D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
May 2010
Lookie-Loos Are in Luck
Next month's 24 Club Historic Home Tour offers the inside story.
Every year, Silver City's unusual women's club, the 24 Club (see October 2007 issue), gives history buffs and the just plain curious a peek inside some of the town's most storied homes. Next month's annual Historic Home Tour, June 6, will throw open the doors to four homes plus a "Tea House" where refreshments will be offered.
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The Marian House on the grounds of
St. Mary's Academy. |
Among the worthy local causes benefited by fundraisers such as the home tour are a pair of scholarships: The 24 Club/Betty Cook Memorial Scholarship is for female graduates of Silver, Cobre and Cliff High Schools earning a grade point average of 3.4 or higher. The 24 Club/Chris Drangmeister Memorial Scholarship goes to female sophomores, juniors or seniors earning a GPA of 3.4 or higher who are accepted into the WNMU School of Education program.
This year's home tour, 1-4 p.m., costs $15, which includes refreshments at the Tea House. Tickets are limited, and may be purchased in advance at Manzanita Ridge, Dunn's Nursery or Legacy Lighting. Here's a preview of the historic tour stops, many of which also boast state-of-the-art updates:
The Marian House, 1813 N. Alabama: Built in 1910 as home to the Rufus Jackson family, who came to Silver City from Tennessee seeking a healthy environment, the house later became part of the grounds of St. Mary's Academy, established in 1918. The house has served the church and community in many different roles. At one time it was used as a residence hall for the nuns and as a girls' dormitory. In more recent years it housed El Refugio and the Life Quest Early Intervention Program. Today it is used primarily as a retreat site. Behind the house is a labyrinth created by Sister Rita. Also on the property is the beautiful academy chapel, built in 1924.
13 Jade Drive: The home of David Furnas and Marcia Smith is a territorial-style adobe believed to have been constructed about 1900. One of three adobe homes built for the owners and family of a large ranch north of Silva Creek off Cottage San Road, the home receives its natural gas from the original line laid to bring natural gas to the Cottage Sanatorium. In the 1930s it belonged to Olive and N.D. Frazin, and later was known as the Chancie Synder Tract and the George Johnson Tract.
Originally only three rooms, the house got a small kitchen addition in the 1970s and bathrooms and closets for each bedroom in the 1980s. In 2008, the current owners added an entirely new kitchen built from the ground up, with walls constructed of FlexCrete, a fiber-reinforced aerated concrete, and PaperStone countertops made from recycled paper and/or cardboard. The home is situated on two acres, which also include the original adobe carriage house, a small office building, and a studio that was originally a stable.
103 N. Pinos Altos St. Apartments: In the heart of downtown Silver City, these apartments were built in 1905 as a boarding house, with doors leading to the outside from every room. It was later converted into three apartments; the tour will feature the rear, two-bedroom unit 103A, which was renovated about 1999. A new scalloped ceiling was incorporated in the living area, but the bedrooms have the original tin ceilings. The welcoming closed-in entry also adds utilitarian space, and a small garden in the back is a perfect oasis.
William Laizure House, 502 W. College: Built in 1891 by William Laizure, a local contractor who came to Silver City in the 1880s, the house featured double brick wall construction, multiple roofs and gables and molded fascia. Laizure also built a number of residences and downtown buildings, as well as "Old Main" (the first building on what's now the WNMU campus) and the Gold Avenue Methodist Church in Pinos Altos. Although the Laizures remained in Silver City for many years, the house was sold in 1906 to John W. Pennewill. In 1919 banker Eben Burnside and his bride purchased the house and hired contractor H.S. Gilbert to do a major remodeling, which enlarged and changed its shape.
"Tea House," 1703 Yucca St.: Tom and Christine Stewart's home is a late 1930s adobe built for the family of John C. Mitchell, a physician who served as public health officer in southwest New Mexico for 30 years. His wife, known as "Brownie," was a nurse who worked in the schools, at Phelps-Dodge, and at then-nearby Hillcrest Hospital.
The compound was renovated in 2004 by David Lawrence and Sunup Design/Build. The adjacent office building next to the house was completely rebuilt and the roofline raised to add clerestory windows. The interior of the house was refurbished and a master bedroom and bath added. Adobe walls around a patio and deck provide privacy from the traffic of Silver Heights Boulevard. The compound includes the Stewarts' home and Tom Stewart's law office.
For more information on the 24 Club Historic Home Tour, contact Christy at 538-7907, Paula at 538-2755, or Liny at 388-9606.