If those walls could talk

To most passersby, the porch wrapping around one corner of the beautifully aged home at the corner of East Fourth and Olive streets seems like a natural fit. “It just works,” former Chico Heritage Association President John Gallardo said during a recent visit to the property, historically known as the Schwein Home, though he admits some of his colleagues might disagree.

“It’s an Italianate-style building, and then it has this classical revival porch,” Gallardo explained. “Some architectural experts might look at that and say, ‘Ugh, it’s not pure,’ or whatever, but to the average person it looks very nice. In other words, it works.”

The Schwein Home is one of three houses scheduled to be honored at the association’s Preservation Awards ceremony on May 28, the culmination of Preservation Month events. Gallardo explained that, though historical and architectural integrity are factors in determining honorees, few buildings remain exactly as originally built (Bidwell Mansion, which has been largely restored, and the Stansbury Home, which has been mostly preserved, are the two rare examples he could think of in Chico). In the case of the Schwein Home, where the porch was added and the second floor widened in 1911, the additions themselves are of historical significance.

Another factor in determining awards is just who should receive them, as properties tend to change hands more often today than they did in the past. This wasn’t a factor in the case of the Schwein Home, which has been owned by the same family for more than 100 years.

Mathias Schwein was a German immigrant who came to the North State through the Panama isthmus in 1857, eventually settling in Chico in 1887, said Jeff Schwein, a fifth-generation Chicoan also present during the visit to the home. The house, built in 1885 and sold shortly thereafter to Mathias’ son Ludwig “Louis” Schwein, has been passed down through the family and is today owned by Jeff’s distant aunt, Janis Sylvester, who currently lives in Maine. Sylvester and other Schwein descendents plan to attend the May 28 awards ceremony.

As does Jeff, who has no personal connection to the home—he comes from a different line of Schweins, and is the great-grandson of Ludwig’s brother, Theodore, whose historic home still stands in the south campus area. A family history buff, he’s donated dozens of photos to Meriam Library’s Special Collections (viewable online) and noted he and his wife are raising two sons here, yet another generation of Chico Schweins.

Two other Chico buildings, the Walker Home and the Stamper Home, also will receive awards, as will local historian Michele Shover.

Gallardo noted the Walker Home, at the corner of West Third and Ivy streets, is also a hybrid of styles, with an overall Italianate design accented with federal-style front porch and other details.

“It has the only half-moon-shaped skylight [above] the front door we’ve seen in Chico,” he said.

More obviously unique is the material—the house was built from brick in 1875.

“Jefferson Walker owned a brickyard and supplied bricks to a lot of early buildings in Chico and other cities, like you see in most of downtown,” Gallardo said, noting that longtime owners the Riley family will receive the award. “He wanted it to be like a showcase to show what you could do with bricks, but it never really caught on with homes here.”

The Stamper Home, located on The Esplanade next to the Chico Veterans Memorial Hall, is a 1912 Craftsman-style home built by Walter Hahn, one of Gallardo’s favorite historic home designers and builders.

“There’s nobody else that did what he did in terms of the quality of construction—the woods, the finishes, the fitting of the joints, everything,” he said. “His homes were rock solid and the best possible quality. One of his relatives said he could have been much wealthier if he and his crew didn’t spend so much time making sure everything was perfect, and he insisted on the highest quality of craftsmanship and materials.”

Dianne Ayers Ferris and family will receive the award for the Stamper Home.

Local historian and past Chico Heritage Association Vice President Shover will receive a special Preservation Award. Shover is a retired professor of political science at Chico State, and has spent years restoring her own 12th Street home, the A.H. Chapman House, more commonly called the Little Chapman Mansion. Shover also owns and is restoring several other houses in the Chapman neighborhood.

“She does an incredible amount of research in various areas of Chico’s past,” Gallardo said. “She’s our local expert on the history of women, blacks and Chinese in Chico, as well as on Annie Bidwell.

“A number of people she interviewed and recorded personally in the last 30 years are gone now, and a lot of history would be lost if not for her efforts.”

The association also is hosting two guided walking tours of historic Chico homes during Preservation Month. On Saturday (May 17), Gallardo will guide a tour of south campus homes, and Randy Taylor will lead a May 24 tour of downtown businesses.

The association is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1981, and Gallardo is a founding member. He and other members spend a great deal of time researching Chico’s historic buildings, a never-ending effort for an organization made up entirely of volunteers.

“We’re working to get a lot more information online so anyone can contact us; we can give them some hints on how to do the research and point them in the right direction,” he said. “Our main goal is to help enable the public to find their own information.

“There are literally thousands of people in Chico who would like their homes researched, but we just don’t have enough time.”