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NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:2944 NE Couch St historic name:McDonald, Daniel C. and Katie A., House
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c.1893 second date: date indiv listed:03/06/2019
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Queen Anne prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding: Shingle
plan type: architect:
builder:Daniel Charles McDonald
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 03/06/2019
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
Complete 1st  2027
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 Daniel C. and Katie A. McDonald House is a two-story single-family home located at 2944 NE Couch Street in Portland’s Kerns neighborhood. The house has a footprint of approximately 1,100 square feet on its 50-foot by 100-foot lot and is surrounded by lawn and low plantings. Most of the immediately adjacent buildings are single-family homes of a similar scale and character. The building features a gable-front roof with a cross gable on the east and a gable extension on the west. The body of the building is clad in lap siding at the ground-floor level and shingles at the second-floor level. Its primary window type is a one-over-one double-hung wood window. The house is characteristic of the “free classic” Queen Anne style and is notable for its eclectic mix of decorative details. These include filigree scrollwork within the gable peak and at the two bay windows, a small oriel window with Tudor-style leaded glazing, a Palladian window at the east elevation with leaded glass sidelights, two round-arch window reveals within the front gable, and pairs of slender Tuscan columns flanking the front porch. Having twelve rooms total, the interior of the house features a large reception hall with an elaborate paneled staircase. The living room, dining room, and kitchen are arranged longitudinally along the west side of the house. There are four bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs accessed from a central hall off the stair landing. Overall, the house retains a high level of integrity. The most notable changes included converting the basement into an apartment, remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, and the small second-floor addition on the south elevation.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Daniel C. and Katie A. McDonald House is locally significant under Criterion C, for architecture, as a notable example of a builder-designed Queen Anne style house exhibiting unique architectural features. Daniel McDonald was a carpenter and homebuilder in Portland who constructed the home in two phases beginning in 1893. The period of significance is 1893-1913, beginning with the date of construction and ending when Daniel McDonald, the owner and builder, sold the house and finished making changes to the building. The McDonalds increased economic status after the turn of the century provided them the opportunity to expand and aesthetically update their home after its original construction, including new embellishments and interior spaces that communicated their prosperity. While it was commonplace for homebuilders to use pattern books for residential construction in middle-class, turn-of-the-century neighborhoods, McDonald’s house is not a stock design. It strongly reflects the adaptability that was afforded through builder publications and the increasing availability of numerous building components and decorative millwork via local building suppliers. The Queen Anne style, with its extensive applied ornament, further allowed for this eclectic approach to home improvement. The McDonald House exhibits characteristic elements of the style from both the earlier and later periods of the Queen Anne style that directly coincide with the two building phases approximately ten years apart. Character-defining features include a dominant front-facing gable; wood lap siding; square and octagonal shingles; polygonal cutaway bays; a variety of window types including double-hung windows, an oriel window and a Palladian window with leaded glass; an elaborate front door with a stained glass transom; decorative millwork detailing including porch columns, curvilinear cutout ornament, lace-like brackets, dentils, keystones, and a wide range of moldings; and dark-strained interior woodwork including staircase paneling, turned balusters, pocket and five-panel doors with ornate hardware, door and window casings, wall base, and corner beads. These features, in addition to the unique round-arch window reveals on the primary elevation, characterize the builder’s creative assembly of multiple decorative features to adorn the facade. The historic design, workmanship, feeling, and materials are strongly present in the house.
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:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
1910 US Census, Multnomah County, Oregon, Portland, District 0209, p. 9B; Daniel McDonald entry; digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, (accessed March 1, 2016). Abbott, Carl. Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City. Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Askin, Timothy and Ernestina Fuenmayor. "National Register Nomination for the North Buckman Historic District." No. 13000481. 2013. Askin, Timothy and Ernestina Fuenmayor. "Portland Oregon's Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources 1850-1938 MPD Amendments." No. 64500514. 2012. Biennial Report of the State Treasurer of the State of Oregon to the Legislative Assembly. Salem, OR: W. H. Leeds, State Printer, 1897. “Daniel Charles McDonald Family Tree,” Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/115870291/person/350147958012/facts, (accessed March 1, 2018). Gottfried, Herbert, and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Buildings and Interiors, 1870-1960. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2009. Green, Richard K, and Susan M Wachter. "The American Mortgage in Historical and International Context." Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2005: 93-114. Hawkins, William J, and William F Willingham. Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 1999. Hubka, Thomas C. Houses Without Names. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2013. Huntington, Wallace Kay. "Victorian Architecture." In Space, Style and Structure: Building in Northwest America, edited by Thomas Vaughan, 261-310. Vol. 2. Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, 1974. Hurlburt, T. M. Paving Map of Portland, January 1st 1894. “Vintage Portland.” March 26, 2010. https://vintageportland.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/paving-map-of-portland-january-1-1894.jpg. (Accessed March 1, 2018). McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. Official Price List 1909: Doors, Windows, Mouldings, Etc. Portland, OR: W. P. Fuller & Co, 1909. Oregon Planing Mill: Sash, Doors and General Millwork. W. K. Palmer, 1906. Archived at the Architectural Heritage Center, Portland, Oregon. Reiff, Daniel D. Houses from Books: Treatises, Pattern Books, and Catalogs in American Architecture, 1738-1950: A History and Guide. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. Smeins, Linda E. Building an American Identity: Pattern Book Homes and Communities, 8170-1900. Wanut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1999. St Helens Mist. "Hawthorne's First Addition to Portland." November 27, 1891: 3. Schweitzer, Robert, and Michael W. R. Davis. America's Favorite Homes Mail-Order Catalogues as a Guide to Popular Early 20th-Century Houses. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. The Morning Oregonian. "Bids for the New Engine House." November 17, 1889: 7. The Morning Oregonian. "For Rent—10-room house or two flats." August 11, 1913: 12. The Morning Oregonian. "Hawthorne's First Addition." March 19, 1892: 5. The Morning Oregonian. "Judge Hurley’s Courtroom." March 21, 1893: 5. The Oregon Daily Journal. "2 nice light rooms." February 18, 1913: 19. The Oregon Daily Journal. “Gloomy Outlook: Mills and Contractors Retaliating Against the Unions.” June 6, 1902, 2. The Oregon Daily Journal. "Katie Agnes McDonald and husband." January 16, 1913: 18. The Oregon Daily Journal. "Proposed Assessment." May 19, 1904: 11. The Radford American Homes. Chicago: The Radford Architectural Company, 1903. Sanborn Map Company. Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, 1901. New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Co, 1901. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps". https://multcolib.org/resource/digital-sanborn-maps-1867-1970 (Accessed March 1, 2018). Sanborn Map Company. Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, 1909. New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Co, 1909. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps". https://multcolib.org/resource/digital-sanborn-maps-1867-1970. (Accessed March 1, 2018). U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, indexed database and digital images, Ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com. (Accessed March 1, 2018), Daniel McDonald entry; citing "Portland, Oregon, City Directory” issues 1885-1932. Wollett, William. Old Homes Made New Again. New York: A. J. Bicknell & Co, 1878.