| Ms. Kidorf indicated the Committee received the preliminary report she |
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| prepared. A short bio is needed for the new members of the Study Committee |
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| for insertion in the report. Ms. Kidorf explained she did not spend an extensive |
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| amount of time on the research because we are only doing a boundary change; |
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| just enough to justify the retention of the existing district with a smaller |
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| boundary. She summarized the report. The upright and wing Greek Revival |
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| farmhouse was probably constructed in the 1870's. The 1872 atlas shows a 97 |
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| acre parcel owned by Hubbell and Brother, but is not clear whether a house is |
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| located on the property. By the time of the 1896 atlas, the parcel is owned by |
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| Abram Miller and shows the footprint of the house. The 1908 atlas calls the |
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| property Crystal Brook Farm owned by S.A. Potter and his wife (except for a |
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| picture of them in the atlas, Ms. Kidorf could not find anything else about them). |
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| The 1938 Rural Property Inventory shows the property being owned by Homer |
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| Welch with a 6521 Second Boulevard, Detroit address. The form says the |
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| house was being remodeled at that time, but did not give a date of construction. |
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| A 54 x 16 garage/tool shed was constructed in 1922. The total acreage of the |
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| property was 170 acres and all but 20 acres was used for agricultural crops. |
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| Homer Welch, vice president of the T.H. Welch Company, a real estate and |
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| insurance firm, was in business with his father. In 1946 the next owners were |
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| Elmer W. and Maude E. Eyster and Thomas and A. Lillian Hitchman, who |
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| platted the Eyster's Avon Estates subdivision. In 1978, the property was |
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| designated as a non-contiguous historic district, designated to the structure on |
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| the property. Initially the designation was to the first 100 feet around the |
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| property, but state law changed in 1995 and Rochester Hills amended their |
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| ordinance to include the entire parcel with all of its historic and non-historic |
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| resources. A new garage was constructed in 1987. Documents mention a barn |
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| at this time, but no record for the demolition of the barn was found. In 2004 the |
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| property was subdivided into two parcels, and a new house, which was approved |
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| by the Historic District Commission, was constructed on the western parcel. |
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| Since the western parcel only contains the new house, it makes sense to |
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| remove that parcel from the historic district. The house at 1631 W. Avon does |
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| meet the National Register Criterion C as a significant upright and wing |
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| farmhouse which was popular at the turn of the century. Ms. Kidorf is |
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| suggesting that the Study Committee find the district should be revised to only |
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| include the parcel currently associated with the historic house at 1631 W. Avon. |
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