| INTRODUCTION
The Ladd Carriage House—located at the northwest corner of SW Broadway and Columbia Streets in Portland, Oregon—was built in 1883 to house the horses and carriages of prominent Portland businessman, philanthropist, and civic leader William Sargent Ladd. Primarily significant because of its direct association with the personal life of Ladd during the period 1883 to 1893, the Carriage House is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion B. Although a moved building, the Carriage House is the remaining building of greatest association with Ladd, and the only extant building directly associated with his personal life. As such, this nomination seeks to meet Criteria Consideration B for moved properties. Although several changes have occurred to the structure since Ladd’s death, he would certainly recognize the exterior today, especially the principal elevations on SW Broadway and SW Columbia Streets that faced his home (now demolished). Although its relocation resulted in setting the property back five feet from the east and south property lines, its orientation remains the same. These setbacks have minimal visual impact and helped make a sensitive rehabilitation more feasible when work to the building was conducted in 2008 and 2009.
By the 1880s, William Ladd was widely viewed as the wealthiest and most powerful businessman in the Pacific Northwest. Having arrived in Portland in April 1851, he opened a general store on Front Street, and—along with businessmen such as Henry Corbett, Cicero Lewis, and Josiah Failing—found economic success in the growing city. These “Front Street Merchants” invested capital and personal dedication into Portland’s economic growth. Ladd’s interest in the Ladd and Tilton Bank, the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, the Portland Flouring Mills Company, and countless other civic and business investments earned him a prominent place among the pioneers who established Portland in late the 19th Century.
When his lower body was paralyzed in 1876, William Ladd became dependant on crutches, a body servant, and horse-drawn carriages until his death in 1893. The Ladd Carriage House—built directly across Broadway from Ladd’s expansive residence—housed the estate’s gardener, coachman, and the horses and carriages. With a beach home in Seaview, Washington, several large farms east of the Willamette River, and daily obligations in Portland, Ladd’s horse-drawn carriage was a common sight among Portland residents.
The Carriage House was designated as a Portland Landmark in 1970 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Although the 1979 National Register nomination lacked detail, the building was considered significant for its association with William S. Ladd and as an example of Stick Style architecture in Portland. The building was delisted when it was moved temporarily in June 2007 to allow for the development of an underground parking garage on the property. The building returned to its original lot at the northwest corner of the intersection of SW Broadway and SW Columbia Streets in October 2008. It has experienced few negative changes since its original listing and now has an even greater level of integrity than it did in 1979, due to the recent rehabilitation.
THE PORTLAND ESTABLISHMENT
Portland, Oregon officially came into existence in 1845 when landowners Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove conducted a coin toss to determine the name of their infant townsite. Two years early on a canoe trip from Fort Vancouver to Oregon City, Lovejoy and his companion, William Overton, stopped on the western bank of the Willamette in an area known as “The Clearing.” Sensing the economic potential of the area, Lovejoy and Overton (whose interest was quickly sold to Pettygrove) filed claim to 640 acres the following year in what is now downtown Portland. Around the same time, Captain John Couch piloted the sailing ship Chenamus up the Willamette River towards Oregon City. Unable to reach his destination, Couch proclaimed Portland to be the furthest point up river that ships could easily travel (Lansing, 2003). With access to agricultural and timber lands and geography conducive to town-building, Portland grew considerably during the late 1840s. The December 1850 Federal Census counted 821 Portlanders, half of whom had arrived that year. Portland was incorporated in January 1851 (MacColl, 1988).
The city absorbed a wave of young entrepreneurs in 1851. William Ladd, Henry Corbett, Cicero Lewis, and Josiah Failing arrived in the spring, each establishing stores on Portland’s rugged Front Street. Historian E. Kimbark MacColl writes about this time:
“Within 10 years, this group of dedicated Front Street merchants and their families would dominate the economic, political and social life of Portland. All became warm and lasting friends with Ladd… first among equals. Close-knit, they trusted and respected one another as business people without losing their sharp competitiveness. With Benjamin Stark (Stark purchased Asa Lovejoy’s interest in the Portland townsite in 1845) and John H. Couch, who became Lewis’s father-in-law, they formed Portland’s earliest Establishment, one of merchant-entrepreneurs. It had dynastic overtones” (MacColl, 1988, p. 20).
During the 1850s, Portland’s population continued to grow dramatically. The addition of residents such as George Flanders, John Ainsworth, Jacob Kamm, Richard Hoyt, and Simeon Reed further propelled Portland’s economic and physical growth during the decade (MacColl, 1988). Portland had a population of 3,000 in 1860; 6,000 in 1865; and 12,000 by 1876. Once Portland’s business leaders found individual prosperity, they collectively focused energy and capital into transforming “Stumptown” into the Pacific Northwest’s primary commercial and cultural center (MacColl, 1988).
Between 1877 and 1883 Portland—as the gateway to the mining and ranching regions of the Northwest’s interior—saw large growth in business and new construction. By the mid 1880s, Portland had a population “approximating 25,000 people; with its splendid array of business blocks and its pretty homes, with some 21 churches; with its new high school, four primary and eight select schools, and several academies; with its fine new post office and its street railway; and, above all, with the high hopes that animated its citizens, Portland presented every appearance of the happy, cultured and prosperous community that it was” (Fitzgerald, 1919, pp. 34-35). Northern Pacific Railroad promotional efforts helped stimulate a seventy percent increase in the city's population between 1880 and 1883, and the railroad directly connected Portland to the rest of the nation for the first time (MacColl, 1988).
WILLIAM SARGENT LADD’S EARLY YEARS (1826-1893)
William Sargent Ladd was born in Holland, Vermont, on October 10, 1826, to Nathaniel Gould Ladd and Abigail Kelley Mead. In approximately 1833, the Ladd family relocated to Sanbornton Bridge, New Hampshire, where William Ladd received his primary education. In addition to academics, young Ladd was expected to work during much of the year on the family’s farm. At nineteen, Ladd accepted a teaching position in the county near his family’s residence. Although he became a “master and friend” of the students, he felt ill suited to the profession (Bancroft, 1890). Ladd sought out employment with the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railway that was being constructed through his New Hampshire town. Ladd’s personality and intelligence earned him several promotions and, thus, his first experiences with prominent business people. Some within the railroad company found Ladd’s quick ascent to be threatening, which ultimately stifled any further promotional prospects for Ladd (Bancroft, 1890).
Once the news of the discovery of gold in California reached New England, Ladd became intensely interested in the West Coast. Although many of his peers headed to the Sierra Nevada’s in search of gold, Ladd is known to have found Oregon much more appealing than California. Ladd once said, “Gold; that can be picked up from the ground cannot continue to be of much value, while good farming land is a sure basis of progress and prosperity” (Bancroft, 1890, p. 19). This mentality certainly guided many of his later decisions. One of Ladd’s schoolmates, Charles Elliott Tilton, had found profit in shipping goods from New Hampshire to San Francisco. After corresponding with Tilton, Ladd decided to seek passage on a San Francisco-bound steam ship out of New York on February 27, 1851 (Bancroft, 1890).
Ladd arrived in San Francisco in March 1851. Once again, the existing powerbrokers left little room for a man with Ladd's ambitions in the booming city of 80,000. He found there was no need for his vision of a mercantile business in the city by the bay that was overstocked with goods and entrepreneurs from the Eastern Seaboard. However, Ladd quickly realized that merchandise could be bought in San Francisco and resold for a profit in Portland. He suggested forming a partnering with Charles Tilton, but Tilton viewed the venture as too risky. Alone, Ladd sailed to Portland with a small quantity of Tilton’s liquor. He arrived in Portland on April 8, 1851, with “a small consignment of liquor, a character reference from his Congregational minister, a hole in his shoe, and cash to survive for two weeks” (MacColl, 1988, p. 1).
Shortly after arriving in Portland, Ladd was informed he would be assessed a road tax of six dollars. Not having the resources to pay the tax, Ladd spent two or three nights and mornings removing two stumps from a downtown street in lieu of a cash payment. He later recalled that the work earned him the easiest six dollars he would ever see (MacColl, 1988).
Around the same time in 1851, a ship arrived in Portland filled with goods belonging to a Mr. Gookin who had known Ladd’s father in New Hampshire. Gookin retained Ladd to assist with the vending of his merchandise, for which Ladd was able to secure a small quantity of items and a commission of $1,000 (Bancroft, 1890).
In July 1852, Ladd traveled to San Francisco to formalize a partnership with Charles Tilton, who had since agreed to join Ladd’s venture in Portland. Upon returning to Portland, Ladd hung a sign above his store identifying it as “W.S. Ladd & Company.” Working in partnership with Tilton and Gookin, the store began doing so much business that Ladd’s brother, John Wesley Ladd, came to Portland in 1853 as an associate (Gaston, 1911).
THE FRONT STREET MERCHANTS: COMPARING LADD AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES
Although Historian E. Kimbark MacColl refers to Ladd as being the “first among equals” in the Portland establishment, his story is intertwined with those of the other successful Front Street merchants (MacColl, 1988). Henry Corbett, who came to Portland a month before Ladd, entered into the dry goods business on Front Street in much the same way Ladd did. Having a hand in numerous businesses and investments, by the time Corbett died in 1903 he had amassed a portfolio of investment buildings in downtown Portland, served as a U.S. Senator, and helped build the First National Bank—a competitor to the Ladd and Tilton Bank. Corbett’s 1870 Corbett Building, 1884 Cambridge Block, and 1874 Corbett House have all been demolished. Corbett’s son, Henry J., married Ladd’s daughter, Helen, bonding the two families despite the early economic competition.
Josiah Failing and his son Henry also engaged in the mercantile business when they arrived in Portland in 1851. Josiah served as Portland mayor in 1853 and 1854, and son Henry did the same from 1864 to 1866 and again from 1873-1875. The Failings, especially the younger Henry, found economic success in Portland through banking and various investments. Henry’s elaborate 1873 mansion was demolished in 1922, but the 1886 commercial building that bears his name still stands.
Cicero Lewis who also entered into the mercantile business upon arriving in Portland in 1851, found similar economic success in Portland, although he was much more reserved in his public and private lives than the other pioneer merchants. Lewis’ 1882 Allen & Lewis Block and his 1881 Lewis House have both been demolished.
While Ladd could be compared to successful Portlanders such as Herman Leonard, John Green, and Jacob Kamm, John Ainsworth, or Simeon Reed, the “Four Young Merchants of 1851” (Ladd, Corbett, Henry Failing, and Lewis) are unique in Portland’s history, especially as seen in MacColl’s comprehensive study of the Portland Establishment.
WILLIAM SARGENT LADD: PROMINENT PORTLAND CITIZEN (1854-1853)
Ladd decided to run for the office of mayor in Portland in 1854. At twenty-seven years of age, Ladd defeated sawmill owner William Abrams with 57 percent of the vote (Lansing, 2003). As of 2008, Ladd remains the youngest person to have served as Portland’s mayor. In 1857, when a special election was held to replace the previous mayor, Ladd decided to run for the office a second time. Ladd defeated Thomas Dryer by a margin of two votes, serving a five-month term as Portland’s eighth mayor (Lansing, 2003).
William Sargent Ladd married Caroline Ames Elliott on October 17, 1854. Elliott, who had been courted by Ladd before he left New Hampshire, reunited with him in San Francisco on September 28, 1854 (Bancroft, 1890). They were married in that city and returned to Portland immediately thereafter, where they resided in a home on West 5th and Burnside Streets. Four years later they constructed a large residence on SW Broadway, which will be discussed in detail in a later section.
Ladd bought out Charles Tilton’s share of W.S. Ladd & Company in the spring of 1855. Less than four years later, Tilton approached Ladd about partnering once again. Instead of allowing Tilton to join the mercantile business, Ladd suggested a new venture: establishing the West’s first bank north of San Francisco (Bancroft, 1890). The Ladd & Tilton Bank opened on June 1, 1859, and by the end of that year nearly $50,000 had been deposited with the bank (Fitzgerald, 1919).
Over the next two decades, the bank grew larger and more prosperous under the guidance of Ladd and Tilton. It was later said the reason for the bank’s success was that the two owners possessed the gift of “rare psychological powers of discernment, prudent judgment, and faith in his fellow man” (Fitzgerald, 1919, p. 17). Charles Tilton retired in 1880, officially transferring control of the bank to Ladd. A new partnership was established with Ladd and his son as principals, though the familiar Ladd & Tilton name continued. The bank’s capital of nearly $2,000,000 was distributed and the new firm continued with capital of $250,000 (Burrell, 1967). O. K. Burrell—the author of Gold in the Woodpile—points out that “the liability of [Ladd] was in no way limited to the capital expressed on the books of the bank. His entire resources constituted a guaranty fund for the deposits and other obligations” (1967, p. 59).
William Mead Ladd was a partner in name and as a matter of record; however, in reality, his role was not much more than that of a clerk. It was not in the elder Ladd’s nature to share control. Burrell points out that Ladd & Tilton was a private bank without a Board of Directors or loan committee, and was not subject to any bank regulations. The bank’s funds were under Ladd’s control and he regarded them as his to what he saw fit with “according to his best judgment and without interference by the depositors, partners or anyone else” (Burrell, 1967, p. 59). Although the Ladd & Tilton Bank was the main feature of William S. Ladd’s business activity, his interests and investments outside of the bank are recognized as most important to his life’s work (Bancroft, 1890).
One of those outside investment activities was involvement Ladd’s in the Oregon Steam Navigation Company (OSNC), which was established in 1860 (Bancroft, 1890). Ladd is known for being the second largest contributor and few of his ventures would prove to be more profitable than OSNC. While the operating profits certainly contributed to Ladd’s wealth accumulation, it was the timely sale of this enterprise to the Northern Pacific in 1871, the repurchase after the railroad’s failure, and the subsequent sale to Henry Villard in 1879 that brought Ladd a significant profit (Burrell, 1967).
Ladd also played a role in the establishment of the Arlington Club—a social club desired by Portland’s growing business community. In December 1867, the Arlington Club was incorporated by Ladd, Henry Failing, Simeon Reed, Alexander Ankeny, and several other prominent business leaders (Lansing, 2003), and today remains an instrumental social organization of Portland’s elite.
One of Ladd’s primary interests was in the accumulation of vast tracts of farmland. Ladd owned several large farms in Washington State and in Oregon’s Washington and Yamhill Counties. Additionally, he owned at least four farms on land that is now included within the city limits of Portland, including the neighborhoods now known as Laurelhurst, Ladd’s Addition, and East and West Moreland. The Hazel Fern Farm (now the Laurelhurst neighborhood) was Ladd’s favorite. His experimentation with farming and ranching techniques at this and other farms is said to have not just entertained Ladd personally, but developed agricultural innovations that would later become standards for farming in the Northwest (Bancroft, 1890). Ladd began importing Clydesdales and Cleveland Bay horses by 1870, and he is therefore credited with initiating a general interest in the breeding of quality horses in Oregon (Bancroft, 1890).
The 1870 Federal Census listed Ladd’s personal wealth at $400,000, far surpassing other wealthy Portlanders such as Henry Green, Henry Corbett, and Henry Failing (MacColl, 1988). After the 1873 fire that burned much of Portland’s waterfront buildings and wharves, Ladd established the Oregon Furniture Manufacturing Company to provide furniture for the new developments planned for the burned blocks (Bancroft, 1890).
Following a devastating season to Oregon’s flour mills in 1883, Ladd helped establish the Portland Flouring Mills Company. In addition to the mills which had become indebted to the Ladd & Tilton Bank, Ladd purchased many of the remaining flouring mills in the area to form the Portland Flouring Mills Company. The company remained one of the largest in the West long after Ladd’s death.
During the 1880s and opening years of the 1890s, Ladd’s interest in Portland’s civic affairs culminated with several accomplishments that would help propel the city into the 20th Century. In 1886, Ladd became a prominent member of the legislatively-enacted Portland Water Committee. The early dedication to this cause shown by Ladd and the other members eventually led to the construction of Portland’s Bull Run water system (Lansing, 2003).
In the early 1880s, Henry Villard had initiated construction of a large hotel in downtown Portland; however, construction was halted because of financial difficulties. One day in 1887, Ladd convened a meeting of prominent Portlanders in which an agreement was reached on how best to finish construction of the hotel. With the financial support of Ladd and others, the Portland Hotel opened in 1890 (Bancroft, 1890).
In February 1891, the Oregon legislature chartered the Port of Portland. Having been granted the power to tax, the Port became the most permanent and independent commission in the city’s history. Several Arlington Club members were appointed to the commission including Ladd who, not surprisingly, was named commission president (Lansing, 2003).
On December 9, 1892, Ladd sought the assistance of the family physician because of his rapidly deteriorating health (W. S. Ladd is Dead, 1893). Ladd had suffered a spinal injury as a young man that caused him to become paralyzed from the waist down in 1876. For the remainder of his life, Ladd was dependant on crutches and a body servant (Brewster, 1933). For Ladd to travel any distance within the city or to his farms, investment interests, or beach home in Seaview, Washington, Ladd was largely dependent on horse-drawn transportation. A newspaper account from the Oregonian noted that “nearly every day, after business hours, he has been driven out, and his portly form, kindly features, and roomy, comfortable buckboard were familiarly known to nearly every citizen” (1893, p. 1).
Beginning around 1890, Ladd transferred the management of many of his investment interests to his sons because of his failing health. On January 3, 1893, Ladd proclaimed that he would like to live long enough to witness the completion of three public amenities: River View Cemetery, a 25-foot channel from Portland to the Pacific Ocean, and the Bull Run water system (MacColl, 1988). Ladd died at his Portland home three days later on January 6, 1893. His estate was valued in excess of five million dollars, though some accounts valued his wealth at over ten million dollars (MacColl, 1988). Much of this was eventually donated to charitable organizations.
Three years prior to his death, historian Hubert Howe Bancroft wrote the following of Ladd: “He was clearly recognized as the most prominent figure in the northwestern states, possessing greater resources and power, and capable of exercising greater influence and control than any other citizen in that section” (p. 2).
THE DISTINGUISHED LADD HOME
In 1858, William Ladd purchased two blocks of land on what was then the outskirts of the city between SW Clay, Jefferson, Sixth, and Broadway Streets. The following year, Ladd had a large residence constructed on the northernmost block, Portland Block 185. Little is known of Ladd’s previous home at West 5th and Burnside Streets other than it was occupied by the family beginning in 1854 and was demolished shortly after the Ladd’s vacated it in 1858 (Brewster, 1933).
The Ladd House of 1859 was designed by architect E. M. Burton as a two-story Italian Villa residence constructed of the highest quality materials and craftsmanship available (Olsen, 1927). The concept for the house came from a residence in Bangor, Maine, that Ladd had seen on a trip the year before (Bancroft, 1890). The house abutted both Broadway and Columbia Streets and the primary entrance faced Sixth Street.
In 1878, Ladd commissioned the addition of a third-floor mansard and a tower over the front entrance, stylistically recreating the house as a Second Empire mansion. After the additions and modifications were complete, the interior of the residence featured wide stairwells, large windows and doors, a basement with access to Columbia Street, and thirty rooms accented with rosewood, maple, and mahogany panels. The residence was elevated by a basalt retaining wall and was surrounded by shrubbery, lawns, and large elm trees. An ornate greenhouse and carriage drive were located on the northwest corner of the property near Broadway and Jefferson Streets (Olsen, 1927).
Ladd is believed to have built a stable on the southernmost block of his estate—Portland Block 186—prior to the building of the Ladd Carriage House. An 1879 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a square two-story stabling structure abutting Broadway midway between Clay and Columbia Streets. No other structures were located on Block 186 in that year. Photographic records indicate the building had a tower and mansard roof stylistically similar to that of the Ladd House. Two large doors were located on the Broadway façade (Image OrHi 8280). Both of Ladd’s blocks were surrounded by plank sidewalks and street trees by the early 1880s (Photograph File 1505).
BLOCK 205
The history of Portland Block 205—the location of the subject property—began in 1848 when the block was platted by owner Daniel Lownsdale. The same plan provided specifications for half-blocks between 8th and 9th Streets. The half-blocks south of Salmon Street were dedicated as the Park Blocks in 1852. In 1877, the city contracted the planting of trees in the Park Blocks between Salmon and Mill Streets. By 1880, fences were erected around the blocks and the streets and sidewalks were clearly defined (Mackenzie, 1988).
In 1851, Daniel Lownsdale donated the entire Block 205 to the Methodist Church for the construction of a private school—the first building to be constructed on the block. The two and a half-story Portland Academy and Female Seminary opened in the fall of 1851 near the center of Block 205. Ladd was recruited as trustee-treasurer (MacColl, 1988). In 1878, the Portland Academy left the building, and in 1879 or 1880, the structure was moved to the extreme northwest corner of the block where it was transferred into the ownership of Willamette University. In 1880, the newly-formed First Christian Church purchased the corner lot at Park and Columbia Streets from the Methodist Church and constructed a new building, completed the following year (First Christian Church, 1955).
Around 1880, William Sargent Ladd purchased Lot 4 of Portland Block 205. The parcel, located at the northeast corner of Broadway and Columbia Streets, was directly across Broadway from the rear of the Ladd House and diagonal from Ladd’s stabling structure. He likely obtained the lot from the Methodist Church, who sold the parcel directly west to the First Christian Church.
AN EXPENSIVE STABLE
For undocumented reasons, Ladd decided to replace his earlier stable with a much larger structure in 1883. The need for the Carriage House was likely impacted by Ladd’s inability to get around by foot. As mentioned earlier, Ladd was a paraplegic and relied heavily on a horse-drawn carriage for all his mobility needs.
Ladd commissioned architect Joseph Sherwin to design the Ladd Carriage House. An 1883 newspaper article contains the most descriptive account of the Carriage House’s construction:
“An expensive stable. W.S. Ladd, Esq., has just commenced the erection of a new stable on stone basement on the corner of Seventh and Columbia, forty-eight feet wide and sixty-five feet long, two stories high, with coachman’s residence three stories. Accommodations is[sic] provided for twelve horses. The building will be heated by steam, and will cost about $12,000, and is the best design for a building of this kind we have ever seen. The plans and specifications were prepared by Jos. Sherwin, architect” (An Expensive Stable, 1883).
Although the Carriage House was projected to cost $12,000, an 1884 building inventory listed the cost at $16,000 (Miscellaneous Buildings, 1884). A later figure showed the final construction price had ballooned to a sum of $24,000 because of the incorporation of the highest quality materials and skilled labor. According to the Oregonian, Ladd personally selected the fir used in the building (Ladd Barn to Hold Shops and Studios, 1926).
Several commercial stabling structures were also completed in Portland in 1883. In addition to the Carriage House, at least six stables were built in Portland that year, ranging in cost from $2,000 to $15,000 (Miscellaneous Buildings, 1884). Unlike these less-opulent livery and commercial transportation-oriented stables, the Ladd Carriage House received notice because of its connection to William Ladd personally. For example, the social affairs column of the July 21, 1883, North West News mentioned the Carriage House by stating the following: “W.S. Ladd is having a fine large stable built. It will soon be ready for its four-footed tenants” (Gossip, 1883). Construction of the Carriage House was completed sometime after the publication of this article, but before the New Year. No plans or construction photographs of the building are known to exist.
The earlier Block 186 stable remained intact while the Ladd Carriage House was built, but by 1885 it had been cleared (Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1885). Several residential structures were erected on Block 205 around the same time as the Carriage House’s construction. A two-story dwelling was built immediately north of the Carriage House’s lot between 1879 and 1884. It is unknown how the erection of this residence may have affected the design of the north elevation of the Carriage House.
JOSEPH A. SHERWIN
Although several notable buildings have been attributed to architect Joseph A. Sherwin, there are few remaining records of his personal and professional life. A native of England, Sherwin practiced in California’s East San Francisco Bay Area before moving his office to Portland, Oregon in 1880.
Sherwin settled in Oakland, California in 1876. The following year, he designed a large public hall and theater in the neighboring city of Alameda, California. In 1878, he opened a branch office in Alameda, partnering with architect T. Mackenzie to establish the firm of Sherwin & Mackenzie. The partnership is known to have designed Alameda’s Bath House (1878, demolished), Probst Building (1878-79), and Tucker Building (1879). The two-story Italianate Probst Building, featuring a corner turret with a peaked roof and prominent brackets at the cornice level, has been determined eligible for listing in the National Register as an individual property of architectural and associative significance (Minor, 1989). The Tucker Building—a highly altered three-story Italianate commercial block—is a contributor in the Park Street Historic Commercial District (Minor, 1992).
Joseph Sherwin relocated to Portland in 1880. In the 1881 Portland City Directory, Sherwin was listed as one of only thirteen practicing architects in the city. From 1881 until his death in 1883, Sherwin’s office and residence were found in several rooms on the third floor of the Union Block on SW Stark Street.
In 1881, Sherwin prepared a design for the Calvary Presbyterian Church; however, his plans were rejected in favor of the Warren H. Williams design which still stands in 2009 (Ritz, 2002). That same year, Sherwin designed an elaborate residence in Northwest Portland for George H. Williams—a prominent Portland citizen who served as a U.S. Senator, U.S. Attorney General, and eventually as Mayor of Portland. The residence featured elaborate polygonal bays, prominent roof ridge cresting, and façade dormers, making it a recognizable addition to one of Portland’s most exclusive neighborhoods (Hawkins & Willingham, 1999). Although the Williams House was demolished in 1914, the George H. Williams Townhouses of the same year still stand on the original property (Rees & O'Hara, 1983). The design of the multifamily dwelling may be attributed to Joseph Sherwin, despite the lack of conclusive evidence.
Sherwin is known to have also designed the Henry E. Jones residence on NW 17th Street in Portland (Marlitt, 1978). In Tacoma, Washington, he designed the Pierce County Courthouse (1882, demolished), St. Luke's Memorial Episcopal Church (1882), and the Central School (1883, demolished). St. Luke's which was moved and reconstructed in stages from 1934 until 1946 and is currently under review for listing in the city’s local register of historic places (Figetakis, 2008).
In 1882 and 1883, Sherwin occasionally promoted his office through advertisements published in the Oregonian. One such advertisement listed “J. Sherwin; Architect and Superintendent; Agent for Panly Bros. Steel-clad Jail Cells” (Architects and Engineers, 1882). Another advertisement prominently featured Sherwin’s name and office address over an image of his George Williams House (Sherwin, Architect, 1883).
Joseph Sherwin died suddenly at age 46 on August 28, 1883, from neuralgia of the stomach. Sherwin regularly suffered from the |
