a. EVALJJATION OF "€E BRAND- VILLAGE HISTORIC DISTRICT NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION prepared by David L. Ames Leslie Bashman Deborah Harper Susan Mulchahey Phil Pendleton ' Rebecca J. Siders Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy University of Delaware Newark, Delaware March 1991 t The University of Delaware is committed to assuring equal opportunity to all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual preference, veteran status, age, or handicap in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment practices as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes. Inquiries concerning Title IX, Section 504 compliance and information regarding campus accessibility and Title VI should be referred to the Affirmative Action Office, 307 Hullihen Hall, (302) 452-2835. 56/10M/ll-90/M The activity that is the subject of this document has been financed in part with federal funds from the National Parks Service, Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior. ii I. Introduction 1 11. Methodology 2 111. Summary Recommendations 5 Appendix A: Evaluations of Nomination a Appendix B: Historic Contexts 16 Manufacturing, 1770-1830+/- Architecture, Engineering, & Decorative Arts, 1770-1830+/- Settlement Patterns & Demographic Change, 1830-1880+/- Settlement Patterns & Demographic Change, 1880-1940+/- Appendix C: National Register Nominations 29 Thomas Lea House St. John's Church 2 Vandever Avenue Twentieth Century Row Houses iii I. INTRODUCTION This evaluation of the Brandywine Village Historic District National Register Nomination was carried out under a cooperative agreement between the City of Wilmington and the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering at the University of Delaware. It was undertaken by students enrolled in a graduate class in historic preservation: Susan Mulchahey, doctoral student in urban affairs; Phil Pendleton, doctoral student in American civilization; Leslie Bashman, master's student in urban affairs and historic preservation; and Deborah Harper, master's student in museum studies. The course was taught by David L. Ames, professor of urban affairs and geography and director of the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering. FIrst undertaken in 1971, the nomination supporting the designation of Brandywine Village as a historic district required updating for several reasons. First, the standards of eligibility for National Register designation have been strengthened since 1971. Second, Delaware has adopted a comprehensive historic preservation plan requiring local National Register nominations to be related to the themes and contexts established in the plan. Third, there have been substantial losses of structures as well as erosion of the historic fabric of the district since it was first nominated. Fourth, the original nomination did not include a building inventory and no determinations were made regarding the status of the structures as contributing or non-contributing elements. (This information is required for use in Section 106 Review and as a planning tool.) 1 11. METHODOLOGY Prior to actwlly updating the nomination, an evaluation was needed in order to determine the appropriate course of action. The evaluation was undertaken in four steps. Evaluation of the Nomination The existing nomination was evaluated in light of current National Register Standards (see National Register Bulletin 16), standards of scholarship, and research on Brandywine Village published since 1971. An area of particular concern was the fact that certain sections of the nomination did not meet current National Register standards for justifying the area as a historic district. Particular areas were identified as requiring further research and elaboration in the nomination, including: milling and manufacturing; the period of production for the mills; employment patterns and practices in the mills; the relation between population trends in the Brandywine Village and in Wilmington; manufacturing process and technology; Oliver Evans' role in designing the new technological advances for the mills; the major families associated with the mills and the village; manufacturing as an integrated complex (the mill buildings included several other associated industries, such as coopering and blacksmithing); and residential patterns for both millers' homes and worker's housing. Were these events and milling establishments of national, state, or local significance? What was the role of competition for the milling industry elsewhere in the United States? What impact did the opening of canals between New York and the Midwest have on the Brandywine Village mills? The student evaluations of the nomination are included in Appendix A. Evaluation of the Historic Context The complete historic context for the area encompassed by the Brandywine Village National Register District was evaluated within the framework of the historic context matrix of the Delaware Comprehensive Historic Preservation Plan. It was determined that 20 contexts were appropriate to the district, as listed below. Four of these historic 2 contexts were developed by the students and are included as Appendix B. 1770-1830+/- Architecture, Engineering, & Decorative Arts (Deborah Harper) Retailing & Wholesaling Transportation & Communication Settlement Patterns & Demographic Change Major Families, Individuals, & Events Manufacturing (Leslie Bashman) 1830-1880+/- Manufacturing Retailing & Wholesaling Transportation & Communication Architecture, Engineering, br Decorative Arts Re 1ig ion Major Families, Individuals, and Events Settlement Patterns & Demographic Change (Phil Pendleton) 1880-1940+/- Settlement Patterns & Demographic Change (Susan Mulchahey) Manufacturing Retailing & Wholesaling Professional Services Transportation & Communication Architecture, Engineering, & Decorative Arts Re 1 ig ion Survey of Structures The structures in the Brandywine Village Historic District were surveyed to determine the number of structures that were still standing and their current condition. Because of the relatively few students in the class and their inexperience with architectural survey, a closed-end form developed by the Center for Historic Architecture and Engineering was used for the survey instead of the state Cultural Resource Survey forms. The survey was also intended to identify those structures that were i contributing and noncontributing elements for the district. A total of 88 structures were surveyed. National Register Nominations To test the validity of using the historic contexts to update the Brandywine Village Historic District as a multiple resource nomination, National Register nominations were prepared for four historic structures. The structures and the students preparing the nominations were: 3 E 1. Thomas Lea House, 1801 Market Street. Leslie Bashman 2. St. John's Church, 10 Concord Avenue. Deborah Harper 3. 2 Vandever Avenue. Phil Pendleton 4. Twentieth-century Row Houses. Susan Mulchahey 4 111. SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS The general finding of the class was that the area within the boundaries of the Brandywine Village National Register District encompassed areas reflecting three distinct phases of Wilmington's history: 1) the original Brandywine Village, a milling community between 1770 and 1830; 2) the early suburbanization of Wilmington reflected in manufacturing sites and the building of new churches around Market, Concord, and Vandever from 1830 to 1870; and 3) the early "streetcar suburbs" reflected in row housing on Tatnall and 18th through 22nd Streets. The original justification for the nomination and establishment of the historic district was the importance of Brandywine Village as a milling center. Brandywine Village reached its peak as a milling center during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century; by the late 1830s, its milling economy had declined so much that most of the mills had been sold and were used for other manufacturing purposes. The original Brandywine Village covered perhaps thirty percent of the area encompassed by the boundaries of the historic district. Many of the structures present when the nomination was written in 1971 have been demolished or radically altered. The mill owners' houses on the northwest side of Market Street above 18th Street are in excellent condition and retain a high degree of integrity. Substantial portions of the mill complex along the river, however, have been demolished or converted through adaptive reuse into apartments and condominiums. All of the structures on the triangular block between the mill complex and the owners' houses have been demolished; the block remains only as an archeological resource. For all of these changes, however, the site of the original Brandywine Village does maintain a degree of visual integrity. (For a more detailed discussion of the content of the nomination, see Appendix A.) The second stage in the development of Brandywine Village, which took place in the 18SOs, is marked by the construction of the Daniel Lammot Cotton Mill on Vandever Avenue and the workers' housing it stimulated in the surrounding