Adventure: 051, Site 166 –
Thomas H. Leggett House
National Registry ID: 82002207
Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date: September 22, 2012
Location:
Latitude: 37°18′16″N
Longitude: 120°28′42″W
Address:
346 West 21st Street, Merced, CA
Date Built: approx, 1890
There are two Leggett Houses on the
National Registry—one street apart. Both are Queen Anne designs,
but they currently colored differently. There are seven buildings in
Merced built before 1900 and Leggett lived in two of them—that man
knew his houses. Unfortunately, they both do not have plaques on them.
From NRHP:
The Thomas H. Leggett House was built circa 1890 at a site three blocks from the courthouse in an early residential section of Merced. The single story cottage has retained high integrity of design, and is an outstanding local example of its type and period. Styling is highly eclectic, combining elements of Queen Anne, Stick and Eastlake into an eye-catching statement of late 19th century design. Of the homes built prior to 1900 in the community, it is one of only seven which still remains. It is directly associated with an important local citizen who served as Constable and as Postmaster during the early years of the community's history.
Thomas H. Leggett, a native of Warren County, New York, immigrated to California in 1858 at the age of 18. In February of 1872, Leggett became a citizen of Merced County, where he served as Peace Officer for nine years, and from 1881 to 1884, he was a deputy Sheriff. He then became Constable, and held that office until he resigned to accept the appointment as Postmaster of Merced on December 11, 1890. Leggett bought the lot at 346 W. 21st Street for ten dollars in gold coin in April of 1889.
The
house constructed by Leggett remains virtually unaltered. It is one
of
the
finest examples of a Queen Anne Cottage in Merced County, and is one
of
the
few surviving 19th century residences in the city of Merced. The
elaborate millwork is especially noteworthy, combining spindles and
sunbursts with other turned and sawn decorative elements. With its
high integrity of design, it remains an exceptionally valuable
statement of the community's 19th century architecture
References:
Overall Landmark References:
- National
Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
- Noehill
(NOE)
No comments:
Post a Comment