Ogden Central Bench Historic District

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OMB No. 1024-0018, NPS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 17 Ogden Central Bench Historic District, Ogden, Weber County, UT handle." "Real estate is increasing in value and I expect to see a prosperous year." "Prospects for a great year in real estate never looked more promising." And, "Ogden has a bright future in the view of real estate, I expect to see a very prosperous season." This sentiment appeared to be true, as new homes in the bench area, for the Central Bench District continued to reign as the residential hot spot in the city, proceeded to be built. A good pictorial representation of the era can be found in the book entitled Architecture of Ogden, 1906-1907, highlighting the works of Ogden architects Julius A. Smith and Leslie S. Hodgson. 58 By 1906 it was clear a new wave of architectural type and style was on the city's forefront. The Victorian element of the past, with its irregular floor plans and highly ornamental styles, started to be rejected and was replaced by the bungalow. It was a phenomenon that was occurring throughout the United States; Ogden was no exception. A good majority of the homes featured in the book are within the district's boundaries. Some of the homes featured include the H.H. Rollapp House at 2520 Madison Avenue (Photo 22), the F.L. Wright House at 574 23 rd Street (Photo 23), and the Ira L. Reynolds House at 2533 Adams Avenue (Photo 24), all three of which were built in the large two-story foursquare configuration. Some early Ogden bungalows Could also be seen, with the J.A. Smith House at 2177 Jefferson Avenue (Photo 25) and the Mrs. W.H. Harris House at 873 25th Street (Photo 26). Other fascinating new styles of architecture could also be seen in the district, including the large two-story Dutch Colonial Revival influenced cottage located at 675 25th Street (Photo 27). The city and district was clearly on the verge of resurgence in building and a transformation of styles. Several other notable homes were constructed in the district during the period. The John Browning House (John Browning being a son of famous gun inventor John Moses Browning) at 2720 Adams Avenue (Photo 28) was built in 1905. The home is a bungalow with several dormers and has elements of the Victorian Eclectic style that was so popular in Ogden during the 1890s. To prove that the Victorian era in Ogden was not completely over, some Victorian rectangular block cottages were constructed in 1907, including the Jesse H. Brown House at 2215 Madison Avenue (Photo 29), the Mrs. Annie Andrae Burt House at 2053 Adams Avenue (Photo 30), and The Alma D. Chambers House at 887 23 rd Street (Photo 31), which was one of several Chambers family homes on the block. Another important movement in the Central Bench District starting in 1908 was the building of three-story apartment buildings that designed to help provide housing for the many new workers who had moved to the city. Housing was still not as available as many wished, thus rents rose, and finding a home to own was now difficult to do. Many of the workers who moved to Ogden were constantly on the move, never at one place for an extended amount of time. Thus in 1908, starting with the construction of the Avon Apartments located at 961 25th Street (Photo 32), large 3-story apartment buildings started to be built. The individuals involved in contracting for the apartments ranged from grocers and clerks to the city's most prominent families, including several former or future mayors. Because of the scarcity of house rentals in Ogden prior to 1908, the contractors could speculate with very low risk. To this point, Ogden apartments were one and two-story vernacular buildings with only a small number of units in each. Thus, a concerted effort was made to provide first-rate housing for the major influx of workers who had come to Ogden. Overall twenty-one 3-story 57 Morning-Examiner, "Building the Coming Season," 10 January 1904. 58 FT. Harris, Architecture of Ogden. 1906-1907 (Salt Lake City, UT: Century Publishing Company, 1907).