Price of Progress
["Ottawa Herald," 04 Feb 1967, p4c1]
Ottawa will lose a historic landmark soon to make way for an apartment development. It is the John Scott home, 744 S. Cedar, built in 1886 by Ottawa banker Charles P. Skinner, and designed by the Eastern high society architect, Stanford White.
Allen L. Loyd Jr.., local contractor, purchased the house from the owners Catherine Scott, and will take possession Feb. 6. Loyd said be plans to start work at once on the project.
The size and location of the plot make it a good site for a luxury apartment complex. No doubt the same qualities were responsible for Skinner's choice of the location for an elegant home befitting the status of an affluent banker's family.
An Easterner himself, Skinner chose for his architect, White, the most popular architect among the affluent class in the New York area. .
The razing of the house has recalled the recent death of Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, third member of a turn of the century love triangle which involved the home's designer. White was killed in New York June 25, 1906, by Harry Thaw. The ensuing murder case was a. sensation of the period. Mrs. Thaw died Jan 17, in Santa Monica, Calif.
The house, called, "shingle style," is an example of one of White's favorite designs, borrowed in large part from English architecture. Above the lower portion, built of native limestone, ore weathered shingles on sides and gabled roof. Sturdy chimneys, bay windows, fluted porch bannister spindles, and a turreted well house are other features.
After a few years, Skinner died and has family moved away. The home has been owned by members of the John Scott family .since 1900, when. Mrs Scott's grandfather, James L. Lingard, an English widower, bought it.
The Scott's came from Independence Kan., to live with the elderly Englishman, got upon his death, in 1908, they came into. possession of the home. The Scott family eventually included three daughters and three sons, all born in the home.
T he three story structure which served the two families is still sound without a creaking stair tread from cellar to attic. It retains most of its original features. These include the Tiffany stained glass windows on the stair landings, cherry door. knobs throughout and cherry and walnut woodwork.
White liked to use corners for fireplaces (there are five), for closets and cupboards. Still in. tact are the original bathroom fixtures on the second floor, and the marble lavatories in the two maids' rooms on the third floor. Also on the third floor is a double library where the Scott children and their friends, read, played games and gave plays.
An unusual feature for the age was the back stairway permitting access to the upper floors from the kitchen area. Features of the original kitchen, replaced long ago, were a long cast iron sink and a huge cook stove. The cage of the dumb waiter connecting the kitchen and basement was used for some years as a storage unit on an upper floor.
Transoms over the doors of the spacious family bedrooms on second floor provided cross ventilation, Even the smallest of these rooms seems spacious and airy by today's standards.
This quality of spaciousness is apparent upon entering the front door into a room-sized foyer with a bay window, .from which the graceful staircase rises to second floor. Opposite this bay is the bay window in the large parlor.
Window sashes in the living room are of enduring redwood, and the window locks of solid brass. Radiator grills are of ornate cast iron. Adjoining the living room is the dining room with . a pass-through window to the kitchen.
The family life of the Scotts revolved particularly around the father, who came to Ottawa as the Missouri Pacific passenger and freight agent. In 1921 he went into the Ottawa Transfer and Storage business from which he never really retired until shortly before has death, July 8, 1963.
Catherine Scoot, who has remained an Ottawa resident, recalls that her father spent much more time with his family than was the custom in that day.
"He took us on hikes, taught us to swim, to play tennis, to ice skate, and to enjoy nature," she said. "He spent a great deal of time reading aloud to our family."
Children were taken to the Chautauqua, to the opera house and to plays. Mrs. Scott gave the children piano lessons and supervised their reading. The children received other types of music lessons, had good magazines and books in the home. All received college education's or the equivalent.
Catherine, graduate of the Chicago Art Institute, is an artist; James William Scott is an assistant vice president in the Bank of America, Oakland, Calif.., and William Scott teaches in a boys school, following a career as a diplomat for the government and oil companies.
Evelyn, a violinist, is the wife of Robert Dills, assistant general manager of the Santa Fe Department of Highway Transportation; Malcolm Scott is manager of the Southwestern Motor Freight Bureau, Dallas, Tex, and the former Elizabeth Scott is the widow of an Ottawa attorney, the late Basil W. Kelsey.
The Scott house is the only one in this part of the country credited to White, who died 20 years after the house was built.
White's charm and artistic talent were apparent from his youth when he was diverted by necessity from his intention to become an artist. Instead he learned the more practical aspects of drafting and architecture to achieve a lucrative career.
White saw architecture as an expressive symbol to provide his rich clients with permanent plush background to set them apart from the multitudes. It was an age of private indulgence and public benefactions which brought him commissions for private mansions and public buildings.
White became all things to all people. Clients vied for his attention. His professional relationship to most of his clients intermingled with their social lives. He and his wife, Bessie, were on all the best society lists.
It was while he was attending a new summer musical review on the roof of Madison Square Garden, New York, which he had designed, that he was shot. The neurotic millionaire,
Harry Thaw, fired the fatal shots after' accusing White of having had improper relations with his wife, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, prior to the couple's marriage. Later in the same year, Madison Square Garden was razed.
Among a number of present New York landmarks of White's design are his rambling old home on Long Island, where he and Bessie lived for many years, the old Metropolitan Club, and the Washington Arch in Washington Square,. commemorating the inauguration of the first president of the United States.
Also English in character, as is the Scott home, will be the Loyd's new apartment complex, Kensington Square. It will have two three story buildings with 12 apartments each, flanking a center court.
It is planned to include the well house in the setup, Loyd said. Parking for cars is planned on the east side on Cedar. , the south, on Eighth, and along the west side now occupied by the carriage house.