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Inventory Form
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:1638 SE 1st Ave historic name:Andrus, Jerry, House
Albany, Linn County current/other names:The Key Hole House; Hale, A.H., House
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:11S 3W 5
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):1.5 total elig resources:3 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/contributing NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1891 second date: date indiv listed:10/25/2011
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Stick prim style comments:
secondary style: Exotic Revival sec style comments:
primary siding: Stucco siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: Side Passage/Entry architect:
builder:Nicholas Zimmerman
comments/notes:
PEE rcv'd 12/30/09, responded to 1/12/2009 (IJ)
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 10/25/2011
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 03/14/1990
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
Closed 1st  2020
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 Jerry Andrus House, built in 1893, is a unique example of a wood frame Late-Victorian style residence with brick veneer covered by a stucco finish. It is located in the city of Albany, Oregon at 1638 1st Avenue East, in Linn County in the Willamette Valley. The north-facing building was constructed as a single-family residence on the northeast corner of 1st Avenue East and Denver, on two large lots in Hackleman’s 4th Addition, Block 5; lots 3 and 4. The building is one-and-one-half stories tall, with eleven rooms encompassing 2,165 square feet of interior space. The house’s most notable design features are the two keyhole/Moorish windows on the north and east facades of the building. It bears a strong resemblance to George F. Barber’s Design No. 44 from The Cottage Souvenir No. 2. (1890) which featured a keyhole/Moorish style window on a brick residence with Eastlake features. In addition to the Moorish windows, the building features many characteristics of the Late Victorian Eastlake/Stick style of architecture popular between 1885-1895 in the Willamette Valley including: steeply pitched, multiple gable roof in combination with hipped roof, veranda, turned posts with diagonal braces, asymmetrical composition with vertical emphasis, one-over-one double-hung windows, and decorative Eastlake elements such as rows of spool and spindle work and knobs, turned columns, circular perforations and cutouts, sunbursts and curved brackets (Clark, 1983). The interior floor plan includes 2,165 square feet of space with 11 rooms, eight closets, a foyer and, a staircase. The first floor includes the building’s public rooms and features a side-passage plan with a staircase located upon entry through the front foyer on the east side of the house. The second floor has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a hallway that are reached from the foyer by a dog-leg stair. The house is one of four buildings on the property and the only contributing building. The non-contributing buildings include a small concrete-block work room/shop, a carport, and storage shed, all located at the back of the property, south of the house.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
A.H. Hale lived in this house between 1893-1903 with his wife Sarah and two children, Bert and Tessa, while he was the publisher and owner of "The Peoples Press" in Albany. The socialist newspaper's publication coincides with the popularity of the Populist movement in Oregon which gave birth to the "Oregon System" on initiative and referendum bills in 1902 and direct primary in 1904. The Andrus House, located at 1638 1st Avenue East, in Albany, in Linn County, Oregon is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places for its local significance under Criterion C, architecture, as an excellent example of the Late-Victorian style popularized in the late-nineteenth century by pattern books. In addition to the contributing Andrus House, there are three non-contributing out-buildings on the nominated parcel, including a concrete block work room/shop, a carport, and storage shed. The period of significance is the date of its construction. The significance of the 1893 Andrus House lies in its architecturally interesting use of Eastlake and Moorish design elements and its unusual stucco-covered brick wall treatment, which is representative of designs popularized during this time in period pattern books. Acknowledging the building’s locally unique attributes and its connection to national architectural trends, the building was identified by the City of Albany as a landmark in 1989. The Andrus House has many characteristics of the architecture popular between 1885 -1895 in the Willamette Valley, including steeply pitched, multiple-gable roof in combination with hipped roof, veranda, turned posts with diagonal braces, asymmetrical composition with vertical emphasis, one-over-one double-hung windows, and decorative Eastlake elements such as rows of spool-and-spindle work and knobs, turned columns, circular perforations and cutouts, sunbursts and curved brackets . The house’s most notable design elements are the two keyhole/Moorish windows on the north and east facades of the building. It bears a strong resemblance to George F. Barber’s Design No. 44 from The Cottage Souvenir No. 2. (1890), which featured a keyhole/Moorish style window on a brick residence with Eastlake features, making it an excellent representative of the kind of residence that was influenced by the popular pattern-and-design books available to local builders at the end of the nineteenth century in small towns across America.
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:
Albany City Directory. Portland, Oregon Wm. G. Obenaur & Company, 1892. Albany City Directory. Albany, Oregon, Albany Directory Company, Publishers, 1909-10. Abstract of Title. 1628 First Avenue E. Prepared by the Linn County Abstract Company, Albany, Oregon, established 1892. Blumenson, John J. – G. Identifying American Architecture, A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600 – 1945. Second Edition, American Association for State and Local Architecture, 1981. Carter, Liz and Michelle Dennis. “Albany, Oregon 1845-1955, Historic Context Statement”, Prepared for the City of Albany, 2004. Clark, Rosalind, Architecture Oregon Style, Architecture from 1840 to the 1950s. Portland, Oregon: Professional Book Center, Inc., 1983. Davenport, Ewell. “Design plans for 1638 1st Avenue E., Albany Oregon”. 2008. Foley, Mary, Mix. The American House. New York: Harper, 1980. Gottfried and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design, 1870 – 1940.Iowa State University Press, 1988. Guest, Leslie P. “Jerry Andrus – Magician of the Month” M-U-M 48(4):129-131; September 1958 pp.129-131. 1958. Harris, C. M., Editor, Historic Architecture Sourcebook. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1977. McAlester, Virginia and Lee, A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. Lewis A. MacArthur. Oregon Geographic Names ,Fifth Edition, Revised & Enlarged by Lewis L. McArthur. Western Imprints, the Press of the Oregon Historical Society, Portland, 1982. Poppeliers and S. Allen Chambers Jr., What Style Is It, A Guide to American Architecture, revised edition. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 2003. Potts, Robert, Remembering When, A Photo Collection of Historic Albany, Oregon. Albany Regional Museum, Your Town Press, Salem Oregon. 1990. Rifkin, Carole. A Field Guide to American Architecture. New York: New American Library, 1980. Sanborn Map Company. “Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. City of Albany, Oregon; 1908, 1925”. New York, New York: Sanborn Map Company, 1890, Tomlan, Michael A. Introduction, republication of The Cottage Souvenir No. 2 Containing One Hundred and Twenty Original Designs in Cottage and Detail Architecture, originally published by S.B. Newman & Co., Knoxville, Tennessee, 1891. Unabridged Dover (2004). Bibliography Continued Books and Articles Whiffen, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780, A Guide to the Styles. The M. I. T. Press: Massachusetts, 1981. Interviews Hyman, Ray. Personal communication with Jeanine DeNoma. Hyman is a magician and Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 2011. Magazines, Newspapers, and Media Albany Historic Preservation files located in the Community Development Department, Albany Oregon. 2011. Hackleman Historic District National Register Nomination Form Downtown Historic District National Register Nomination Form Monteith Historic District National Register Nomination Form Inventory of Albany’s historic buildings Buffalo, New York, Illustrated Architecture Dictionary. http://www.buffaloah.com. Hyman, Ray. “Jerry Andrus: A Magician of a Different Kind” The Linking Ring 79(10):51-55, October 1999 pp51-55. 1999. Albany Oregon Historic Preservation Site; http://www.cityofalbany.net/comdev/historic/ Neary, Robert, producer. ANDRUS the Man, the Mind & the Magic, Documentary film by Skeptical Media, 2007. Old House Journal.com; James C. Massey & Shirley Maxwell, George F. Barber. http://www.oldhousejournal.com/george-barbers-knoxville-houses/magazine/1662. Oregon Encyclopedia, Mark Spence, Albany; http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry/view/albany/. Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, files, 2011. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorish_Revival_architecture#The_development_of the_style_in_the_United_States.