Author: PHW

At last, with a trained revolving fund director and a recharged membership united behind the memory of Ray Jennings, PHW was ready to tackle a project through the Revolving Fund. That property just happened to be the Simon Lauck House at 311 South Loudoun Street. In 1974, the Salvation Army had purchased the duplex at 309-311 South Loudoun Street with an eye toward demolishing the building to expand the operations in their headquarters at 303 South Loudoun Street. PHW was interested in preserving the otherwise unassuming-looking building, because preserved inside the duplex was the log cabin of a famous early owner, Simon Lauck.

The duplex had not originally been listed in PHW’s 1966 list of worthy buildings in part because the Victorian-era makeover had been too complete, making the house look “younger” than it actually was. The initial survey of Winchester had lacked many of the tools we now take for granted when researching area buildings, like Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. However, more intensive research uncovered the core of the building was much older and more important than anyone first guessed.

Simon Lauck, along with his brothers Peter (of Red Lion Tavern fame) and Abraham, was part of the Dutch Mess organized in Winchester during the Revolutionary War. According to local legend, the Lauck brothers were part of Daniel Morgan’s honor guard and acted as translators with captured Hessians soldiers. After the Revolutionary War, the brothers returned to Winchester, each taking up residence on South Loudoun Street. Simon set up his gunsmithy on this property. Over the years, the house was expanded, then later updated with Victorian gingerbread details. By the 1970s, the Simon Lauck house was in decline, leading to its potential status as a playground.

When PHW approached the Salvation Army to purchase the Simon Lauck house, the initial offer was only for the logs after the house was demolished. This offer was not good enough for PHW, sparking a long and heated back-and-forth negotiation with regional Salvation Army leaders. In the end, the negotiations succeeded and PHW owned its very first historic building.

The plan at the time was to restore the building’s exterior to its appearance circa 1790 as a proof to Winchester that many of the “Victorian” houses in the Potato Hill area in fact contained a much older log nucleus. To achieve this, a substantial portion of the house was removed, reducing it from a duplex to a single residence and stripping most of the exterior away. PHW volunteers did a great deal of the hands-on work at the Simon Lauck house, as documented by Virginia Miller.

In 1976, the log cabin was exposed and a new owner purchased the building from PHW and completed the work in making the former duplex a charming office. Although the ride was bumpy, in the end one of Winchester’s oldest log buildings was preserved and still serves as a reminder of our frontier roots just blocks from Old Town.

View more progress pictures of the Simon Lauck House at Picasa

For more reading on the Lauck family and gunsmithy, investigate some of the following links:
Lauck Family Genealogy
A Simon Lauck Buck and Ball Gun
A John Lauck Rifle at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

We often talk about our successes at PHW, but it’s important to remember that not every project or property we’ve set our sights on was able to be saved through our efforts. Here are a few “big fish” stories from 1963 to the early 1970s which did not bear fruit.

Some of the demolished properties which initially concerned the nucleus of PHW in 1963 included Dr. Baldwin’s stone office and the Cannon Ball House on South Loudoun Street, the Capper House on North Loudoun Street, the Chanticleer Inn on West Boscawen Street, and the Hollis House on Cork Street. It appears that these properties were used as examples in the November 1963 meeting at the Handley Library, mentioned in passing in the January 24 post.

Concurrent with the Conrad House, several other buildings were part of the public discussion on parking lots downtown. This included the old health building, the Firestone Building, and Valley Distributors at Braddock and Amherst Streets. The properties were consolidated by the Winchester Parking Authority and razed in 1966-1968, eventually becoming the Braddock Street Parking garage. PHW spoke out in particular for the old health building, even attempting the lease the building to prevent its demolition.(1)(2)(3)(4)

Toward the end of the battle for the Conrad House, Hawthorn on Amherst Street was similarly being threatened with demolition for subdivisions for more Whittier Acres construction if the building could not be sold. Although PHW toyed with the idea of buying the property jointly with other civic organizations, the idea did not come to pass and the home was preserved through private efforts. Conrad House enthusiasts may be pleased to note the front porch now on Hawthorn was salvaged from the Conrad House.

Following the demolition of the Conrad House, efforts were made to purchase the small stone building then at 8 East Cork Street, often referred to as Friendship Market. That building, as well as several others, was for sale as part of the Sirbaugh Estate. However, the sellers had no desire to split up the package of properties and sell the stone building separately. PHW still managed to have a hand in that building’s preservation, which we will cover in a later post.(5)(6)

Also considered for purchase was the stone building at 15 South Braddock Street, as its location was no longer suitable for a dwelling and it could be adapted for office use.(7) Houses on Sharp Street were circled several times as being of interest to restore to provide more low-cost housing in the city and to retain for their historical and architectural value.(8) Properties on South Loudoun were also seen as potential purchases for similar restoration efforts. Word reached PHW about a possible City-led demolition of a log house at 502 1/2 South Cameron Street. None of the gentle inquiries or outright offers about purchasing these properties bore fruit.

Next week, however, we will learn how PHW became motivated to start a revolving fund and become serious about purchasing endangered properties.

The first successful preservation effort undertaken by PHW in the 1970s was the fundraising effort to save a vernacular limestone dwelling on South Braddock Street. According to Quarles’ The Story of One Hundred Homes in Winchester, Virginia, the house at 409 South Braddock Street was constructed circa 1835, most likely by William Lawrey, and subsequently had been owned for about 75 years by the Lawrey family heirs.

By 1971 the home was in need of structural repairs. The owners, Russell and Lucy Roberts, had started the process to repair the building before the damage became too severe. They engaged a contractor to initiate repairs to the cracked northern wall. However, it was to be some time before the contractor finished a prior project and could start on their home.

The day before the contractor was to begin work on the Roberts’ family home, a significant portion of the northern wall collapsed, spilling the front porch, limestone blocks, and contents of the house onto the sidewalk and a station wagon parked on the street. Luckily, no one in the Roberts family was injured in the collapse and shoring up the building could begin almost immediately.(1)

Because of PHW’s prior interest in the preservation of buildings like this around the downtown, a fundraising effort was able to be launched less than a week after the collapse, headed by Wilkie Hunt.(2) The $6,000.00 raised through the pledge drive and other unnamed PHW activities was loaned to the Roberts family for the reconstruction.(3)

After about a year, the reconstruction efforts were complete and the Roberts family was able to return to their home.(4) The building remains one of Winchester’s excellent examples of local limestone construction with no hint of the disaster that once befell the property. It was tangible validation that preservation worked and the community was willing to financially back an appropriate effort. The much-discussed idea of purchasing buildings through a PHW-driven revolving fund to save them directly seemed like it could become a reality. The catch? Finding the right project, then buying it.