CUYAHOGA VALLEY Alanson Swan House Historic Structures Report Architectural Data Section

The purpose of this report is to document and evaluate the architectural fabric of the Alanson Swan House (H.S. 470) according to National Park Service policy, standards, and guidelines for treatment of cultural resources. It is intended to provide management with technical data and recommendations necessary to determine appropriate levels and strategies of treatment for the resource. The research for this report was completed by the Williamsport Preservation training Center (WPTC) during the spring and summer of 1986, in conjunction with building stabilization and weatherization work on the other structures at Everett Village. in the original WPTC proposal for work at Everett Village, a preliminary assessment of the condition of the Swan House indicated that the level of deterioration in the structure was such that an attempt to restore the building to any period would entail such massive fabric replacement as to be, in effect, a reconstruction. It was recommended at that time that the structure be documented to NPS-28 standards, and that demolition be reviewed as an option.

The structure has not been nominated to the National Register, and a management treatment or level of significance has not been specifically identified. The General Management Plan gives only a proposed treatment for Everett Village as a whole, by adaptive reuse for a compatible function. However the Swan House is recognized as having considerable local and regional historical associations. Due to its early date of construction there are three potential periods of interpretive significance; the initial settlement period of the area, the canal period, and the post-canal era. One of the goals of the present investigation was to determine the physical evolution of the structure as it relates to these periods.

No historical data section has been completed on the Swan House, and no comprehensive historical research has been done on Everett Village. A search of the Park historical and interpretive data files did not disclose any historical photographs, drawings, or documentary sources pertaining to the Swan House. Architectural record drawings have been completed and were included in Architectural Evaluations of Historic Structures, Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, Ohio by Foit-Albert Associates under contract to the Denver Service Center. These drawings are on file in the Park and the Denver Service Center. An archeological assessment and test excavations were conducted by the Midwest Archeological Center in September 1986. Because of the lack of historical source materials, the present report is based almost solely on the physical evidence. The format for presentation of architectural features was adopted for two reasons. The photographs are used to show as clearly as possible the existing conditions and the degree of deterioration present in the structure. The associated sketches are included to simplify the discussion of features by placing them in a visual context and reducing the mass of superfluous detail. Documentation was complicated by the large amount of trash and debris in the building, and by the generally unsafe condition of the structure.