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Inventory Document
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:1247 SE Kane St historic name:Mooers, Dr Robert & Mary Helen, House
Roseburg, Douglas County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:building height (stories):1.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1959 second date: date indiv listed:06/25/2018
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Contemporary prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Vertical Board siding comments:
secondary siding: Brick:Other/Undefined
plan type: Ranch w/Garage architect:Raymond Kermit Thompson and Polly Povey Thompson
builder:
comments/notes:
9-22-2016 - HRR responded to: eligible under C and possibly B. DJP
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 06/25/2018
ILS survey date: 09/22/2016
RLS survey date: 09/22/2016
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
Closed 1st  2031
106 Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Dr. Robert R. and Mary Helen Mooers House, constructed in 1959, is a single-story, side-gabled mid-century modern residence. It was designed by architects Raymond Kermit Thompson and Polly Povey Thompson, combining elements of the popular Ranch Style with design elements associated with the architect-driven Contemporary Style, and demonstrating the influence of the Northwest Regional style. The house is located on the eastern hillside of Roseburg, Oregon, with a view of historic Roseburg and Mount Nebo to the northwest. The long, low-slung house is set at a slight angle on its .33-acre, hillside site to take advantage of this view. The residence is 2,542 square feet in size on a full, unfinished basement, with an 839-square-foot garage, and includes 4 bedrooms, two full baths, kitchen with adjacent larder/pantry, living room and dining room. The most dramatic feature of the Contemporary/Ranch-style house is the deep, full-width patio on the south side of the building, screened by a decorative sandstone wall, complemented by a large pinkish sandstone chimney in a random ashlar pattern. The broad gable end over the patio is supported by five posts and frames a view over the south side yard. The recessed entry on the west façade features a broad front door flanked by wide sidelights covered by geometric wood screens. The interior of the house is remarkably intact, with birch paneling, cabinetry, and built-in closets, hardwood floors, and original light fixtures throughout.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The 1959 Dr. Robert R. and Mary Helen Mooers House is locally significant under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture and its period of significance is 1959, the date of construction of the house.The Mooers House is significant as an outstanding example of the blending of the form and spatial arrangement of the widely popular Ranch Style with several elements of the architect-driven Contemporary style, and incorporating several design elements generally associated with Northwest Regionalism, a design approach developed by prominent architects working in the unique climate and setting of the Pacific Northwest. The house is unique in Roseburg, a city long dominated by extractive industries and other blue collar pursuits. While the Ranch house was the ubiquitous building block that populated most post-war neighborhoods, including several in Roseburg, the Contemporary style and Northwest Regionalist approaches were generally the realm of professional architects, and, due to the challenges associated with funding construction of non-traditional forms through the Federal Housing Administration, generally not suited to construction at the neighborhood scale.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
American Institute of Architects (webpage) “The AIA Historical Directory of American Architects,” http://public.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/ahd1044828.aspx, accessed May 2017. “L. Polly Povey Thompson” and “Raymond Kermit Thompson,” http://public.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/Wiki%20Pages/Find%20Names.aspx, accessed March 2017. “Robert Raymond Mooers Obituary,” http://www.wilsonschapeloftherosesfh.com/book-of- memories/1900903/Robert-Mooers/obituary.php, accessed April 2017. City of Roseburg (website). “History,” The City of Roseburg, http://www.cityofroseburg.org/visitors/history/, accessed April 2017. Colorado Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation (website). Colorado Historical Society, “Hawkins, Edward B.,” Builders of Colorado Biographical Sketch, 2, accessed August 21, 2017, http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/OAHP/Guides/Builders_Edward_Hawkins.pdf Faragher, John Mack. “Bungalow and Ranch House: The Architectural Backwash of California,” The Western Historical Quarterly 32, no.2 (2001): 164, doi: 10.2307/3650771. Hubka, Thomas C. “The American Ranch House: Traditional Design Method in Modern Popular Culture,” Traditional Dwellings & Settlements Review: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments 7, no. 1: 33, accessed August 21, 2017, Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, EBSCOhost. Kadas, Marianne, Roseburg Downtown Historic District National Register Nomination, Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon, National Register #02000661. Lagdameo, Jennifer Baum. “Spotlight on John Yeon, the Father of Northwest Regional Architecture,” in Dwell, June 5, 2017, https://www.dwell.com/article/spotlight-on-john-yeon-the-father-of-northwest-regional-architecture-588d6c9d. Flathman, Jennifer L. Aubrey R. Watzek House, National Historic Landmark Nomination Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, National Historic Landmark System ID #74001717. Lampl, Elizabeth Jo. National Register of Historic Places, Subdivisions and Architecture Planned and Designed by Charles M. Goodman Associates in Montgomery County, Maryland, Multiple Property Documentation Form. 2004. Lost Hospital,” Douglas Community Medical Center, Roseburg, Oregon. http://losthospital.com/douglas- community-medical-center-roseburg-oregon/, accessed March 2017. McAlester, Virginia Savage, A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013 (1884). Musgrave, Dorothea. "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Hammond Wood Historic District". Maryland Historical Trust. November 2003 Olsberg, Nicholas. Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch House (Santa Barbara: Perpetua Press, 2012). Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Historic Sites Database (website), http://heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic/, accessed April 2017. Pdxmatriarchexibit (website) “Polly Povey Thompson,” https://issuu.com/forwardpdx/docs/pdxmatriarchexibit_april2014, accessed April 2017, from “MatriArchs: Pioneering Women Architects in Oregon,” Architectural Foundation of Oregon, May 13, 2014, p. 4. “Raymond Kermit Thompson,” prabook, http://prabook.com/web/person-view.html?profileId=606982, accessed April 2017. Rees, Judith. “Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places Nomination. Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. 1989. National Register #89001957 Rejuvenation (website), “Northwest Modern Inspiration: A Tour of the Aubrey Watzek House,” Ideas, Rejuvenation, accessed August 23, 2017, http://ideas.rejuvenation.com/northwest-modern-a-tour-of- the-watzek-house-2/. Ritz, Richard Ellison, “Thompson, L(illian) Polly Povey” and “Thompson, Raymond Kermit,” Architects of Oregon. Portland, OR: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002. Roseburg Forest Products (web-periodical) “The Kenneth Ford Story,” Special Issue of the Woodsman, http://www.roseburg.com/UserFiles/Library/The_Kenneth_Ford_Story_AR.pdf, accessed March 2017. Solomon, Daniel. “Eichlers,” Places 14, no.2 (Fall 2001): 39, accessed August 21, 2017, Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, EBSCOhost. Wilson’s Chapel of the Roses (website) “Mary Helen Mooers Obituary,” http://www.wilsonschapeloftherosesfh.com/book-of-memories/1900903/Mooers-Mary- Mooers/obituary.php, accessed April 2017. “Robert Raymond Mooers Obituary,” http://www.wilsonschapeloftherosesfh.com/book-of- memories/1900903/Robert-Mooers/obituary.php, accessed April 2017. United States Bureau of the Census, 1920, 1930, 1940. Unites States Geological Survey (USGS), Roseburg 1:125,000 Quadrangle Map, 1942. , Roseburg 1:62,500 Quadrangle Map, 1963. US GenWeb Archives (website) Greenwood Cemetery, Cathlamet, Wahkiakum County, WA, http://files.usgwarchives.net/wa/wahkiakum/cemeteries/greenwd.txt, accessed April 2017. Van Balgooy, Mary A. “Designer of the Dream: Cliff May and the California Ranch House,” Southern California Quarterly 86, no.2 (2004): 130, doi: 10.2307/41172211