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The Durlacher Residence is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A due to its association with community planning and development and is significant at the local level. The property signifies the importance of merchants living in the town and building large homes as a display of their wealth and influence.
The presence of merchants was essential to the growth of Laramie, a town established in 1868 along the path of the Union Pacific Railroad. Simon Durlacher moved to Laramie shortly before the railroad arrived and established a clothing business. Durlacher became a prominent citizen and he and his family were well-known in Laramie’s business and social circles. The Durlacher Residence typifies the pattern of important Laramie citizens owning substantial homes and portraying their influence in the community. This residence, in its neighborhood setting, conveys the residential development pattern in the southern portion of the original plat during the late nineteenth century. It also remains as one of the most well preserved of this group of substantial, merchant-built homes and serves as a testament to the success of his business and the prominence of Durlacher’s family in the community.
The Durlacher House is located within the Original Town plat of Laramie in what was one of the first residential neighborhood developments. The neighborhood is diverse and many of the homes from the period of significance remain. Commercial development has compromised parts of 3rd and 4th Streets west of the Durlacher Residence, but overall the residential streetscape and feeling of the house remain.
The Durlacher Residence faces west on the corner of 5th and Custer Streets and sits on a medium sized lot and an alley way runs behind the house on the east side. The two-and-a-half story, Queen Anne style dwelling is roughly square in plan, but irregularly shaped. The first-story is composed of stuccoed brick, and the upper floors are frame construction sheathed with coursed wood shingles. A porch with original turned spindle posts wraps around the façade of the home to the north elevation, and there is a steeply pitched roof. The residence retains many of its original materials and features including the majority of the windows and exterior decorations. Although the floor plan has been altered and some of the features removed, the interior of the home also retains sufficient integrity.
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