Agenda - 02-15-2005-10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment E Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Department MEMORANDUM To: Rich Shaw, Land Conservation Manager From: Tina Moon, Preservation Planner Date: February 7, 2005 Subject: Blackwood Farm Craig-Strayhorn-Blackwood House (OR 457) Copies: David Stancil, Environment & Resource Conservation Director This memo is an update of my initial assessment of the Blackwood Farm building complex, dated March 15, 2001 based on the additional information that staff has collected over the past few years from chain of title research and more in-depth inspections of the buildings. Significance The two-story frame house is characterized by two prominent features, a circa 1920s bungalow facade and a pair of stone chimneys on the east (side) elevation--one dated 1827 the other 1840. The oldest portion of the house, the front block served by the substantial 1827 chimney, was likely constructed for Samuel Stayhorn who purchased three sizable tracts of land between 1815 and 1817. Family members have always assumed that this original building was a log house because of the log floor joists visible in the cellar and the popularity of log construction in Orange County. (A closer look in the cellar, however, reveals the solid sill and corner braces of timber frame construction.) This original frame dwelling probably consisted of two rooms, separated by a plank partition, and a small loft above. It was likely enlarged around 1840 with the addition of two shed rooms to the rear and the construction of the second stone chimney. The property passed through three generations of the Strayhorn family until Herbert and Alice Blackwood, parents of Nannie Blackwood, purchased the farm in 1906. The Blackwoods were responsible for the significant renovations in the first half of the twentieth century, which nearly doubled the size of the house and gave it its present appearance. The additions probably occurred in two phases: first, the roof was raised to a full second story; and second, the exterior was updated with a bungalow facade. The one-story rear kitchen ell was probably also added as part of the second, 1920s, renovation. The interior was updated again in the 1940s, and later, when the back porch off of the kitchen was enclosed. The existing house reflects the Blackwood period of ownership. The wide board, post-and- lintel mantel in the rear room displays a popular vernacular Greek Revival Style and probably dates to the 1840s. The large mantel in the front room and the brick mantel in the second story room above, however, are typical of the early twentieth century. Part of the original seckion of the house, the large front room contains the front door and probably was used as the parlor or living room. This room would have received the most up-to-date architectural ~4