Council Bill 1542 on the floor? Yes, Mr. President. I move the council bill 18 dash 1540 to be placed upon final consideration and do pass. It has been moved and seconded. The public hearing for Council Bill 1542 is open. May we have the staff report? Good evening, councilmembers. My name is Jenny Button Borg and between planning and development. And tonight I'm here to present to you and 637 Galapagos Street Landmark Designation Application. The application was submitted by the owner of the property who's here with us this evening, Eric Kratzer and Meghan Hinman. Arthur, this is in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Council District number three, Councilmember Paul Lopez. According to Blueprint Denver, this is an area of stability and the current zoning is you are age three A and you oh three. Kerry did most of the robust background on landmark preservation tonight. So this is going to be kind of a stripped down version. But the landmark designation criteria for this property is met in that it meets the designation criterion in at least two of the following categories history, architecture, geography. It maintains its historic and physical integrity, and it relates to a historic context or themes. So Landmark Preservation staff in the Landmark Preservation Commission find that the structure meets the required criteria for designation. Specifically, it meets history a to have direct association with the historical development of the city, state or nation history. See having direct and substantial association with a person or group of persons who had influence on society and architecture. A It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or type, and I'll go into those in more detail here for history. A The property was built in 1890 by Elizabeth Malone, who was the mother of Thomas Malone, pastor of St Joseph's Church, from 1886 to 1894. Saint Joseph Church is kitty corner from this property, and it's believed that the home served as the rectory for Thomas Malone when he was pastor of St Joseph's Church in 1900. The Schweitzer family moved in and resided there until 1921, and during their residency they started and expanded the Schrader Trunk Manufacturing Company, which became the renowned Samsonite luggage company. Their trademark Samsung luggage was named after the Hebrew strongman Samson and known for its strength and durability. You can see here on the screen the image of the Schrader brothers standing on top of their luggage to illustrate its strength. The company expanded many times over the years, and evidence of their factory presence still exists. And the image you see on the screen here and the ghost signage at 1553 Platt Street. The property also meets history. See, the traders were Eastern European Jewish immigrants who came to Colorado via England in the late 1800s. The patriarch, Isaac Schrader, first landed in Central City, and as the family grew, they moved to get the Galapagos address in 1900. Isaac ran several small businesses in Denver, including a luggage shop. His son Jesse, helped transition the business into the luggage manufacturer. Schrader Truck Manufacturing Company in 1910. You can see him on the screen here indicated with the Green Arrow and the larger Schrader family in front of their home in 1905. Isaac died in 1916 and the family investors, his life insurance money into the company, which was a pretty good deal. As I mentioned, the well-known marketing of the suitcase is strength. So here's the actual photo of the Schrader brothers standing on top of that suitcase. Jesse was the president of the company from 1910 to 1960, so this was very much a family run business in Denver for quite a period of time. The property also meets architecture aid and embodies, excuse me, distinguishing characteristics of the Italianate style. It is in the row house form. Characteristics of this style are tall, narrow windows, decorative brackets and a flat roofed cornice. Prominent two story bay window. Some of the more unique pieces of this property are the polychrome rusticated rhyolite stone and sandstone, red sandstone and yellow limestone facade. It is very much unique to the block and quite imposing. There's nothing else like it there. This is a 3000 square foot two story residence and some of the other unique aspects of the property are the nine ornamental sunburst motifs and the lintels on the front facade. The property is found to maintain a high degree of physical and historic integrity related to the structure's period of significance from 1890 to 1921. There have been some alterations to the property, including two windows, doors and both front and back porches. But despite these changes, the building is clearly identifiable as an exemplary Italianate that maintains its character defining features. So if you look at these photos, the first is a 1905 again of the family with the home in the background. An 1890 Sanborn map, which was the year the property was constructed, shows that there's no front porch. But then in 1903, a Sanborn map shows a one storey wood frame porch with slate tin roof. And we can I believe this is what you see in the 1905 family of the photo here. If you fast forward to 1977, you can see that front porch altered again. Looks like it's more of a craftsman style. So sometime between 1905 and 1977, that change took place. In the 1980s, there was a rehab that removed that front porch. And so the image that you see in 2018 is more of what the building would have looked like originally when it was constructed in 1890. The property also relates to a historic context or theme here. It relates to Denver's economic development and growth at the turn of the 20th century, associated with an increase in population due to immigration and the importance of immigrant workers to Denver's economy. The Schweitzer family exemplifies this as Eastern European Jewish immigrants who settled in Denver and contributed to the economic growth of the city through their family business. In terms of the Comprehensive Plan 2000 and Blueprint, Denver 22. The proposed designation is consistent with these plans. Again, this isn't an area of stability and blueprint. Denver identifies landmark designation as a tool to reinforce areas of stability. So in summary, the proposed designation meets three designation criteria in two categories history A and C, architecture A. It maintains its historic and physical integrity and relates to a historic context or theme. So Landmark Preservation Staff recommend approval for designation of 637 Galapagos St and happy to take any questions that you may or may have. Thank you very much. We do have three individuals signed up to speak this evening. So if you're signed up to speak on this item, please come up to this front bench when I call your name. Step up to the podium as your time will start to elapse. First up, we have Eric Trotter. Good evening. I'm the property owner. So I'm here to support the application. Of course. The thing that really interested me in starting this process was a conversation that I had with my neighbor across the street who'd been living there for 40 years. She once knew a 100 year old woman who lived in the neighborhood who told her the story of the Samsonite family, the shredders living in the house. My wife and I felt that this building probably should have been designated a long time ago and that it was probably just missed. And it also seemed like we were on the verge of like losing the story. As soon as we were aware of the story was pretty easy to begin doing a little bit of research and discovering discovering the story of the Schwitters being in the house. But we were pleased to sort of discover all of this, go through the the designation application process. I started this about two years ago, and I'm really pleased to be here today. I'm here to answer any questions that you might have. Would you mind just stating your name for the record? Erik Crotzer. Thank you very much. Next up, Jonathan. Hello. John Olsen, again, deputy director of historic Denver. I wanted to start off, I'm remiss by thinking in my last comments about the property on the National Western Center to thank the National Western Center staff, including Sean Snow, who is still in the in the room today, as well as Eric Anderson, who you heard from, as well as the leadership of Gretchen Hollar and Brad Buchanan. So without their leadership to move that forward, that would not have happened. So thank you very much for that. In terms of this building, this is a wonderful story. It's a wonderful building that has you know, a lot of people would overlook that. So it's wonderful that the that the owners were able to dig up not only that story, but be able to celebrate that in the neighborhood. And we at Historic Denver are always glad when we see people really loving the places that they live and wanting to recognize that. And there's many, many ways that you can recognize that. But one of the ultimate is to be able to designate that building so that other generations beyond us will not only have that story, but will have that that piece of history that will still be thriving as a part of our growing Denver. So it's it's something that I'm very proud to say thank you for the owners to to do that effort and go forward with the designation. And I hope that you will reward that effort by voting for it to be designated so that it'll be a piece of Denver's history from this point on. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up, Jesse Pearce. Jesse Paris represented for Denver Homicide. Low black stars are more for self-defense than positive action. Commitment for social change. And I'm also an at large candidate for 2019. We are in favor of this. We need more historical designations such as this throughout the city. We need to preserve the city's history and for future generations. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. Are there any questions from members of Council on this item? All right. Seeing no questions. The public hearing for Constable 1542 is closed. Comments by members of Council Kelsey Lopez. Yeah. Thank you. When this was brought to our attention, as it came through the process, I had no idea the history. I had decided as a young man to walk by this building all over the time, and there was something absolutely distinct. Here's the thing about his historic buildings. You know, when you see one, right, and he and they are part of your childhood, they're part of your memory. They serve as landmarks in your community. And this was always one. Every time we would down the street is like there's a house is right. It's just stone house, right. And it almost looks like a small castle. But no, I'm happy to see this come before this council and happy to support it, encouraged my colleagues to do the same thing. You know, on on the West Side, we hadn't concentrated too much on on preserving a lot of things like this over the years. And when we catch them, I think it's important because it tells the history of of a complete Denver and that west side, that very proletarian history that we have. But also I think of this and I think of my grandfather. My grandfather worked for Samsonite when he was retired. And so seeing that and seeing this come up in a in a neighborhood not too far from where he bought a house is actually pretty cool. So. Mr. President, I support this and encourage everybody to do the same. Thank you. Councilman Lopez. Councilman Espinosa. You know, I just wanted to use this time to thank you, Mr. Crotzer, and your wife, for following up on that story, learning the history of the property and bringing it to our attention and and then securing it for future generations through the landmarking process. So just thank you very much for recognizing the value that it has has served, it is serving and will serve in the future. So thank you. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Councilman Cashman. Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. I probably should nail this down during questions. Either Jen or our historian, Councilman Flynn will probably know from my career as a journalist, I remember I think the Samsonite factory was on the east side of Broadway, around the Gates factory. And so I was never aware until this came up about the Schwitters home. And it's it's a beautiful piece. I'm glad you're bringing it forward. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. See no other comments. I'll just add a big thank you to all of our staff and our owners today. It's pretty exciting night to be able to designate two new structures in Denver for historic preservation. I'm excited to support this one, to make it two for two. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 1542. All right. Black Eye. Brooks Espinosa. Hi. Flynn. Hi. Gilmore. I. Herndon. I cash, man. I can each nigga. I just. I. Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please close voting. Announce Results.