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Show NPS Fonn 10-900-a 0!1B No . 10024-0018 Utah WOrdPer f ect 5. 1 Format (Rev1sed Feb . 1993) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Secti on No. ~ Page ~ Yhitaker, Thomas and Elizabeth Mills, House, Centerville, Davis County, UT Narrative Statement of Significance The Thomas and Elizabeth Mills Whitaker house, built c_1862-66, is significant as a well-preserved example of the early stone vernacular architecture of Centerville, and as one of only eleven stone houses built in the 1860s. Stone houses in Utah were built in those locales where stone and masonry skills were available, primarily during the period from the 1860s to the 1880s. That period coincided with the second phase of construction technology in Utah, characterized by the emergence of skilled masons and carpenters who could construct larger, more permanent and more attractive buildings. 4 The first phase, which began with the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in 1847, produced houses which were usually constructed by the owners themselves of readily available materials, such as logs, adobe bricks, and field stone. These houses were usually intended as only temporary or subsistence-level structures to be used only until the settlers were able to establish a dependable livelihood and could afford to construct larger and more permanent homes. The emergence of stone houses not only represents the growing prosperity of the people who had them built, but also demarcates the early phase from the later phase that began in the 1880s with the availability and extensive use of fired brick and the influence of nationally popular architectural styles and construction methods on the local building industry.s The Whitaker house is typical of many of the stone houses built at that time both in Centerville and throughout the state with its symmetrical facade, rectangular shape, gable end chimney, and lack of ornamentation. It was probably built by Charles Duncan and his sons, the primary stone masons in the Centerville area. Most, if not all, of the approximately two dozen remaining stone houses in Centerville have been altered, some significantly, and although this house has undergone some alterations, it retains most of its original integrity. Centerville is located at the base of the Wasatch Mountains approximately twelve miles north of Salt Lake City and consists of a small strip of land two miles wide and three and three-tenths miles long . The place was named Centerville because it was literally centered between Farmington and Bountiful. Mormon pioneers were the first settlers in the Centerville area beginning in 1848, one year after their arrival in Utah. Primarily farmers and herdsmen, the early settlers found the location suitable due to its good soil and the availability of water from several mountain streams. Their earliest homes were temporary log structures made from trees cut in the nearby canyons, but as the settlement became more established and permanent, adobe houses were constructed. Stone was used in the construction of some of the early structures, but it was not until the 1860s that it became a popular and important building material in Centerville and neighboring communities. Located along the base of the Wasatch Mountains, the towns of Farmington, Pitman, Leon Sidney . "A Survey of Nineteenth-Century Folk Housing in the Mormon Culture Region," Ph .D dissertation, Louisiana State University , 1973, p. 91. Ibid , p. 108. X See continuation sheet |
