222. William J. Liipfert House (FY 959)

222. William J. Liipfert House (FY 959)
618 Jersey Avenue
Contributing, ca. 1900; moved ca. 1919

 
The Liipfert House is a late Victorian dwelling of irregular configuration and both one-and-a-half and two-story sections. The weatherboarded frame house has a pyramidal roof with front and side wood-shingled cross gables, carved sunburst panels in the gable peaks, a gabled dormer, a right front projecting bay, and a wrap-around porch with chamfered posts and a balustrade with alternating horizontal and vertical connecting pieces. In mid-century the house was sheathed with asbestos shingle siding and formstone, but physical evidence shows that underneath these inappropriate materials, the original materials remain intact. (The current owner’s plans are to renovate the house).

 

The house has had an interesting history. It stood originally on the west side of Summit Street just north of Sixth Street, where it was built ca. 1900 by William J, Liipfert, an employee of RJR Tobacco Company The Liipfert family occupied the house through 1916, but by 1918 the house was listed in the city directory as vacant. In 1920 it was not listed at all, because in the meantime it had been moved down the hill to its present location on Jersey Avenue, making room on Summit Street for the Summit Apartments which were erected in 1926. The first tax listing for the Jersey Avenue property was in 1920, with William F. L. Holff as owner, and although Holff was listed at this location in the 1928 directory, tax records and city directories reveal that the house has been used primarily as rental property through the years. (SH, CD, TR)