HomeMy Public PortalAboutORD14175 • BILL NO. 2006-148
SPONSORED BY COUNCILMAN Michael Berry
ORDINANCE NO. / 1
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSON, MISSOURI, DESIGNATING THE
HENRIETTE RIEGER HOUSE AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK
WHEREAS, Pursuant to Section 8-42 of the City Code, the City of Jefferson Historic
Preservation Commission (CJHPC) is required to evaluate properties within the City for
potential designation as a historic landmark; and,
WHEREAS, Pursuant to Section 8-42 of the City Code, a property is eligible for land
mark designation if the CJHPC determines that it meets any of the following criteria:
A. The potential landmark is in an identifiable neighborhood or distinct
geographical area which has historic and/or cultural importance to the city;
or
B. The potential landmark is associated with a particular prominent
person, a significant event or historical period; or
• C. The potential landmark exhibits a particular architectural style or
school, or are associated with a particular architect, engineer, builder,
designer or craftsman; or
D. The potential landmark contains historic, prehistoric and
archaeological features, evidence and/or artifacts which have the potential
to contribute to the understanding of historic and prehistoric cultures; and,
WHEREAS, Pursuant to Section 8-45 of the Code of the City of Jefferson, the owner of
the Heriette Rieger House at 801 Washington Street, Mrs. Jan Dunning, has applied for
designation of the building as a historic landmark; and,
WHEREAS, The CJHPC has considered the application and determined that the site
meets the qualifications set forth by the Code as shown in the attached Application, and
is otherwise worthy of designation as a landmark;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
JEFFERSON, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The Henriette Rieger House at 801 Washington Street is hereby
designated as a Historic Landmark in the City of Jefferson.
Drafter's Note: Deleted text is shown thus. Inserted text is shown thus.
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• Section 2. The City Administrator is hereby authorized and directed to cause the
appropriate plaque to be erected at the site.
Section 3. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the date
of its passage and approval.
Passed: f� Approve 7
side g Officer Mayor
ATTE APPRO AS TO F RM:
City C I e rk City Counselor
i
Drafter's Note: Deleted text is shown thus. Inserted text is shown thus.
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c s
i John Landwehr
City of Jefferson Mayor
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Application for Nomination
2007 Local Landmark Designation Awards
Historic Preservation Commission
City of Jefferson
Each year the Historic Preservation Commission designates five local landmark awards
based on the following criteria.
❖ Historical Significance
❖ Property type — Individual Districts
❖ Location
❖ Integrity— Preservation
❖ Endangered
❖ Willing to display plaque on building
We invite you to nominate your building/structure to be determined by review of the
Historic Preservation Commission.
This form must be completed by the owner of the property nominated. Please fill out the
below information to the best of your knowledge.
Historic Name of Building (if known): _�2hriefte Rieaer House__
Owner: Mrs. Jan Dunning
Address: 901 W64'441.91 )tti St
�eifer.son C4 h, Alo &Slot
Type of Building or Structure: ow&er occupied hott-re
Date Built: G U • /g�a�
History and Significance: at t-oc� e ct
Owner will display plaque on building. (please circle): es no
S griature Date
Thank you!
Application for Nomination
• 2007 Local Landmark Designation Awards
Historic Preservation Commission
City of Jefferson
This nomination is for the Henriette Rieger house at 801 Washington Street,Jefferson
City, Missouri,owned and occupied by Mrs.Jan Dunning. The house has historical
significance both by its close connection to Central United Church of Christ across the street,
which was the center of German-immigrant Munichburg, and by its careful restoration of the
1920s Arts &Crafts architectural style, which itself was the renovation and therefore
preservation of an original German cottage of the 1860s.
Historical Significance.The house lies in the heart of Munichburg,the community that began
forming in the 1840s by German immigrants from Muenchberg,Bavaria. The neighborhood was
deteriorating from the 1970s to the 1990s, when efforts began to protect and renovate properties,
especially those that preserve its German heritage.Twenty Munichburg properties have since
been placed on the Register of National Historic Places. This house has not.
Rev. Joseph Rieger was the first resident German Protestant pastor in Jefferson City. He
became pastor of Central Evangelical Church (now Central United Church of Christ) in 1860. He
was also one of the "founding fathers" of Lincoln University,served on its first board of
directors, and is being honored by a memorial in the current construction of the Veterans Plaza at
Lincoln University. He was chaplain at the state penitentiary during the Civil War. He and his
wife Henriette cared for war wounded in their home. When he died in 1869,Governor Fletcher
• and most state officials attended his funeral. Pastor Rieger and his family lived in the church
parsonage on the north side of the church.
Upon his death,his widow,Henriette Rieger and her seven children moved from the
parsonage into the house at 801 Washington,just across Ashley Street from the church. The
actual date of construction of the house is'not known, but Central church records definitely prove
her move into that house in 1869.It was probably already there by 1869, as were several other
houses near the church, such as the Hess House (730 Washington) and the Buehrle House (707
Washington), both Landmark properties and on the Register of National Historic Places. Unlike
those two, however, the Rieger house lost its original German cottage character by renovation
into Arts&Crafts style in the 1920s.
Henriette(nde Wilkens) Rieger, born 1817, was a well-educated German immigrant,
described as "aristocratic" by her contemporaries. She worked closely in church affairs with Fred
Binder, member of Central and prominent local builder(of St. Peters Catholic and Central
churches and numerous institutional buildings). As a woman and widow, however, her
accomplishments generally went unacknowledged. Two of her sons became Evangelical
ministers. One daughter was one of the first graduates of the new Jefferson City public school in
1869 and the next year began a long tenure as a public school teacher.Another daughter was the
church organist and local music teacher. Another daughter, not a Jefferson City resident, was a
it well-published author.
The widow Rieger lived in the house from 1869 to the early 1880s when she moved to
Washington,Mo. She died in 1885 and was buried with her husband in Central's Evangelical
Cemetery,now a separate section of Riverview Cemetery. The original tombstones of Pastor and
Mrs. Rieger are prominently displayed inside Central Church.
From 1903 to 1911 the house was the home of the Nicolas A. Bassman family, members of
Central Church. Son Fred Bassman, a local advertiser and printer who grew up in the house,
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described it during those years in an account written in the 1970s now at the Cole County
• Historical Society. (see below)
In the 1920s and 1930s the Louis Stuiber family lived in the house. Stuiber was partner with
Fred Jens in the Cole County Monument and Tile Company (tombstones), one block north at 129
West Dunklin, a building that is the JC Dance Academy today. It is likely that Stuiber was
responsible for the extensive renovation and modernization of the then half-century old German
cottage into the Arts&Crafts style it bears today.
The present owner, Mrs. Jan Dunnning,purchased the property-in 1984. Mrs. Dunning has
done extensive, authentic restoration to the exterior of the building, carefully preserving the
integrity of its 1920s Arts &Crafts style, and is currently doing renovations to restore the interior
.also to Arts &Crafts style.
Architectural Significance:The house was built as a simple, sturdy, brick German cottage by
1869, when Mrs. Rieger and children moved in. Several other German cottages remain in-the
neighborhood (in addition to the two mentioned above), but virtually all of them have been
seriously compromised by various sorts of unhappy, incongruous, vernacular additions or fallen
into deterioration. This one has not. Other original German cottages were demolished in the
1890s and replaced with Queen Annes and Four-Squares by the next generation of prospering
residents.
Fred Bassman, raised in the house 1903-1911 apparently with few changes since 1869,
described it as red brick with native limestone foundation. The main floor had a parlor, a living
room, and two bedrooms.Three attic-type bedrooms were above.The kitchen was on the back
side of the lower floor(now basement), reached by three or four steps under the back porch. The
dining room was under the front part of the house. An unfinished cellar occupied the south half
• of the basement, because the house was built into the side of a hill. The house appears in the
background of two photos, attached, one in the 1880s behind the church, and the other in 1914-
15 behind Joseph Schmidli's new auto. Both show the house as a German cottage. By 1914-15
Washington and Ashley streets had been graded down several feet, which further heightened the
terraced elevation of the house above street level.
1923 asntey sr. 1939 Aswey St- �
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The paired maps above from the Sanford Fire Insurance coverage of Jefferson City, 1923 and
1939, give an indication of how the house plan was changed during modernization and
conversion to Arts & Crafts style in the 1920s. The exterior was stuccoed, both the brick and the
limestone foundation. The small front and back porches were replaced with larger, full-width,
porches. A basement garage was dug under the enclosed back porch. A flue for central heating
was added on the north gable end. A wide roof overhang with supporting wood brackets extends
over the gable ends, distinctive of Arts &Crafts style. A small Arts &Crafts balcony, accessed
by a French door, was added on the north gable end. The attic was converted into full-size
bedrooms,with dormers in both front and back.
•
Mrs. Dunning has recently repainted the exterior woodwork in forest green and dark brown
• and the exterior stucco in contrasting light tan, typical Arts &Crafts colors. She is currently
faithfully restoring the interior to the Arts &Crafts style.
The Rieger house deserves Landmark designation because of its connection to the beginnings
of German Protestantism in Jefferson City and its excellent restoration of the 1920s Arts &
Crafts stvle, which itself was the adaptation of an original sturdy brick German structure to
modern living.
This form was prepared March 2007, with Mrs. Dunning's full cooperation and encouragement,
by Walter A. Schroeder, 2705 Ishewood Drive,Columbia, Mo., 65292-2649; 573.474.2072;
pschroed@socket.net.
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