A Survey of Five Taft's Flat Neighborhoods
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Survey of Five Taft’s Flat Neighborhoods: Victory Circle/Highland Avenue Watson Plaza Highland Park Demers Avenue Manning Park Manning Park Extension Presented to Hartford Historic Preservation Commission Hartford, Vermont By Brian Knight Research P.O. Box 1096 Manchester, Vermont 05254 June 4, 2020 Draft Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Hartford Background ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Period of Significance ....................................................................................................................................... 5 About the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission ................................................................ 5 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 National Register of Historic Places/State Register of Historic Places .................................. 7 Demers Avenue ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Worcester Avenue ........................................................................................................................................... 11 Victory Circle ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 #126 Highland Avenue/#176 Highland Avenue / #178 Highland Avenue ................................ 14 Saunders Avenue/Highland Park ................................................................................................................. 7 #238 Gifford Road .......................................................................................................................................... 12 #274 Gifford Road .......................................................................................................................................... 13 #239 Hanover Street ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Manning Park/Manning Park Extension ................................................................................................... 8 Taft’s Flat Historic Context ......................................................................................................................... 14 Taft’s Flat Neighborhood: Highland Park ........................................................................................... 19 Highland Park Residents .............................................................................................................................. 20 Hartford Area Builders ................................................................................................................................. 22 Vermont’s Housing Problem: 1900-1933 ........................................................................................... 29 Hartford Building Associates .................................................................................................................... 35 Taft’s Flat Neighborhood: Victory Circle/Highland Avenue ..................................................... 36 Victory Circle/ Highland Avenue Residents ........................................................................................... 42 Victory Circle/ Highland Avenue: Smith and Hebard ......................................................................... 44 Role of Automobile: 1908-1930............................................................................................................... 45 The Great Depression/Pre-World War II: 1933-1941 ................................................................. 45 Federal Government and the Housing Problem: President's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership (1931-1932) .......................................................................................................... 45 Federal Government and the Housing Problem: Federal Home Loan Bank Act (1932); Home Owners' Loan Corporation (1933); and the National Housing Act/FHA (1934) ...................... 46 Survey of Five Taft’s Flat Neighborhoods Brian Knight Research June, 2020 2 Taft’s Flat Neighborhood: Watson Plaza ............................................................................................. 49 Deed Restrictions ............................................................................................................................................ 51 Watson Plaza Residents ............................................................................................................................... 51 Taft’s Flat Neighborhood: Demers Avenue ........................................................................................ 54 Demers Avenue Residents ............................................................................................................................ 55 Taft’s Flat Neighborhood: Manning Park ............................................................................................ 57 Manning Park Residents............................................................................................................................... 58 Manning Park Extension.............................................................................................................................. 60 Manning Park Extension Residents .......................................................................................................... 60 World War II: 1941-1945 ............................................................................................................................ 62 Post-World War II: 1945-1970 ................................................................................................................. 62 House Styles ....................................................................................................................................................... 67 Bungalow .......................................................................................................................................................... 67 Colonial Revival ............................................................................................................................................... 67 American Four Square .................................................................................................................................. 67 Dutch Colonial Revival .................................................................................................................................. 68 Tudor Revival ................................................................................................................................................... 68 Minimal Tradition/Cape Style .................................................................................................................... 68 Catalog Homes ................................................................................................................................................. 69 Transitional Ranch ......................................................................................................................................... 71 Ranch .................................................................................................................................................................. 71 Split Level .......................................................................................................................................................... 72 Garages .............................................................................................................................................................. 72 Building Inventory ............................................................................................................................................. 74 Survey of Five Taft’s Flat Neighborhoods Brian Knight Research June, 2020 3 Introduction The Town of Hartford and its Historic Preservation Commission initiated this Historic Sites and Structures Survey (HSSS) as a follow-up to two earlier surveys. In 2013 and 2015, the Hartford Historic Preservation Commission completed two separate HSSS. The 2013 Survey focused on properties from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century that were not previously surveyed. The 2015 survey focused on properties from the 1920s to the 1960s. Both architectural historians identified six neighborhoods in the area locally referred to as Taft’s Flat as possible candidates for historic district nominations to the National Register (NR). This project is an Intensive Level Survey of these neighborhoods that determines their eligibility for listing on the National Register and prioritizes them for future CLG projects. The Hartford Historic Preservation Commission prepared a preliminary inventory of structures to be included in the survey. That inventory included 246 structures and was based on assessor records of approximate dates of construction between 1920 and1949. The Town of Hartford hired Brian Knight Research, a 36 CFR Part 800-qualified historic preservation consultant, to undertake