Despite the neighborhood efforts, despite the history, 708 China Street was demolished today.

As one resident put it,

Doesn’t it seem, that every time a developer proposes to get a variance. . They achieve their goal, regardless of what the neighborhood desires, or the previous regulation alllows.

The neighborhood association received word yesterday that the developer has decided to demolish the historic home at 708 China St. as part of a Special Use Permit.

708 China Street is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places as a contributing structure to the Oregon Hill Historic District. The Department of Historic Resources nomination report for the Oregon Hill Historic District dates the house to the 1850s. This one-story gable roofed structure is a rare survival within our historic district and within Richmond as a whole.

There is ample room on the lot to preserve the house while building a new addition in the rear.

More on the history:

The house appears on the 1876 Beers Atlas, owned by the estate of F. W. Baker. At that time, it was rental property. F. W. Baker was a former engineer whose family lived at 410 N. 18th Street.

The earliest city directory that cross-references street addresses is the 1878 directory. (Earlier city directories had name listings but not street listings.) In the 1878 city directory, the house at 708 China was occupied by George Evans, a stonecutter. Evans likely worked at the prominent monument business owned by A. J. Wray at the entrance of Hollywood Cemetery. 708 China is the only address listed on the north side of the 700 block of China St in the 1878 city directory, and this corresponds with the 1876 Beers insurance map.

Close-up of the 1876 Beers Atlas with the house at 708 China St., owned by F. W. Baker estate, identified with a red arrow:

1876 Beers Atlas, with a red arrow identifying the house at 708 China St. owned by F. W. Baker estate:

The house at 708 China also appears on the 1865 Mitchie map, which indicates that it is likely an ante-bellum structure.

Historian Tom Elliott has tracked the location of the serpentine wall of the Belvidere estate on the 1865 Mitchie map and notices that the 708 China building would have been within the walled enclosure. Belvidere burned in 1854 so it does not appear on the 1865 map, but the location of the building would have been nearby to the south east of 708 China. More research is needed on the history of this historic building that is an important contributing structure to the Oregon Hill Historic District.

Infrastructure work on China Street continues. Part of it might be in preparation for new infill construction on the lot at 823 China Street.

The lot at 823 China has been cleared and old steps have emerged. What did the old structure look like before it was demolished? What new structure will be built there?