Preservation of Historic Winchester

The Chamber of Commerce moved into their new office space in the Hollingsworth Mill in the summer of 1987, leaving the Kurtz vacant and in immanent danger of demolition for a plaza around the Joint Judicial Center. (1) The first foray was a petition to City Council to incorporate the Kurtz into the plaza designs.(2) The petition did not seem to gain much traction with the Municipal Buildings Committee, so PHW shifted focus to coming up with a new and relevant use for the building.

As part of PHW’s strategy to save the Kurtz, the organization leased the space and did some minor cleanup and partition wall removal to help people better visualize the interior space. Countless hours of meetings with many other nonprofits and community organizations went into planning for the April 1988 deadline to present a restoration plan to City Council. The idea to save the Kurtz seemed to split the town’s sentiment’s almost evenly, as this building did not have the grandeur of the lost Conrad House or the emotional connection of Old John Kerr. Selling the preservation plan of a warehouse did not lend itself as easily to a sense of urgency and need. Even the building’s intriguing Victorian era additions, its status as the last trace of the commercial center that used to be focused on the land around Rouss City Hall, and its potential to serve as a downtown arts hub was not a draw. (3)

Knowing that a strong understanding of the facts was vital to make the case for the building’s retention, PHW partnered with Warren Hofstra to produce oral histories focusing on the Kurtz Building.(4) (5) At the same time, PHW in turn leased the space to other organizations to show the building still had more potential years of service left in it. Perhaps the best remembered of those was the Shawnee Kennel Club, which used the space for winter training and socialization space.(6)

Even as public opinions started to change on the Kurtz, the deadline to present to City Council drew ever nearer. We will continue this tale next week.

As we return to the history of PHW this week, we turn to PHW’s largest preservation activity of the late 1980s into the early 2000s – the Kurtz Building at the corner of Cameron and Boscawen Streets. The Kurtz Building was built by a group of businessmen from Harper’s Ferry to house grain before shipping it by railroad to the mills circa 1836.(1) The lot, advantageously situated at the heart of Winchester’s commercial downtown, was purchased from the Conrad family, who owned the adjoining (and now razed) Conrad House. By 1846, Robert Conrad repurchased the property and leased the building to various commercial enterprises for the next thirty years. In 1877, Captain George Washington Kurtz(2) purchased the building and it became the seat of his furniture, undertaking, and embalming business.

The Kurtz Building, as 2 N. Cameron has come to be known, was expanded several times. The most visible expansion is the circa 1880 Second Empire style tower addition to the north, said to be used for the funerary functions. Several additions were made to the rear in the 1920s and 1940s. Lucy Kurtz, the daughter of George Kurtz, assumed the family business in 1926. The furniture business was gradually phased out at this point, leaving only the funerary services until the business was finally closed in 1968, after 100 years of operation by the Kurtz family.(3) In 1968, she sold the Kurtz Building to the City of Winchester. Afterward, the space was used by physicians and the Chamber of Commerce, and briefly the county judges occupied the space during the construction of the Joint Judicial Center behind the Kurtz Building.

The fear had always been in the back of people’s minds since the demolition of the Conrad House in 1970 that the Kurtz Building would likely suffer the same fate once there was no other use for the space. After the completion of the Joint Judicial Center, Winchester City and Frederick County had tentatively agreed to install a plaza in the space between Rouss City Hall and the Joint Judicial Center. Designs for this plaza were drawn up in 1984. One of those plans called for the demolition of the Kurtz Building.

Although the city was ready to proceed with the plaza construction, the matter was complicated by the county’s unwillingness to provide a commitment. The building was also still the home of the Chamber of Commerce, at least until the renovation of the Hollingsworth Mill was complete. The breathing space allowed PHW the time to perform a study on the Kurtz Building, which determined there was still life left in the building. The findings were presented to Winchester’s Finance and Municipal Buildings committee representatives in 1985. The presentation garnered a cool reception, as the committee felt they had no need for the space at the Kurtz, and if it could not be used for government purposes it should not be leased out to tenants. It was even suggested PHW make an inventory of salvageable items in the structure, as it was very likely to be demolished.(4)

The story could have ended there, but as we will see in the upcoming weeks, there is much more to this tale of an “ugly warehouse.”

At the end of 1985, PHW was able to make one of its most significant Revolving Fund purchases. The building in question was the Hexagon House, the unique six-sided structure at 530 Amherst Street. Through the early 1980s, the building had transitioned away from residential use to office space. Plans were formulated to build an entirely new medical structure in the front yard, essentially blocking the now iconic view of the “yellow house on the hill.” The plan did not materialize, but it was clear that the Hexagon House was facing dire pressures on its historic integrity.

Although the purchase price was far above what PHW could normally afford for a Revolving Fund purchase, the acquisition was possible because a buyer was waiting in the wings – Julian Wood Glass, Jr. In addition, he extended the generous offer for PHW to utilize the building for office space – an offer that has continued today through the Glass-Glen Burnie Foundation and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

The Hexagon House was a substantial bump up in floor space from PHW’s first office at 8 East Cork Street. To help furnish the building, PHW hosted a three day gala in April of 1986 much in the spirit of the Holiday House Tours. The house was decorated by a number of antique dealers and interior decorators. Friday evening was an invitation-only cocktail buffet, and Saturday and Sunday were open house tours for the public. The weekend raised just under $5,000.00, and netted several donated furnishings. The refrigerator, donated by Mary Henkel, is still serving PHW to this day!

View images from the Cocktail Buffet at Flickr.

Happy Friday! The PHW history posts are on a brief hiatus during this busy behind the scenes period of activity on the Holiday House Tour. But never fear, there are still plenty of images and history to be shared from PHW’s collections.

This week, we take a look at some very recent PHW history, our 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Taylor Pavilion on September 19. It was universally praised as one of PHW’s best events in years, and we hope you were able to attend. If you missed it, you can get a little glimpse into the activities and atmosphere that night with some candid shots of the action. Special thanks to Becky Parrish, caterer from “A Matter of Taste,” and the Robert Larson Trio who provided our live music for the evening. We are also indebted to our friends at the Winchester Little Theatre, who loaned us four fabulous volunteers — Don Vachon, Karen Marjarov, and Jim and Kendra Getaz — for the check in table so that the PHW board members could enjoy the fruits of their labors.

View the album on Flickr.