OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM Note: For properties 35 years old and newer, starred (*) sections are the only required fields. *County: Clackamas *Street Address: *City Situs Address: 791 4th Street Lake Oswego USGS Quad Name: GPS Reading, UTM Format (Universal Transverse Mercator): Lake Oswego Longitude: 122°39'59.76"W Latitude: 45°25'29.95"N Township: Range: Section: Block/Lot: Tax Lot #: 2S 1E 03 DA First Addition, Block 14, 6000 Lots 15 &16 Historic Name: Grouping or Cluster Name: Brown-Vose House *Date of Construction: Other Name: 1885 Irma Vose House The T.J. Brown House Historic Use or Function: *Current Use: Associated Archaeological Site: DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling Unknown Architectural Classification(s): Plan Type/Shape: Number of stories: Vernacular Queen Anne Asymmetrical 2 w/basement Foundation Material: Structural Framing: Moved? Concrete block and brick Stud No Roof Type/Material: Window Type/Material: Intersecting gable with cat/slide and composition shingles Double hung sash with modest architrave molding; some in pairs Exterior Surface Materials Primary: Secondary: Decorative: Shiplap with corner boards and rake Turned porch posts with jig sawn brackets; Single bay projecting gable porch n. boards patterned shingles in porch tympanum, elevation; hipped bay with recessed corner fancy work porch frieze porch on the west elevation Exterior Alterations or Additions, Approximate Date: Foundation added (date unknown); porch deck replaced with concrete (date unknown); enclosed porch or addition east façade (date unknown). Number and Type of Associated Resources: Gable roof building east of the house with wide shiplap siding and four light casement windows. Integrity: Condition: Local Eligibility: National Register Listed? Excellent Excellent On LDL Yes No Unknown Preliminary National Register Findings: Potentially Eligible: Individually or As a contributing resource in a District Not Eligible: Intact but lacks distinction or Not 50 years old or Altered - Choose one: Reversible/ potentially eligible individually or in a District Reversible/ ineligible, lacks distinction Irretrievable lack of integrity *Researcher/ Organization: Date Recorded: L. Radwanski/E. Heideman/A. Boyd/ SWCA-1220 SW Morrison St, Portland, OR 97205 August 2014 City of Lake Oswego, 380 “A” Avenue, Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Additional research and review by Erin O’Rourke-Meadors SHPO #: Survey Form Page 1 of 11 Revised 12/02 OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM *County: Clackamas Street Address: 791 4th Street City: Situs Address Lake Oswego Description of Physical and or Landscape Features The Brown-Vose House sits on the corner of 4th Street and E Avenue in the Old Town district of Lake Oswego. The neighborhood is characterized by homes constructed in the first half of the 20th century. The house sits on a rectangular lot that encompasses 0.27 acres. The lot is covered in mature landscaping and a wood board fence encloses the rear yard. A gable structure, which was noted in the 1989 Cultural Resources inventory, is visible in the back yard. The house is surrounded by a grass lawn and the perimeter of the house is planted with small shrubs and perennial plantings. Plantings flank either site of the concrete path leading from E. Avenue to the front door. A few mature trees are located at the west end of the lot. The two-story home appears to face north toward E Avenue. The home has another door on 4th Street, but it does not appear as the current primary entrance. The Vernacular style home has some elements of the Queen Anne Style, but is very expressed only in a few decorative touches. The roof has slight boxed eaves and is finished with a frieze board. The house has an asymmetrical plan. The main side gable body of the house is rectangular and its south slope has a catslide profile. A gable projection runs from the east side of the south façade. A shed roof projection is on the southeast side of the house and a hip roof projection, which covers a recessed porch, is located on the west façade. These projections give the home its irregular shape. The house is clad in simple drop siding finished with corner and rake boards. The homes windows are one-over- one double hung, wood sash windows. The windows on the ground level are mostly set in pairs and single windows are found on the second story. Most of the windows have simple architrave molding. The front gable porch, on the north façade, has diamond shingles in the gable end and simple spindle work and decorative brackets. The porch is supported by turned posts. The entrance door has a simple molding and a multi-colored, multi-light transom. A second entrance, with similar detailing is located on the west façade. A square wall chimney is located on the east façade. Based on a visual inspection, observable areas of the foundation appear to be constructed of brick, but the 1989 Cultural Resources Inventory suggests that concrete block is used in some places. It is believed that this foundation post-dated the construction of the house. They also noted in 1989 that the porch deck had been replaced with concrete. The east shed addition has windows that were common in the 1950s, suggesting this may have been a porch that was enclosed around that time. At some time the historic garage was demolished and a new garage was constructed on the southeast corner of the lot. There are no land use permits on file at the City of Lake Oswego suggesting that there have not been any major renovations in recent years. The Brown-Vose house has retained many of its character defining features including its, double-hung windows with architraves, drop siding, simple spindle work, multi-lighted transom, and its asymmetrical form. *Researcher/ Organization: Date Recorded: L. Radwanski/E. Heideman/A. Boyd/ SWCA-1220 SW Morrison St, Portland, OR 97205 August 2014 City of Lake Oswego, 380 “A” Avenue, Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Additional research and review by Erin O’Rourke-Meadors SHPO #: Survey Form Page 2 of 11 Revised 12/02 OREGON INVENTORY OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM *County: Clackamas Street Address: 791 4th Street City: Situs Address Lake Oswego Statement of Significance The Brown-Vose House, located at 791 4th Street in the historic First Addition neighborhood of Lake Oswego, is an excellent example of a late-nineteenth-century Vernacular dwelling with secondary Queen Anne character-defining features, and is one of the oldest extant houses in Lake Oswego. According to the original Clackamas Title Company records, the house was built in 1885 by T.J. Brown, and he and his wife, Eva, its original owners, resided on the property until 1915 (Koler and Morrison 1989). At the time of writing, no other information has been found on T.J. Brown in historical resources, and the 1989 cultural inventory survey does not shed any further light on him. His wife, Eva Brown, was listed in the 1907 R.L. Polk and Company Portland City Directory as a hairdresser at 327 Fliender Building, with her residence in Oswego (R.L. Polk and Company 1907). The following owner, August G. Heller, a Swiss-born farmer from Damascus, purchased the property in 1915 and sold it after 5 years to Irma M. Vose in 1920 (Koler and Morrison 1989; U.S. Bureau of the Census 1920). Irma Vose was born on September 20, 1979, in Mendon, Michigan. Her obituary reported that she came to Oregon in 1906 and moved to Oswego in 1913 (Lake Oswego Review 1971). The 1920 federal census indicated that Irma M. Vose was living at the home with her mother, Mary J. Vose (who was listed as the head of the house), and her brother Rutherford H. Vose. Family history suggests that Rosanna Vose, Rutherford H. Vose’s wife, and their five children, Carl E., Mary E., Richard H., Hazel P., and Emily L., moved to Oswego between 1920 and 1921 and may have lived in the Brown-Vose House for a short period (personal communication, Sharon Gustafson 2014). The 1930 census indicated that Irma Vose (listed as Erma M. Vose) lived there as the head of the household with her brother Burget Abram Vose, sister-in-law Annie M. Vose (nee Messinger), nephews B. Arno Vose and Lowell A. Vose, and Annie’s widowed mother, Frances Messinger (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1930). The Vose family hailed from Michigan and was well known in early Oswego for their involvement in local education. Burget Vose was the principal of the Oswego Grade School for many years, and taught from 1914 to 1917 and then from 1924 to 1940 (Koler and Morrison 1989). He was also a member of the International Organization of Odd Fellows’ Lake Oswego lodge (The Oregonian 1946). His wife, Annie Messinger Vose, was teacher/principal of the two-room McKay School in the Beaverton district for several years (Koler and Morrison 1989). Vose Elementary School and the Vose neighborhood in Beaverton are named after Annie and Burget Vose. Annie Vose was also a teacher for the Congressional Church in Oswego and played the piano for the Oswego Grange (Beaverton Valley Times 1960). Irma Vose, who never married, taught at the Oswego Primary School from 1913 to 1940 in what is known as Lakewood Elementary School (The Morning Oregonian 1919; Lake Oswego Review 1971). She was also closely involved with the Oswego Library Association formed in 1924. Irma Vose died on October 11, 1971 (Lake Oswego Review 1971). Carl Vose, Irma’s nephew, served as superintendent for the First Congregational Church. Vose family members were also involved in some of the early Boy Scout troops and other community groups in the area (Koler and Morrison 1989).