Mabry – Van Pelt House
Real estate developers from Denver built this house in 1891 as part of their acclaimed subdivision known as Perkins’ Addition. It was reportedly the model home for the development. Over a hundred houses were planned, but only about a dozen were actually built, due largely to the depression of 1893. Still, Perkin’s Addition was one of the most successful of the man subdivisions developed after the electric streetcar lines were extended into this farmland south of the city in 1890.
Houses in Perkin’s Addition reflect a common architectural theme of the period – the use of standard plans slightly modified to create unique designs and embellished by Victorian Eclectic details. The styling of these houses, derived from homes build in Denver by the developers, is distinctive in Salt Lake City.
Rev. William D. Mabry, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, owned this house until 1894 when it was sold to Henry Van Pelt, a prominent attorney, commissioner of the U.S. District Court in Utah, and trustee and treasurer of Westminster College. The house remained in the Van Pelt family for nearly ninety years.
Located at 946 East 1700 South in the Perkins Addition in Salt Lake City, Utah and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#83003954) on October 13, 1983. The text below is from the nomination form for the national register.
The Mabry-Van Pelt House, built In 1891, is architecturally and historically significant as one of the ten remaining houses that were original to Perkins’ Addition subdivision, the most visually cohesive example of a streetcar subdivision in Salt Lake City. Streetcar subdivisions played a major rote in the transformation of the land south of die original city from agricultural to residential use in the 1890s, and Perkins’ Addition was considered the standard of subdivision excellence. The Mabry-Van Pelt House, as one of seven houses in Perkins’ Addition which are variants of one house pattern, documents a significant process in suburban development the use of standardized plans that could be verified to accommodate individual preferences. Additionally, this house pattern, distinguished by its gable façade and double porch entry, is unique in Salt lake City, having originated in Colorado. This house is also significant for its association with Henry V. Van Pelt, an attorney who was prominent in legal and educational affairs in Salt lake City and Utah, serving for eleven years as commissioner of the U.S. District Court In Utah, as a member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education and a trustee and treasurer of Westminster College for many years.
The Mabry-Van Pelt House at 946 East 1700 South was built in 1891 as one of thirteen large, brick houses constructed in Perkins’ Addition subdivision by Metropolitan Investment Company. In January 1891, Rev. William D. Mabry contracted with Metropolitan Investment Company to have a $5800 residence built in the Perkins Addition subdivision. Mabry had come to Salt Lake City on August 30, 1890, having been assigned as the new pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. He remained in tine city in that position for four years, then moved out of the area, apparently reassigned to a parish elsewhere.
Henry V. and Hattie W. Van Pelt bought the house from Mabry in November 1894 and lived here for the rest of their lives. They had come to Utah in May 1893 from South Dakota, where Henry had been practicing law since 1883 and had been appointed Assistant Attorney General of the state in 1893. However, prospects of opportunities in the west lured him away from that position to Utah, where he led a very successful career for over forty years. Soon after arriving in Salt lake City they moved into the house at 936 E. 1700 South, another of the Perkins’ Addition houses, apparently renting it from the owner, Charles S. Bennett, who had moved to Portland. The unreliability of the streetcar service to this area, however, caused Mr. Van Pelt much inconvenience in his business appointments, so they moved back in to town where he could be nearer to his work. Several months later Henry noticed that the Mabry house in Perkins’ Addition was for sale, and Hattie, upon hearing that, and apparently dissatisfied with their housing in the city, told him that she would like that house, although she had never been inside it. He was able to purchase it and only afterwards did Mrs. Van Pelt discover that the house and the rooms were too small to suit her, being smaller than the neighboring house that they had lived in previously. They must not have disliked it too much though, because they remained here for over forty years.
Henry Vroom Van Pelt was born in Racine, Wisconsin on January 25, 1854 to William Todd and Margaret Beekman Van Pelt. His father was in the grain business in that area. Henry attended the Racine public schools before graduating from Beloit College (Beloit, Wis.) in 1875. In 1876 he was admitted to the bar in Wisconsin, where he conducted his private practice for several years before removing to North Dakota in 1883.
Hattie Ward Ryan Van Pelt was born on April 2, 1861 in Brooklyn, New York to Phillip H. and Margaret Ryan. Her family later moved to East Orange, New Jersey. On June 7, 1888, she married Henry Van Pelt, who was living in North Dakota at the time. They had two children while living there, Marion and Helen, and two more children after moving to Salt Lake City, Roger and Charles (d. 1917). Roger was a member of the University of Utah’s 1916 national champion basketball team.
The Mabry-Van Pelt House is a two story square brick house with a steeply pitched gable roof, and a two story, gable roof crosswing. There Is a small one story rear extension whose gable roof echoes the pitch of the main roof. This house is the only one of the houses in the Perkins’ Addition which has a red sandstone foundation.
Soon after arriving in Salt Lake City, Henry formed a law partnership with George F. Goodwin, which lasted until Goodwin was chosen as a city judge in 1915. In 1916, Henry was appointed to succeed Charles Baldwin as commissioner of the U.S. District Court in Utah, a position he held until 1927, when he resigned to return to his private practice. During the course of his service as commissioner, he handled over 2500 cases, only two of which ended in reversal. Mr. Van Pelt was also active in educational affairs in the city, serving as a member of the Salt Lake City Board of Education for many years, and for twenty years as a trustee and treasurer of Westminster College, the Presbyterian Church-sponsored college founded in Utah in 1875. He continued to act as an advisor for the college in legal and administrative affairs after resigning as treasurer in 1921.
Henry died in 1935, and, after Hattie’s death in 1937, the house was occupied by their daughter, Helen Van Pelt Nyman, and her husband, Emil. Helen’s sister, Marion Van Pelt, also lived with them in the house for many years. She was a language instructor at East High School. Emil Nyman was an educator also, serving in the public school system for many years as a teacher and a principal. He taught for a time at Westminster College, where he also served as archivist of the college for many years, compiling the history of the college and its founders. He passed away in 1982, and the house is now owned jointly by Mrs. Nyman and her daughter, Marion N. Brown. Mrs. Nyman lives with her sons and daughters, and currently the house is vacant.
The Mabry-Van Pelt House is one of seven of the houses in the Perkins’ Addition which were derived from one basic pattern book design. Inclusively these houses represent the range of variation possible with the use of a single design. Each house Is uniquely different from the others, but the basic form, the composition of major elements, and the repetition of specific decorative features tie these houses to a pattern book origin. The basic form repeated In these houses is a rectangular, two story block with a gable roof, projecting bays and/or crosswings with gable roofs, and a façade composed of an arrangement of four openings. The main entrance is on one side of the façade, flanked by a large window. Distinctive one or two story porches over the entrances have gable roofs and ornamentation that echo the pitch and detailing of the main block. An open porch with a geometric balustrade spanned the façade. Belt courses and a change in building material in the gable serve to interrupt the vertical thrust of the mass of the house, and distinctive shingle patterns, recessed decorative panels, and bargeboards with geometric surface patterns make the gable area a focal point of visual interest.
The design of the Mabry-Van Pelt House conforms to the description above, and it is the best preserved both inside and out of the ten houses built in the original Perkins’ Addition. There is a two story crosswing on the east side and a one story gable roofed extension attached to the rear, both of which are original. The main entrance is on the west half of the façade, with a two story porch over it. The porch has a gable roof, and a flaired shingle roof section between stories. The balustrade of the first floor porch has a geometric pattern. The same type of balustrade is on the open porch across the front of the house. The second story balustrade is the simple straight post type. There are slender, lathe turned porch piers, and there are spindle bands between the first floor porch piers. The bargeboard of the porch is identical to that of the main gable. A door opens onto the upper porch.
Two large windows on the east half of the façade serve as focal points of visual interest that balance with the porch. The first floor window has a half elliptical transom of stained glass with dentils below it, and a single large pane of glass. A belt course that wraps around the front of the building intersects the relieving arch of that window at the transom level, serving to draw the eye to that area of distinctive brick patterning, interesting shapes and colors. The three part second story window bay is equally distinctive, and this type of window appears in nine of the ten houses in the Addition in varying configurations. In the Mabry-Van Pelt House a large single pane central window is flanked by long, narrow, double hung sash windows. There is a small stained glass transom over the central panel, flanked by raised wooden blocks, all of which have transformed a common window type into a distinctive element.
The belt course previously described, and the change of material in the gable section visually divide the building into distinct horizontal units. The gable section is a complex of geometric shapes created by horizontal and vertical bands of recessed panels, pierced only by a single square window. The pattern on the bargeboard echoes the shapes used in the gable section, and, in addition, has a line of circles cut through it at each end.
The house appears to be essentially unaltered. The Mabry-Van Pelt House is the only Perkins’ house in which the porch elements, the first parts of a house to deteriorate, are completely intact. Both doors on the façade are original. Each consists of a square pane of glass and patterns of indented panels, some distinguished by carved flower decorations. Even the rear screen porch has received no alterations.
The interior of the Mabry-Van Pelt House is particularly notable because it is the least altered, best preserved example of the ten houses that are being nominated, therefore best documenting the type of interior that was typical of the Perkins 1 development. Eh trance through the
front door is into a narrow hall with a staircase that runs along the west wall. The bannister of the staircase, made of oak, contrasts with the hand grained woodwork throughout the rest of the house. The present owners have indicated that the oak bannister is not the original. It was probably an addition made between 1900 and 1915. A large parlor flanks the hall containing a fireplace with a cherry wood mantle set at an angle in the southeast corner. Behind the parlor is a second, smaller parlor, or living room, also having a fireplace. That fireplace is set into the north wall of the room, thereby tapping into the same flue as the other fireplace. The mantle of the second fireplace, like the bannister of the staircase, is partially made of oak, and may have been added at the time that the original bannister was replaced. A dining room flanks the smaller parlor, being directly behind the entrance hall. It has a large closet set in the north wall to the left of the door leading from the hall, and a built-in china cabinet that also opens into the kitchen. The kitchen is housed in the one story rear extension. A small bathroom was added to the southeast corner of the kitchen in recent years in what had probably been a closet (date unknown). It, however, is completely unobtrusive. Access to the basement is through a door in the kitchen.
There are three bedrooms on the second floor connected by a short hall that runs west to east from the staircase, bending diagonally to the southeast at the bathroom. There is one large bedroom across the front of the house, and two smaller bedrooms across the back. The smallest bedroom, in the southeast corner of the building, is distinctive in that it has hand grained wood wainscoting that extends 3′-7 1/2″ from the floor.
Notable features of the interior of the Mabry-Van Pelt House include: hand grained moldings around all windows and doors, and at the floor level throughout the house, except in two of the bedrooms, and in the bathroom; large built-in closets off of the dining room, the entrance hall, and in two of the three bedrooms; a distinctive square stained glass window panel which provides light to the stairwell; a small marble sink which, because it did not fit into the bathroom is located in the upstairs hall; and hardwood floors throughout the house except in the kitchen and bathroom. The hardwood floors are not original, but are in keeping with the character of the interior of the house.
Alterations to the interior of the house as previously mentioned include the addition of a bathroom off the kitchen, the addition of hardwood floors, the change to the mantle in the second parlor, and the change to the original bannister. These changes, except for the bathroom, were all made well within the historic period, are unobtrusive, and each complement, the original design of the house.
Following is a list of the seven houses in the Perkins’ Addition which were derived from, a single pattern book design and represent the range of variation possible with the use of a single design:
- John W. Judd House, 918 East Logan Avenue
- Clifford R. Pearsall House, 950 East Logan Avenue
- Thomas Yardley House, 955 East Logan Avenue
- Henry Luce House, 921 East 1700 South
- Elgin S. Yankee House, 955 East 1700 South
- Byron Cummings House, 936 East 1700 South
- William D. Mabry-Henry Van Pelt House, 946 East 1700 South
