NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE HISTORIES

by NiNi Harris

Like other people search for their family histories, I do house histories.  I love to explore the old records at City Hall to find out who lived in a house through the years, who designed it, who built it.  I want to find out if the owners were doctors, or made their fortune driving ash wagons.  If possible, I want to know if the homeowners were German-Americans, born in Poland, or descendants of Swiss immigrants.

                              The fascinating bungalow at 700 Bellerive, lovingly restored by Robert and Patrice Petrich, concealed many mysteries.  I have been digging through fading, handwritten documents to solve those mysteries.  Though a few questions remain, I’ve discovered a lot of answers about the remarkable house – a bungalow with woodwork that is a walk through early 20^th century decorative arts, abundant wood trim and Japanese roof lines.

A primary source of information, proved to be an additional source of questions about 700 Bellerive.  The original building permit was missing.  When the tens of thousands of old building permits were microfilmed years ago, some were lost in the shuffle.  So with no building permit extant, there was no specific date, nor an “estimated cost of construction,” nor an owner, nor a contractor listed for the bungalow.  So the search took detours.

 The City Assessor’s records provided an alternative path through the house’s history.  Tracing the route backwards, the path led through the chain of ownership.  Though the property had been transferred 3 times during the last 70 years, it had all been within one family.  Records indicated that the Bossung family bought the house in 1929. 

Here is where roads cross in research.  I had been researching a property on Cherokee Street’s Antique Row.  The Bossung family had lived on Cherokee, built storefronts on Cherokee, operated a butcher ship on Cherokee, and owned rental property on the street.  Their move to Bellerive reflected the national trend of shopkeepers moving away from their store buildings and driving to work in the newfangled automobile. 

The change in ownership coincided with some changes in the house – that now could be given a specific year.  With ten children, the Bossungs needed more bedrooms.  That would explain the originally unfinished second floor being converted into four smaller rooms.  And the hardwood floors were not original, but installed by the Bossung family. 

So back to the chain of ownership. 

The Bossungs had bought the home from Marie Schulte.  But this was simply another detour.  Records indicate that Marie worked for a local real estate company, and she was simply transferring the property.

 The people who owned the home from 1918 to 1929, and probably added some of the unique period decorative features to the home were the Hans Family.  (Again the house was transferred between family members, but it “was all in the family.”)

 Willard J. Hans was a physician.  Many of his patients likely lived in the neighborhood, since his office was nearby; over the storefront at 4532 Virginia Avenue (a printing office now occupies the storefront).

 Though the Hans family undoubtedly added some of the exceptional woodwork and fixtures, they didn’t build the house. 

An investment company had owned the land at the turn-of-the-century.  Then a realty company owned the parcel.  In 1912, Rosina and Martin Kunz paid the realty company $2,000 for the property and then built the bungalow. 

There are still questions about Rosina and Martin Kunz to be answered.  For instance, they had to have been people of some means to build such a house.  So it is strange that there is hardly any mention of them other than in the Assessor’s Records.  Luckily, clues about the house appeared from another source.

 During restoration of the bungalow, Patrice Petrich found the name H. Beetz written on the back of a marble splash board.

 Research projects again crossed paths.  I found H. Beetz listed as the builder/architect for a four-family flat that I was researching in the historic Fox Park neighborhood.  The flat, on Accomac Street, was built in 1908.  This evidence suggests that H. Beetz was the builder/constrictor of 700 Bellerive.  Even though the federal census records has revealed nothing about the Kunz family, I thought I’d look for H. Beetz in those census records.

The 1910 federal census listed Henry C. Beetz living in South St. Louis on Nebraska Avenue.  He and his wife Margaret had six children ranging in age from three to twelve years-old.  Though he spoke English, Beetz had emigrated from Germany in 1891, and Margaret had emigrated in 1894.  A significant puzzle piece for our search about 700 Bellerive is that the census listed Beetz’ profession as “contractor.” 

So this is what I do.  When homeowners commission me to research their home, I compile the documentation – including building permits, atlas images, chain of ownership through assessors’ records, any information about the owners available through directories and federal census records.  With all that documentation, I supply a narrative, to walk you through the material.

If you are interested in having your home researched, you can contact me at 314-752-2304.

 See You Around the Neighborhood.

    NiNi Harris
              Author/Historian

Copyright 2005
No portion of this article may be copied or printed without prior consent of the author!