Register of Historic Kansas Places Registration Form
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Kansas State Historical Society State Register Listed November 16, 2013 Register of Historic Kansas Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating individual properties and districts. The format is similar to the National Register of Historic Places form. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets. Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name W.H. Gaiser Carriage Works other names/site number Khri 173-10976 2. Location street & number 215-219 N. St. Francis Avenue not for publication city or town Wichita vicinity state Kansas code KS county Sedgwick code 173 zip code 67202 3-4. Certification I hereby certify that this property is listed in the Register of Historic Kansas Places. SEE FILE ____________________________________ Signature of certifying official Date _____________________________________ Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply) (Check only one box) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing x private x building(s) 1 0 buildings public - Local district district public - State site site public - Federal structure structure object object 1 0 Total 1 W.H. Gaiser Carriage Works Sedgwick County, KS Name of Property County and State Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) listed in the State Register NA 0 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) COMMERCE/TRADE: specialty store VACANT 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions) (Enter categories from instructions) LATE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS: Commercial Style foundation: Concrete walls: Brick roof: Asphalt other: Narrative Description (Describe the current physical appearance of the property. ) Summary Paragraph (Briefly describe the overall characteristics of the property and its location, setting, and size.) W.H. Gaiser moved his carriage business to 217-219 N. St. Francis in 1910 to a new two-story building he had built to accommodate his growing business.1 In the next decade the business continued to grow and Gaiser expanded his building with a one-story addition on the south. He renamed the business W.H. Gaiser Automobile Works. The Gaiser building is distinguished by corbelled detailing on the brick facade and a ghost sign “W.H. AUTOMOBILE WORKS” above the garage bays. A typical representative of “One-Part, and Two-Part Commercial Block” buildings, the W.H. Carriage Works is classified as a Progressive-era “Commercial Style” building. It embodies the characteristics of a traditional historic commercial building with “storefronts” on the ground floor and regularly-spaced windows on the second floor. The Gaiser building features garage bays in lieu of storefronts and is defined by its utilitarian form and finishes. Of the four bays along the street front, three were originally garage bays with additional garage bays on the south and west secondary facades. Interior finishes were generally exposed brick walls and concrete floors with exposed structural elements including roof trusses in the one-story addition and columns and beams throughout the two-story building. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Employed by J.M. Washburn in his carriage business at 114-116 N. St. Francis Avenue for seventeen years, Gaiser became a partner in the firm and succeeded Washburn in that location upon his death. 2 W.H. Gaiser Carriage Works Sedgwick County, KS Name of Property County and State Elaboration (Provide a detailed description of the building’s exterior, interior, and any associated buildings on the property. Note any historic features, materials, and changes to the building/property.) Site The W. H. Gaiser Carriage Works is located in the 200 block of North St. Francis Avenue one and a half blocks north of Douglas Avenue and one block west of Santa Fe – the elevated railroad tracks. The Warehouse and Jobbers Historic District, better known as Old Town, is a thriving retail and entertainment district located east of the elevated tracks between Douglas Avenue and 2nd Street. Demolition of Coleman Plants A & B on the east side St. Francis Ave. in 2011 and construction of a new surface parking lot in 2012 have drastically changed the face of the 200 block of N. St. Francis. One cluster of buildings remains at the southeast corner of 1st and St. Francis, southeast of the Gaiser building. The west side of the 200 block is a collection of one- and two-story buildings generally reflecting a forty-year period of development that spanned from Gaiser’s two-story building in 1910 to the Coleman buildings near the north end of the block, built in the 1940s. Although the west side of the street is a traditional commercial setting with angled street parking and public sidewalk along the front facades of building, the typical pattern of a common setback is disrupted at multiple locations in the block. In its heyday (1920s-1940s), there were filling stations at each end of the block with buildings recessed at the corner locations. The north station has been demolished and is now a vacant lot; the south station is extant, now combined with the building adjacent on the north. Other contemporary alterations in the block include demolition of the building at 209-213, immediately south of the Gaiser building, which is now a paved parking lot. The building immediately north of the Gaiser building, at 225 N. St. Francis, is contemporary construction, setback from the street facade of adjacent buildings. The W.H. Gaiser Carriage Works building is comprised of two sections – the original two-story building constructed in 1910 at 217-219 N. St. Francis and the one-story addition, constructed ten years later on the south side of the original building at 215 N. St. Francis. The legal parcel with the Gaiser building now includes the adjacent south parking lot at 209-213 N. St. Francis, however; the nominated resource is the lots on which the building is located and does not include the adjacent parking lot. The buildings are rectangular in form spanning 125’ deep, occupying the majority of the lot. A small patio is enclosed by a metal fence at the rear of the property, between the rear facade and the alley. Exterior The original building is the two-story section on the north, constructed in 1910. Rectangular in plan form, the building has a tapered roof obscured by a stepped parapet. The brick facade is detailed with corbelled columns dividing the first floor into two bays and pilasters dividing the upper facade into four bays. A cornice band features a row of small recessed squares below a corbelled transition to a simple flush parapet. A single window, defined by a concrete sill and lintel, is set into a flush brick surround within each bay on the upper facade. Freestanding when it was constructed in 1910, the brick detailing on the front facade wraps around the south facade the width of two bays. The balance of the south facade and the entire north facade was finished with a plain red brick with integral steel sills and lintels at window openings along each floor, the entire length of the building. The parapet steps down from the east to west, along the north and south sides of the building and is pierced by multiple small square brick chimneys. The rear facade originally featured two over- sized bays on the first floor, defined by steel lintels but now infilled with brick. A single door is extant in the south bay for rear access. It appears that there were likely four upper windows on the rear facade, two of which remain on the south half of the two-story building. The one-story section of the building was added in 1920 and constructed to match the original building in detailing. The one-story building has a simple facade with corbelled columns dividing it into two bays with a simple flush brick upper facade, above the “storefront” bays. Stucco panels have been installed on the exterior of the south facade but the original pattern of brick pilasters is evident; the brick wall is exposed on the interior of the south wall. There are no openings on the south wall of the one-story addition and a single door provides access at the rear. The addition has a tapered roof obscured by a stepped parapet. Although infilled and modified over the years, the south wall of the two-story building (originally, an exterior wall, has clear evidence of numerous original door and window openings, two of which are currently used for access between the two sections of the building. The upper windows on the south facade of the two story building have formerly been infilled, except two windows at the east end. The upper windows openings remain on the north wall while the first-floor openings have formerly been infilled. No records have been found illustrating the design of the original 1910 building. The earliest available view is a 1920s photograph taken after completion of the one-story addition. This photo illustrates two garage bays on the two-story building, each with a pair of four-light over one-panel wood bi-fold doors with an eight-light transom spanning each bay.