University Green Area Heritage StudyHistoric Burlington Research Project - HP 206Historic Preservation Program - University of Vermont |
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12 Colchester Avenue
12 Colchester Avenue, previously known as 2 Colchester
Avenue before it was changed in 1999 due to 911 address guidelines. It has been known as the Pearl House.
[i]
G. M. Peterson, a florist, occupied
the house from 1884 to 1890.
[v]
In 1894, the house belonged to another
florist, Wells A. Lee.
[vi]
From 1890 to 1894, it is unclear who
possessed the house. Yet, in 1895, it was back in the hands of Wells A. Lee,
now a famer, as well as W .A. Lee, possibly his son, who was a florist.
[vii]
In 1896, a Mrs. F.L. Lee lived in the house with the two W .A. Lees’.
Additionally, the house was listed as a boarding house, which housed not only
students of the University of Vermont but also their professors.
[viii]
In 1900, W.A. Lee, the son, moved to Leominster, Massachusetts.
[ix]
By 1903, only Mrs. F .L. Lee was living in the boarding house.
[x]
In 1904, Mrs. Minnie E. Cross lived
in the house. Mrs. F. L. Lee removed from the city in 1905, leaving an Alice J.
Fisk running the boarding house with Minnie Cross as a boarder.
[xi]
The next year, 1906, only Ms. Fisk was living in the boarding house. However,
in 1907, Fisk moved to a boarding house at 115 Cherry Street, and the Whalley
family, Mrs R.G., Richard G., a gardener, and Miss Gertrude Whalley took her
place.
[xii]
The Whalley’s lived in the house until 1909, when they move to Shelburne near
Park Avenue, and Miss Elizabeth L. Duke moved in.
[xiii]
Mrs. Hattie M. Dingman acquired the house, in 1910, which she used as a
sanitarium for until 1911 when it returned to its former use as a boarding
house; Mrs. Hattie M. Dingman ran the boarding house until 1914.
[xiv]
Though Dingman no longer ran the boarding house, Mrs. E.W. Roberts (Electa M.
Mrs.) was now in charge; she continued to live there until 1915.
[xv]
Mrs. Electa M. Roberts remained until 1916 when she moved to a boarding house
at 68 College.
[xvi]
Thus, in
1916, the house belonged to painter Hearme L. Barron and in 1917 to Mrs. J. E.
Goodrich.
[xvii]
For the next two years, 1918 and
1919, the house sat vacant until it was acquired by the Vermont State Board of
Health, the Vermont Anti-Tuberculosis Association, and the Vermont State Lab of
Hygiene in 1920.
[xviii]
In 1921,
the Vermont Tuberculosis Association moved to 233 Pearl St, while the other two
remained until 1924.
[xix]
In 1925,
the Vermont Department of Public Health moved in and was joined in 1932 by the
Vermont State Laboratory of Hygiene.
[xx]
In 1936,
The State Board of Health moved back and joined the Vermont Department of
Public Health and the Vermont State Lab of Hygiene.
[xxi]
In 1949, the building became the
State Health Building. The first floor contained the Vermont State Board of
Health, Sanitary Engineer, Crippled Children Division, Secretary’s office, and
Tourist House License office. On the second floor were the Laboratories,
Directors Office, General Lab office, and Sanitary of Hygiene. The third floor
contained the Venereal Disease Division.
[xxii]
In 1951 and 1952, the State Health Building, still at 2 Colchester Avenue,
contained on the first floor the Hospital Service Division Vermont State
Department of Health, the Vermont State Department Sanitary Engineer,
Commissioner Vermont State Department Office, and the Crippled Children’s
Division. The second floor
contained the director’s office, the Vermont State Department of Health, the
General Lab office, the Vermont State Department of Health, and the Vermont
State Department of Health’s director’s office. The third floor contained the
Department of Health and the Communicable Disease Division.
[xxiii]
By 1956, the building had become the
University of Vermont Medical Building Annex, and stayed as such until 1970
when it became the College of Education Special Education area Consulting
Teacher Program from 1971 to 1976.
[xxiv]
The UVM
General Psychology Testing Center, Dana Medical Library UVM Medical and Health
Care Information Center, and Medical Center Hospital Mary Fletcher Unit
occupied the building in 1977, but by 1978, the Dana Medical Library had moved
to the East Campus, and 12 Colchester Avenue was left vacant until 1988, when
the University leased the building to the Synon Group, a Vermont partnership.
[xxv]
The Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, a tenant of Synon Group, renovated the
building in 1989 in order to create offices and a daycare center for their
employees.
[xxvi]
The Medical Center leased the building from the Synon Group in 1994, thus it is
probable that they also leased the building in 1989.
[xxvii]
It is unclear when the daycare center, as well as the Synon Group, left 2
Colchester Avenue, yet in 2006, the Office of Student and Community Relations
moved into the building and still occupy it at this time.
[xxviii]
Photo and text by Robyn Sedgwick, 2011 [i] United States National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory: UVM Green Historic District, Section 7 # 15. [ii] Ibid. David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1991), 62. [iii] W.S. Rann, ed. History Of Chittenden County Vermont (New York: D. Mason & Co., 1886), 399. [iv] Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, 63. [v] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: The Free Press Association, 1884/85), 141. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: The Free Press Association, 1886/87), 176. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1888/89), 140. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1890), 99. [vi] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1894), 170. [vii] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1895), 180.
[viii]
Burlington
City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1896), 183.
The Ariel, (Burlington, 1900) 38, 52, 59, 60, 54, 61, 65, 66, 67. [ix] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1900), 173. [x] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1903), 161. [xi] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1904), 287. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1905), 126. Ibid, 106. [xii] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1907), 128. Ibid, 284. [xiii] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1909), 320. Ibid, 298. [xiv] Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1910), 119. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1911), 110. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1912), 110. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1913), 105. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1914), 112. [xv] Ibid, 222. Burlington City Directory, (Burlington: L.P Waite & Co., 1915), 222. [xvi] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1916), 255. [xvii] Ibid, 68. [xviii] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1918), 372. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1919), 412. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1920),427, 392. [xix] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1921), 376, 411. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1922), 393, 360. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1923), 350. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1924), 309. [xx] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1925), 369. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1932), 188. [xxi] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1936), 194. [xxii] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1949), 260. [xxiii] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1951), 304. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1952), 290. [xxiv] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1956), 305. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1960), 583. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1961), 524. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1962), 588. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1963), 616. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1964/65), 685. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1965/66), 644. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1967), 685. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1968), 736. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1969), 600. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1970), 612. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1971/72), 622. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1974), 597. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1975/76), 390. [xxv] Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 1977), 400. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning Co., 201. Ibid, 426. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co., 1979), 449. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co., 1980), 450. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co., 1981), 439. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co., 1982), 405. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co., 1983), 402. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co. 1984), 401. Burlington City Directory, (Massachusetts: H.A. Manning & Co. 1986), 377. [xxvi] Campus Planning, Drawer 14, Drawings 289-304. Mike Donaghue, “Hospital to open day-care center,” Burlington Free Press, January 27, 1989, sec. B. [xxvii] City Hall Land Records, Deed, Vol 515 pg 765. City Hall Land Records Deed, Vol 392 pg 552. [xxviii] Jill Fahy, “UVM community relations office to move near noisy neighborhoods,” Burlington Free Press, September 13, 2006.
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