| SUMMARY
Located on the south side of E. 12th Avenue between Oak and Pearl Streets, the circa 1855 Daniel and Catherine Christian House is the oldest house remaining in Eugene that is directly linked to the community’s settlement past. The house was listed in 1975 as a City of Eugene Historic Landmark, and was later identified as a property of “Primary” significance in the 1989 Downtown Survey. The building is in good condition, and retains a sufficient degree of integrity to convey its original style and period of significance. The changes that are evident today were made during the historic period, and reflect early 20th century stylistic tastes. These alterations do not significantly hinder the building’s ability to convey its historical style, design, function, or associations.
The Christian House is being nominated for listing in the National Register under the Multiple Properties Submission (MPS) “Residential Architecture in Eugene, Oregon, 1850 to 1950.” The house is eligible under this MPS and National Register Criterion A for its representation as the oldest remaining residential building in Eugene, and for its associations with the early years of Eugene’s settlement and community development. As one of only a handful of remaining resources from the settlement period, the Christian House is an important and rare representative of that era, displaying the physical characteristics of the Classical Revival style. It is therefore also eligible under National Register Criterion C for its architectural merit. As it has been moved approximately 100’ from its original location, the Christian House also meets Criteria Consideration B for moved properties. This slight relocation to another site on the original land claim does not affect the property’s significance or associations.
EARLY EUGENE SETTLEMENT
The Christian House is located in the southern portion of the current Downtown Neighborhood. Originally sited well outside the central business area of Eugene, the subject property is now surrounded by a mix of commercial and residential development, with little hint of its agricultural beginnings remaining visible in today’s landscape.
European settlement of the southern Willamette Valley began with the arrival of Elijiah Bristow, Felix Scott, William Dodson, and Eugene Skinner in 1846. Bristow, Scott and Dodson took claims in Pleasant Hill, but Skinner opted slightly further west and proceeded to built a cabin on the shoulder of what is known today as Skinner’s Butte in Eugene. The earliest vestiges of development appeared on the east side of the Butte, but after earning the nickname “Skinner’s Mud Hole” the fledgling settlement soon moved to the higher ground along the southern edge of the Butte.
Arriving at Eugene City in 1853 (the same year as the Christians), Harrison R. Kincaid later described the settlement:
We landed at the site of the present town of Eugene October 11, 1853. There was not a house on the town site then, only stakes in the grass to mark the owners of lots and blocks which had been platted the year before. There were a few houses outside of the town lots; a little store at the ferry; Eugene Skinner’s residence on the west; Hilyard Shaw’s home where the University of Oregon is now; and two or three other homes where the town now is, but they were outside of the lots then laid out.
The key components contributing to the economic success of the community soon appeared: the millrace and sawmill 1851, which resulted in the construction of the first frame house by 1852, and a flour mill in 1855. Other commercial and industrial developments soon followed. After the establishment of the county of Lane in 1851, Eugene City became the County seat in 1853. Adjacent parcels of 40 acres each were accepted from Skinner and Charnel Mulligan, and a new townsite was surveyed and platted, centering on present day 8th Avenue and Oak Street. (Fig. 3) Future additions to the City were derived from the land claims to the west, south and east of this early plat. The Christians arrived in Eugene this same year, taking their claim south of the new plat and settling in to the community of less than 500 souls. Eugene City was incorporated as a city in 1864.
The first five plats in Eugene City were all added by Eugene Skinner or Charnel Mulligan between 1851 and 1856. Hilyard Shaw made his first addition in 1856 in the heart of what is now the West University neighborhood [an area immediately adjacent to the Christian House]. Near the commercial areas the large land claims were subdivided into smaller farms, which were subsequently divided again into smaller sections or individual home sites. Although much of this progress occurred from the 1880s on, urban development as it is recognized today began in the late 1860s and 1870s. The region surrounding the core area ... consisted of farmland, as indicated in a lithograph printed around 1859. (Fig. 4)
The initial and primary endeavor of most early settlers was subsistence farming, followed by farming for market (often wheat), which resulted in a predominantly agricultural environment in the areas surrounding the commercial core. Through the 1870s there were no city streets south of 11th Avenue or west of Lawrence Street, only farmland. With the growth of commerce and industry came the infill of larger parcels and more definitive street grid patterns.
One of the significant early developments in Eugene was the establishment of a university. When the location of such an institution was being discussed, it was initially “...agreed to select a site for the university on the D.R. Christian land just south of Eleventh Street, and between High and Oak Streets, containing some ten acres, that being a central point between the factions [debating the location]...” This decision was overridden because of the flatness of the lot, lack of drainage, and the fact that the property would soon be the center of town.
By the 1880s the area between the new University, ultimately located on part of Hilyard Shaw’s claim to the east of the Christian land, and the commercial core had been mostly filled in. The early houses of the 1850s through the 1870s remained, dispersed throughout the early plats. In 1884 and 1885 the 209-acre Christian land claim began to be divided with the creation of Christian’s 1st and 2nd Additions to Eugene, respectively; John Christian’s Addition was platted in 1902. (Fig. 14) Deed records indicate that starting with the 1884 platting of the 1st Christian’s Addition, through about 1927, two to three lots per year were sold, contributing significantly to the steady urbanization of this area south of downtown. With the extension of 12th Avenue by 1912, any remaining agricultural character of the immediate surrounds of the Christian House virtually disappeared.
Throughout its growth period the immediate neighborhood around the Christian House was home to a wide variety of residents. Its early agricultural character, its proximity to the downtown core, the University and later Sacred Heart Hospital, led to a mixture of residents and tenants that included working and merchant class families and young professionals.
Today commercial development dominates the Downtown Neighborhood, but pockets of residential buildings do remain. Because the neighborhood grew over a long span of time, the broadest range of ages and styles is represented, from the Classical and Gothic Revivals to all types of single- and multiple-family 20th century construction, though the older buildings are slowly being lost as downtown development continues. The Christian House stands as the oldest residence in Eugene that was built by a settler and is still located on its original land claim, making it a significant reminder of Eugene’s early community development.
THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY HOUSE
Daniel Christian III, his wife Catherine Entyre Christian and their five children departed their home in Mt. Carroll Illinois in the spring of 1852. (Photos 1-3) The wagon train arrived in Oregon that fall, and the Christians’ “... first actual home in Oregon was in Washington County, on a squatter’s cabin in the hills, five miles from Hillsboro...” where they spent the winter of 1852-53.
It had been the original intention of the Christians to make California their destination, but their plans were changed before reaching the divide and Oregon was decided upon. It is thought that a chance meeting with a man named [David] Masters had some influence in making this alteration in the plans. Masters was a former resident of Mt. Carroll and was returning for a second trip to the coast ... and seems to have persuaded the Christians to come with him into Oregon...
Mr. Masters ... had preceded them during that first fall to Eugene at the head of the Willamette Valley and had taken up a Donation Clain [sic] of one hundred and sixty acres. He also had established a lumber mill. Daniel now came to Eugene. Shortly after his arrival, Masters had an altercation with some desperate characters living west of Eugene, and was brutally attacked and maltreated. Fearing for his life ... he finally decided to leave the country, stipulating with D.R. Christian to exchange his donation claim in Eugene for Catherine Christian’s share in the Entyre estate in Adeline, Illinois.
The land that the Christians acquired comprised claims #72 and #47, consisting of 209 acres, apparently none of which had been “proved up” by Masters. As was customary, the northern half of the claim was legally in Catherine’s name, and the southern half went to Daniel. (Fig. 5) Family sources indicate that Christian, a carpenter by trade, built a log cabin near what is now the northwest corner of 12th and Pearl Streets, and within two years had erected the frame house that stands today. 1854 survey notes indicate that a “house” was located on the claim at the time of the survey, but it is unclear whether this refers to the log cabin or the frame house.
Once shelter was established, settlers typically built a barn and eventually other agricultural outbuildings as needed. Such buildings appear on the earliest Sanborn maps available for the Christian site, dated 1890. Orchard trees including a variety of apples grew to the south and west of the house.
Irena Dunn Williams, one of the Christian grandchildren who was born in 1856, reminisced about her grandparents’ house and farm life in various writings. When traveling from her childhood home in Springfield (Oregon) to visit her grandparents, she recalled that:
There were no streets south of Eleventh, but what is now Alder Street extended as a County Road south into the hills and over to pioneer farms, as did Willamette Street. Here we neared Grandfather’s home and only three or four houses on either side intervened. My two young uncles could easily spy the carriage several blocks away, and they always came running to meet us... [as we] turned up the lane on what is now Pearl Street to Grandpa’s picket gate...
Once the family moved to Eugene, to a house near the Christian’s, visits to their grandparent’s house were much easier.
When we were young we love to run through the orchard to Grandma’s house... We did help stir the apple butter in season, sitting on a high stool and pulling backward and forward a long handle to which...passed to and fro through the mushy mass to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the huge brass kettle.
The Christians’ contributions to the development of Eugene were likely similar to many of the early settlers to an area – all efforts were crucial to the growth and success of the pioneer community. Both Daniel and Catherine were founding members of the Methodist Church in Eugene, and Daniel
is said to have cut and hand-hewed the lumber for the First Methodist Church building, constructed in 1858. He was one of the first Deacons of the church, and she “...had the care of the Communion Service for many years...” Little else is known of the couple’s social or civic involvements.
Daniel and Catherine Christian had eight children in all, and several remained in the Eugene-Springfield area as adults. Catherine died in 1889. Daniel continued to live in the original farmhouse (along with his daughter Etha, and his son John W. and John’s wife Mary) until his death in 1891. At that time all of his personal and real property was left to his daughter Etha, with sons Samuel and John W. appointed executors. John W. and Mary moved into a new house around the corner (1238 Pearl) in 1893; Mary died in 1896. On Etha’s death in 1905, the ownership of the original house and remaining property appears to have transferred to John W. Christian.
Circa 1908 the house was re-positioned about 100 feet south onto lot 1 of block 3 of Christian’s First Addition. (Figs. 8, 9) The land on which the farmhouse sits today remained in the Christian family until 1908, when it was sold to Tyron Brackett for the sum of $1600.00. By 1912 it seems the house was used as a rental, as none of the owners’ names appear at this address during that span of time. After several changes of ownership, it was purchased by Lewis and Ella Meisel in 1947 and converted to apartments. They sold the property in 1975. The current owner purchased the house in 1995.
Although slightly re-positioned, the Christian house meets National Register Criteria Consideration B, since its architectural and associative significance remain strong. While moving properties from their original location can result in destruction of the relationship between the resource and its surroundings, the Christian House was moved only about 100 feet and retains its original aspect (facing north), remains on its original land claim and in its original environs. Urbanization was taking place around the building before the move and continued after the relocation, and this development caused greater detachment of the building from its historic setting than the move itself. The relocation did result in the loss of historic fabric such as the original foundation, though the hand-hewn sills remain intact. Historical archaeological remains may be present on the original site, but were likely destroyed during subsequent construction and modern development.
THE CLASSICAL REVIVAL STYLE
The Classical Revival style has its roots in the classical architecture of Greece. With the rediscovery of the antiquities of Greece and Rome in the 17th and early 18th centuries and subsequent publication of drawings of these findings, architects and designers in Europe and America had the benefit of published pictures of real Greek and Roman designs for guidance.
Greek Revival architecture first appeared in Europe in the mid-1700s...and crossed the Atlantic some fifty years later. The first representations – America’s high style phase – were, for the most part, created by professional architects who used the materials and sourcebooks of European designers... Close behind the high style period of Greek Revival architecture, the vernacular phase exploded onto the American landscape and spread from coast to coast. Using pattern books and other buildings for guidance, and making use of the handiest or least expensive materials available, designers and builders crafted a remarkable collection of edifices.
Intensely popular in the east in the early years of the 1800s, the style was soon appearing in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois with westward migration. Large numbers of early settlers came from these states to the west coast, and the Classical Revival appeared in a variety of forms in Oregon through about 1860.
The first frontier houses in Oregon were usually log cabins or hewn log houses, constructed to provide temporary shelter until a frame house could be built. With the introduction of sawmills, buildings of identifiable style began to appear, the earliest being those in the Classical Revival vein. Characteristics common to most varieties include the use of often modest, but classically-inspired details in the low roof pitch, full entablature, eave returns, suggestion of base and capital on porch posts, multi-paned double hung windows, entrance doors accented with sidelights and transom, and horizontal weatherboard siding most often painted white. The overall impression of restraint and balanced proportion was evident in all Classical Revival buildings. “For the first decade, pioneer house cost, size and character must have felt restrictions due more to circumstance, location, available materials then to personal standards.”
Interpretations of the Classical Revival in Oregon depended on the origin of the builder; building forms derived from both northeastern and southern traditions were found throughout the Willamette Valley. According to Jamieson Parker, the District Officer for the Civil Works Administration’s Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the mid-1930s, a large number of early Oregon settlers had come from or been exposed to the southern building types, based on the dominant settlement-era building types that were encountered during his work. He further stated that “...the heaviness and bombast seen so often in southern Greek revival buildings...” was seldom suggested in the Oregon versions, which seemed to adopt a more refined interpretation of their predecessors. By the mid-1860s the Gothic Revival style had begun to dominate new residential construction, and the use of the Classical Revival was all but abandoned.
In University of Oregon Professor Philip Dole’s article “Farmhouse and Barn in Early Lane County” published in 1965 in the Lane County Historian, the author states that “Examination of the farmhouses between 1850 and 1865 reveals that in terms of size, height, basic plan and general proportions there were a half dozen types, found in other counties too.” The article dilates on three of these types, labeled “Type One,” “Type Two” and “Type Three;” the Christian House is categorized as a Type One building.
Few houses of the Type One group now survive. But one rare example must be the Daniel Christian III farmhouse built on 160 acres in 1855, now slightly relocated at 170 East 12th Avenue, Eugene. Its type characteristics are only slightly disguised across the front through newer windows and door. Judging from the farms illustrated by Walling, Lane County a century ago must have had many such houses... [and] characteristics of common to Type One houses distinguish them from all others.
These one and a half story houses were built with the eaves and ridge parallel to the road, or to face the main approach. The short, rather flat gable roof across the front of the house was in contrast to the long even flatter roof that covered the back two thirds of the building... Under the ridge across the front of the house was a loft, usually unfinished. Other important characteristics are the end chimney and the absence of halls.
In regards to the detailing typical of this period and of the Classical Revival style, Professor Dole states:
Many houses clearly indicate the 1850s as their date from the use of large rake and architrave boards and in the heavy boxed returns which carried the eave form around, three or four feet, onto the gable ends. This modest indication of a classical pediment is illustrated on the Daniel Christian house... Not all old houses built in the 1850s had this classic detail; in the following decades it disappeared from construction altogether.
The characteristics of the Classical Revival are, therefore, present and identifiable on the Christian House and the building is not only a rare survivor of its era, but rare within its particular classification as defined by Professor Dole.
Comparative Analysis
Other than cemeteries, few resources from the early settlement period (1846-1860) remain in Eugene or Lane County, and fewer still are residences of the Classical Revival style. While the number of total buildings in existence statewide in the 1850s was relatively small, a large percentage of those early houses were built with a clear reference to the classical tradition. It is interesting to note that a large majority of the buildings surveyed in Oregon by HABS in the 1930s were of the pre-1860 vintage, with many of these pre-dating 1850. This came as some surprise to the initial investigators who had anticipated surveying resources dating from 1860-1870. That many of these – as well as others that were not investigated at that time - have been lost there can be no doubt.
There are currently two other settlement-era buildings in Eugene listed in the National Register, and one listed as a local landmark. The Henderson House (c 1860) is listed as a contributing resource in the East Skinner Butte National Register Historic District, and is currently being used as a residence. The Lane County Clerk’s Building (1853) is individually listed in the National Register, and is currently located at the Lane County Historical Museum. Both of these buildings have been moved from their original sites. The William Masterson House (1857) is a recently-listed City of Eugene Landmark that continues to be used as a single-family residence.
Of the other “Type One” houses identified by Professor Dole and mentioned in A.G. Walling’s Illustrated History of Lane County – the Joel Inman, Isaac Vanduyn, Vince McClure and Jacob Gillespie houses – none remains.
OREGON STATEWIDE INVENTORY – CITY OF EUGENE
Name Address Date Condition/Description
Daniel Christian III House 170 E. 12th, Eugene Classical Revival c 1855 Extant; altered, moved
Lane County Clerks Building Lane County Fairgrounds Classical Revival 1853 Extant; moved, minor modifications
William Masterson House 2050 Madison, Eugene Classical Revival 1857 Extant; major modifications
E.P. Henderson House E. Skinner Butte NR Hist. Dist. Classical Revival c 1860 Extant; moved 1909, major modifications
• The Lane County Clerk’s Building (1853) is individually listed in the National Register and is the oldest building remaining in the City of Eugene, possibly in Lane County. This diminutive building has been moved several times, but retains a high degree of architectural integrity and is an excellent example of the Classical Revival style in the city and the county. Originally built as a public building, it was later converted for use as a residence.
• The William and Eliza Masterson House (1857) is located at 2050 Madison Street. The house was recently listed as a Eugene City Landmark for its association with the settlement era in Eugene. Although the house has been heavily remodeled, it retains enough of the original exterior Classical Revival details to convey its period of significance.
• The Henderson House (c 1860) is located at 260 High Street and is part of the East Skinner Butte National Register Historic District. The Classical Revival building is thought to have originally been part of the Red Top Tavern, and has been moved to its current site. Alterations include window replacement, secondary or replacement siding, probable removal of part of the original building (presumably when it was moved) and a side kitchen addition.
Expanding the context to include all of Lane County yields several additional properties identified in the Statewide Inventory as dating from the 1840s through 1860, including several Classical Revival houses. All have minor to major modifications.
OREGON STATEWIDE INVENTORY – LANE COUNTY
Name Style/Type Date Condition/Description
George Armitage House Coburg/Eugene vicinity Classical Revival 1855 Extant; moved 1917, major modifications
Diamond-Pollard House Coburg NR Historic District Classical Revival 1854 Extant; major modifications
Abraham Landes House Old Coburg Road, Eugene vic. Classical Revival c 1850 Demolished
David Mosby House Cottage Grove vicinity Classical Revival c 1860 Extant; integrity not known
William Stevens House Springfield vicinity Federal c 1851 Demolished
David Zumwalt House Territorial Road, Eugene vic. Federal c 1859 Extant; major modifications
To further emphasize the relative rarity of this building style, one source states that in 1992 only 32 remaining Classical Revival buildings had been identified throughout Oregon, the data taken from the Historic American Buildings Survey, the National Register and the Oregon Statewide Inventory.
Other resources remaining from these early years of Eugene and Oregon’s development are few, not only in Eugene but throughout the Willamette Valley and Oregon. In Eugene, other than cemeteries, these include the Millrace (1851), the street grid system (1853), “Courthouse Square” or what is now known as the Park Blocks in downtown Eugene (1853), and perhaps a half dozen buildings dating from the decade 1860-1870 which would fall into the stylistic category of Gothic Revival rather than Classical Revival. Most, if not all of these have been altered to varying degrees. None, including those already listed in the National Register, remains as-built.
MPS Nomination Criteria: Residential Architecture in Eugene, Oregon, 1850 to 1950
The following general registration requirements apply to all property types nominated under this Multiple Property Submission (more detailed information can be found in the MPS Form):
1. The house must have been constructed between 1850 and 1950.
The Christian House was built circa 1855.
2. The house must meet one or more of the National Register criteria.
The Christian House is being nominated under National Register Criterion A for its association with early settlement and residential development in Eugene, Oregon, and under Criterion C for its architectural merit.
3. Character-defining features should be intact and sufficient integrity retained.
The house retains the key character-defining features of this style which include the horizontal emphasis in its massing, the asymmetrical side-gable roof, and the pronounced entablature detail at the eaves.
4. Resources constructed as part of a larger complex must be evaluated in terms of the broader contexts associated with the complex
None of the resources historically associated with the Christian House (barns, outbuildings or fences) remains.
5. Resources built in great numbers of which many still exist, should be considered eligible as contributing resources in a larger context such as a district or cultural landscape. A single resource of which there are many examples remaining may not be considered eligible as a single resource unless the resource represents a significant example of an architectural style, an engineering or construction method, or the work of a master OR it alone best represents a significant person’s productive life.
The Christian House is one of very few of its type and age remaining, and according to family tradition was constructed by Daniel Christian III. Therefore this General Registration Requirement does not apply.
6. Associated outbuildings should be included as contributing resources when appropriate.
No associated contributing outbuildings remain on or near the property.
7. Intentionally developed landscapes should be evaluated for significance and included as contributing resources when appropriate.
None of the original or historic landscape features remain on or near the property, therefore this General Registration Requirement does not apply.
8. Additions to or renovations of resources constructed prior to 1950 must be considered in the context of the entire property and its history.
Many of the alterations to the house were made during the historic period (between c 1908 and the 1940s) and are not immediately evident to the casual observer. These changes help to convey the building’s development and functional history. The alterations have taken into account the scale of the building, and in themselves reflect a continuum of development. Overall, they do not detract from its overall style, architectural merit or historical associations.
In addition, the following criteria must be met in order to list a single family dwelling on the National Register of Historic Places in the context of this multiple property listing:
1. The house must have been constructed between 1850 and 1950.
The Daniel & Catherine Christian House was constructed circa 1855, and is the oldest remaining residential building in Eugene making it eligible under this criterion.
2. The house must be eligible under one or more of the National Register criteria.
The Daniel & Catherine Christian House is being nominated under Criterion A for its association with the early settlement and residential development of Eugene, and Criterion C for its architectural merit as one of the last remaining buildings of the Classical Revival style in Eugene.
3. Character defining features should be intact and sufficient integrity retained. Regardless of current use, the house should retain key features, including design, plan and spatial organization, materials, and workmanship. Ideally, the building should be in its original location.
The Daniel & Catherine Christian House was moved approximately 100 feet from its original location, presumably to accommodate construction of East 12th Avenue as a through street. The building retains elements of the Classical Revival design, plan, spatial organization, materials and unique workmanship of the original construction. Most of the major alterations were completed in the early 20th century and are now considered to be historic.
5. Due to the scarcity of single-family dwellings dating from the settlement period, the standards pertaining to architectural integrity may be somewhat less restrictive than those applicable to more recent contexts. Minimal physical integrity may be acceptable if the house still reflects the design features usually associated with settlement period houses.
Despite some changes over the last 150 years, the Christian House remains a good example of early settlement domestic architecture. After the log cabin, the Classical Revival was the earliest architectural style employed during the 1840s-1860s in Oregon, but nearly all examples in the current Eugene city limits and throughout Lane County have been either lost or significantly altered. While the Christian House has experienced some changes, most of these occurred during the historic period (over fifty years ago), and the house continues to clearly convey its style, period of construction and significance through the remaining character-defining features.
7. Intentionally developed landscapes should be evaluated for significance and included as contributing resources when appropriate.
The Daniel & Catherine Christian House was originally constructed as the primary dwelling for a settlement era farm. By 1885, the southern limits of Eugene were expanding and the 209 acre Christian family donation land claim began to be divided and subdivided. By 1912, the agricultural character had disappeared. Today the house is located on a small lot with no evidence of an intentionally designed landscape.
CONCLUSION
As a rare survivor from Oregon’s Territorial period and Eugene and Lane County’s infancy, the Christian House is an important community marker both socially and architecturally. It continues to convey its original period, function and style clearly though modestly.
Under Criterion A, the Christian House meets the criteria set forth in the Multiple Property Submittal “Residential Arch |
