Mechanic Street Historic District
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Figure 6.2-2. High Style Italianate, 306 North Van Buren Street Figure 6.2-3. Italianate House, 1201 Center Avenue Figure 6.2-4. Italianate House, 615 North Grant Street Figure 6.2-5. Italianate House, 901 Fifth Street Figure 6.2-6. Italianate House, 1415 Fifth Street Figure 6.2-7. High Style Queen Anne House, 1817 Center Avenue Figure 6.2-8. High Style Queen Anne House, 1315 McKinley Avenue featuring an irregular roof form and slightly off-center two-story tower with conical roof on the front elevation. The single-story porch has an off-center entry accented with a shallow pediment. Eastlake details like spindles, a turned balustrade, and turned posts adorn the porch, which extends across the full front elevation and wraps around one corner. The house at 1315 McKinley Avenue also displays a wraparound porch, spindle detailing, steep roof, fish scale wall shingles, and cut-away bay on the front elevation. An umbrage porch on the second floor and multi-level gables on the primary façade add to the asymmetrical character of the house. More typical examples of Queen Anne houses in the district display a variety of these stylistic features. Examples of more common Queen Anne residences in Bay City include 1214 Fifth Street, 600 North Monroe Street, and 1516 Sixth Street (Figures 6.2-9, 6.2-10, and 6.2-11). In general, these buildings have irregular footprints and roof forms. Hipped roofs with cross-gabled bays are common, as are hip-on-gable or jerkinhead details. Porch styles vary but typically extend across the full or partial length of the front elevation and wrap around the building corner. The extent of character-defining Queen Anne elements like half-timbering and fish scale shingles also varies, depending on how much historic material is intact. 6.2.3 Gothic and Romanesque Revivals In the late nineteenth century, popular architectural styles associated with religious buildings included both Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival. Examples of both styles are present within the Expanded Center Avenue Local Historic District. The earlier of the two churches, the Trinity Episcopal Church, 911 Center Avenue, was completed in 1887 following the design of architect Philip C. Floeter (Figure 6.2-12) (Wolicki and BCHS 1998:114). The building is the second church for the congregation, which was founded in 1854. Using a donation from Mrs. James Birney to start the process, three lots were purchased at the corner of Center Avenue and North Grant Street. The church building to eventually grace the lot was competed in April 1887 at the cost of $70,000 (Wolicki and BCHS 1998:114). 6-25 City of Bay City/R-0822 Figure 6.2-9. Queen Anne House, 1214 Fifth Street Figure 6.2-10. Queen Anne House, 600 North Monroe Street Figure 6.2-11. Queen Anne House, 1516 Sixth Street Figure 6.2-12. Gothic Revival, Trinity Episcopal Church, 911 Center Avenue Figure 6.2-13. Gothic Revival, Madison Avenue M.E. Church, 400 North Madison Avenue Constructed of rough faced Sandusky limestone and trimmed with Berea sandstone, the three gable peaks on the façade and the massive tower at the corner reinforce the Gothic Revival emphasis on verticality. Pointed arched openings for doors, windows, and bell-tower vents are also associated with the style. Heavy buttresses appear to support the side walls of the church and give an air of permanence to the building. The building has elaborate tracery in the transom windows over each of the side paired doorways and in the huge tri-part window overlooking Center Avenue. Richly colored stained glass, documented in the Michigan Stained Glass Census, fills each of the windows (Michigan State University Museum [MSUM] 2011). Additional ornament includes a cross finial on the gable peak, carved stone surrounds on windows and doors, and a cross-shaped window of cathedral glass. Philip C. Floeter was also responsible for the original design of the Madison Avenue M. E. Church, 400 North Madison Avenue (Figure 6.2-13). Dedicated on November 18, 1888, the building is a more modest version of the style, featuring Bay County Brick exterior walls, but featuring numerous pointed arch windows and entryways. The picturesque cross-gable roof is further ornamented by two towers, window tracery, and modest stained glass. The larger of the two towers, a square structure topped by an octagonal roof spire a full 75 feet above ground, contains the main entry. At the southeast corner of the building is the second tower, with a pentagonal form. Although more modest than the Center Avenue churches, it reportedly accommodated approximately 1,000 people (BCEP 1888:6). Constructed less than a decade after the Episcopal and Methodist churches, the First Presbyterian Church was completed in 1893 at 805 Center Avenue (Figure 6.2-14). The newer church is an example of a slightly later style, but one equally popular in church design, Romanesque Revival. Designed by Bay City architects Pratt and Koeppe, the building was completed at a cost of $104,000. The massive masonry building features rough-faced sandstone block braced by wide stone bandcourses, flat stone pilasters, and semi-detached stone corner columns. Rounded arches, one of the hallmarks of the style, are present in both entryways, in windows, and even in the paired vents on the tall bell tower. The picturesque roof of the church feature numerous cross 6-29 City of Bay City/R-0822 Figure 6.2-14. Romanesque Revival, First Presbyterian Church, 805 Center Avenue Figure 6.2-15. Romanesque Revival, Bay City Masonic Temple, 700 North Madison Avenue gables, a variety of roof heights, and a series of towers rising above the main building. The overall asymmetrical massing of the building further emphasizes the two main towers, one square with a pyramidal roof and the other octagonal with a pointed octagonal roof. The elaborate stained glass windows gracing the First Presbyterian Church were featured on the Michigan Stained Glass Census in July 2006 (MSUM 2006). Like the early churches within the Expanded Center Avenue Local Historic District, the Bay City Masonic Temple, 700 North Madison Avenue (1893) had to accommodate large groups of people. Initially, the Masonic membership met in existing buildings in Bay City, including the Eddy Block on the south side of Center Avenue between Adams and Jefferson streets (Kreger 1981:8-20); however, by the end of the nineteenth century, these quarters were insufficient for the growing number of members. In response, a large three-story building with a three-quarter basement was erected on Madison Avenue. The building is built entirely of rough-faced sandstone and, like the Presbyterian Church, features many of the details of the Romanesque Revival style, such as rounded arch windows, entryways, and arcades (Figure 6.2-15). Earlier onion domes, which gave the building an overall Moorish appearance, have long since been removed. By the second decade of the twentieth century, even the massive Masonic Temple building could not adequately meet the needs of the numerous members. After much discussion, it was decided that a second building, distinct from the first Temple, would be erected at 610 Center Avenue. Completed in 1926, the Scottish Rite Temple, 610 Center Avenue, is a simplified version of the Late Gothic Revival or Collegiate Gothic Style (Figure 6.2-16). Situated on its lot, well south of Center Avenue, and rising in straight lines to the sky, the building features a steel frame sheathed in gray brick and accentuated with stone trim. The vertical lines of the walls are largely unbroken by windows, with the exception of the tri-part window over the Tudor arched front entry way. 6-31 City of Bay City/R-0822 Figure 6.2-16. Late Gothic Revival/Collegiate Gothic, Consistory Scottish Rite Cathedral, 610 Center Avenue 6.2.4 Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was renewed interest in the earlier architectural styles of the United States. This resurgence in popularity was in part due to the influence of the architectural design firm of McKim, Mead and White (Gordon 1992:100). Early examples of Colonial Revival styles, including Georgian Revival, tended to be free interpretations of earlier styles in which details were often exaggerated (McAlester and McAlester 1984:326). After 1925, the Colonial Williamsburg restoration greatly contributed to interest in the styles of colonial days. The fashion shifted to carefully researched copies with more correct proportions and details. Aided by the distribution of plans and drawings, as well as photographs of original Georgian buildings, the houses built between 1915 and 1935 more closely resemble ancestral prototypes (McAlester and McAlester 1984:326). Colonial Revival houses, built largely between 1880 and the mid-1950s, appear frequently throughout the district. Buildings of this style can be distinguished by their symmetrical or balanced fenestration patterns, central entry accented with a crown or pediment, fanlight or sidelights on the door, and multi-pane glazing in double-hung sash windows. The footprint is generally a simple rectangular plan, and houses have block-like appearance. Architectural elaboration is restricted to doors, windows, and cornices. The houses at 2257 Carroll Road and 2108 Center Avenue are two outstanding examples of Bay City’s Colonial Revival residential architecture. The building at 2257 Carroll Road exhibits several distinctive characteristics of this style (Figure 6.2-17). The side-gabled roof has six-over-one sash windows arranged symmetrically. Decorative crowns are present over the first-floor windows. The central front entry features a transom and sidelights, accented with a triangular pediment and flanking pilasters.