Architectural Contrasts — 1877, 1947

Architectural Contrasts — 1877, 1947. . , Beginning in the mid-1870s with windowless log shanties featuring dirt floors and roofs, architectural styles and types of building materials within the Lake City Historic District rapidly developed, an evolution illustrated by these two residences reflecting two distinct economic periods in Lake City history: the 1½ story frame McClellan house, 215 Gunnison Avenue, built in 1877 at the start of the mining boom, and its next door neighbor at 217 Gunnison Avenue, the cinder block Swank house which was built in 1947 as a tourism-based economy developed. , Built by William M. McClellan, the owner of an upper Silver Street ore sampling works, the 16' x 24' McClellan house dates to January 1877 and is one of the oldest surviving frame houses in Lake City. It was built in the prevailing Greek Revival architectural style and features a bracketed bay window originally surmounted by a noble wooden balustrade. A near-identical house to the north, which no longer exists, was built by McClellan's business partner, John H. Titus. , Despite high hopes for the future, the McClellan house reverted to rental use by Lake City area businessmen for the remainder of the 19th Century and well into the 20th Century, including Florence Doyle's Grove Rooming House , “conducted in a first class manner, located only one block from the depot” , in 1901. , The Titus house and its neighbor to the north, Last Chance Livery (see photo below) were demolished in 1931 as part of an ill-fated town plaza redevelopment promoted by Kansas banker Ronald Finney. The site of the Titus house, 217 Gunnison Avenue, was vacant in 1947 when local businessman Joel F. Swank built this novel and at that date ultra modern single-story cinder block residence. Rather than mining or ore sampling which predominated in the prior century, by 1947 the Lake City economy was increasingly tourism-based. Swank built the neighboring Town Square Cabins tourist court beginning in 1939 and in 1950 began guided jeep tours over Cinnamon and Engineer Passes. , The primary building material used in the novel Swank house was concrete block consisting of 50-cent bags of cement mixed with water and , an interesting throwback to the 19th Century , cinders which were gathered from along the town's abandoned railroad tracks. As originally built by Swank, the residence consisted of a combined kitchen and living room in a single room, two bedrooms and the novelty of an indoor bathroom, a distinct rarity in Lake City at the time. , The cinder block home was briefly occupied by Joel and Celia Swank, and after use as a seasonal rental has been a summer residence since 1960. , [photo caption] , The 1877 McClellan house, second from left below and at left, is the sole survivor of a late 19th Century residential and business district which developed along Gunnison Avenue. Third from left is the near-identical Titus house and, beyond that, the Last Chance Feed and Livery, both demolished in 1931 and replaced by tourism-based structures, the 1947 Swank cinder block house, pictured at right, and Town Square Cabins.