| STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Summary
The 1907 Louis and Bessie Tarpley House, located at 2520 NW Westover Road, is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C as a local and early example of the Tudor Revival style with Arts and Crafts influences. Early Tudor Revival style houses constructed in Portland reflected influences from two English styles: Arts and Crafts interior floor plans with Tudor Revival style exterior details. The Tarpley House differs from many Tudor Revival houses in that it is a transitional Tudor Revival, yet also an understated example of the style. Its clean lines, simplicity, and austere decoration set it apart as one interpretation in the large family of Tudor Revival representations. Unlike other Tudor Revival houses, the Tarpley House exemplifies a simplified, yet sophisticated concept of the Tudor Revival style, giving the impression of being a whole design, complete with an important central entrance, balanced, symmetrical bays, consistent trim in the form of the half-timbering, and two distinct types of exterior cladding for variety. Attributed to architect David C. Lewis, and constructed in 1907 for Bessie and Louis Tarpley by Fred G. Oppenlander, the house was designed and built during one of the boom eras of the city after the successful 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, on the lower bluffs of northwest Portland. It faces east to a view of the city, including the former Guild's Lake area and the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Hood in the distance.
Early History and Development of Hillside Neighborhood
The Tarpley House was part of the Donation Land Claim of Amos King, an early settler and owner of a substantial part of the west hills area in Portland. King emigrated to Oregon in 1845 and settled in the Coast Range near present-day Corvallis, Oregon, naming the property King’s Valley. In 1849, King returned to Portland and purchased a 523 acre plot in the west hills. With his skill as a ferryman and experience of working in a tannery, King bought the local tannery from gold-seekers headed for California. King was a successful businessman and the tannery prospered as a result. With his wife, Melinda, King built a large house for his growing family. King also supplemented his income by selling off property. His first major sale was in 1871 to the City of Portland for the site of present-day Washington Park, consisting of 48 acres, for $32,624. Two neighborhoods were named for the King family: King’s Hill, south of Burnside; and King’s Heights, north of Burnside. The Tarpley House is near the area once called King’s Heights, but is now called Hillside. Amos King died in 1901 at the age of 79.
Throughout the late nineteenth century, northwest Portland became home to the city’s political and merchant elite. Streetcar lines helped spur this residential development, as the city’s population reached 46,385 by 1890. One of the major factors affecting the development of northwest Portland was the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair held in northwest Portland. This celebration of
the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition occupied nearly 400 acres of fairgrounds near Guild’s Lake, now filled in and part of northwest Portland. In its four and a half month run, over 1.5 million people attended the exposition, with over 100,000 of these visitors coming from the eastern United States. The exposition featured three Federal buildings, twenty Oregon state buildings, in addition to sixteen buildings from other states, and sixteen structures or exhibits from other countries. Oregon’s contribution to the architectural theme was the Forestry Building, a 105 by 209 foot log cabin that was very popular with fair visitors. In part spurred by the exposition, between 1900 and 1910, Portland experienced the third highest growth rate in the nation, from a population of 90,426 in 1900, to 222,957 in 1910. Only Los Angeles and Seattle exceeded Portland’s 129% growth rate. Portland also enjoyed over $64 million in new housing and neighborhood development, including northwest Portland. Northwest Portland was one of the centers of finer residential buildings, offering homeowners wonderful views, close shopping opportunities, and good transportation downtown, owing to its proximity to the former exposition grounds. It was during this boom period that building contractor Fred G. Oppenlander was hired to build the transitional, simplified Tudor and Arts and Crafts influenced house for Louis and Bessie Tarpley in the Hillside Neighborhood of northwest Portland.
Louis Tarpley, son of Henry C. Tarpley who came to Oregon in 1852, was first listed as an attorney in the Abington Building in Portland, and resided in 1892 on Montgomery Street. In 1897, he joined the O'Day and Company law firm, and in 1899, the firm was listed as O'Day and Tarpley. In approximately 1900, Louis married Bessie Bugbee, daughter of San Francisco Judge John G. Bugbee. Bessie was a member of the first art class formed in Portland that later became the nucleus of the establishment of the Portland Art Museum. The Tarpley’s son, David, was later awarded a scholarship in the field of art at the American Academy in Rome.
In 1905, Bessie and Louis Tarpley purchased property stands from James and Mary Steele for the sum of $3,800. The property consisted of .20 acres bounded on both the east and west sides by NW Westover Road. This parcel was a part of the Amos King Donation Land Claim and was within the platted boundaries of Nob Hill Terrace. This area began to develop in 1905 and continued at a brisk pace throughout the mid 1920s. New homes appeared on both sides of NW Westover and NW Cornell Roads, many designed for wealthy clients by noted Portland architects. The Tarpley House is located just east of the Alphabet Historic District. Property to the west was laid out according to other standards, primarily along main roads and various terraces, the result of a large-scale sluice project. This undertaking, dating from 1910-1914, involved the removal and replacing of 3,000,000 cubic yards of material from Goldsmith Hill located on the early twentieth century northwest outskirts of Portland. The project used hydraulic sluicing to wash material down over a multitude of sheerboards to create the many terraces forming the Westover Terraces development, and continued further down the hill to partially fill in Guilds Lake and form a flat industrial area. Although viewed at first with skepticism and ridicule, the development was hailed at its completion as an engineering marvel.
There was no neighborhood quite like Hillside anywhere in the city, and many prominent families were eager to establish a new, exclusive neighborhood away from Nob Hill. The character of Nob Hill was changing due to an influx of middle and working-class home seekers, and Hillside developed in much the same ways as the enclaves of Portland Heights, Willamette Heights, and what would soon become Westover Terrace.
Until 1914-15 this was the edge of town, and high up on this hill, just behind the Tarpley House, was St. Vincent's Hospital. This hospital was started by the Sisters of Providence who came to the Vancouver area in 1856 and migrated to Portland with their first building completed in 1875. They stayed in this neighborhood until their facilities were outgrown in the 1970s, at which time they constructed a much larger hospital on a site west of downtown and the original hospital was demolished.
The Tarpley House: One House, Two Influences
The Tudor Revival style of architecture came to the United States from England in the late nineteenth century through architectural magazines, and the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. The American Tudor Revival style, in its many variations, is a far cry from the residential style that originated during the Tudor period of England’s history in the early sixteenth century. Those houses featured structural half-timbering, where post-and-beam frames were exposed, interstices filled with a rubble mix of stone or brick, then whitewashed or stuccoed. Roofs were authentically thatched, second floors cantilevered out over narrow streets, and windows were banked in series to bring in as much light as possible. These late medieval features became the hallmarks of a later stylistic revival showing up in the United States on small cottages and grand manors in too many variants to count. In the late nineteenth century, Tudor Revival houses in America tended to be large, architect-designed houses with a mixture of eclectic features based on Tudor precedent, including steeply pitched roofs, front gables, ornamental half-timbering, and stucco or masonry walls. Interiors were paneled in dark woods and coffered ceilings. Rooms were decorated with enormous fireplaces, beamed ceilings, and heraldic crests in the window glass. These early houses copied English models closely, following trends that were popular in England from 1558 to 1625. Commonly known as the “Jacobethan” style, this revival variation temporally mirrored the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras in English history.
After the turn of the twentieth century, residential neighborhoods in the United States began to see more modest houses in the Tudor Revival style with freely mixed, English-inspired features, such as faux thatched roofs, ornamental half-timbering, steep roofs, front gables, decorative bargeboards, and projecting window bays. Instead of masonry, walls and siding were wood, sometimes with stucco or masonry veneer, many with a mix of both. The Tudor Revival style remained relatively uncommon during the first fifteen years of the twentieth century, becoming immensely fashionable in the United States after World War I in a burst of popularity that continued through the 1930s.
The Tarpley House represents the transitional years of the Tudor Revival style in America, between the stately Jacobethan mansions derived from English models, to the eclectic middle-class versions common in the years between the world wars. Still architect designed, but no longer strictly Jacobethan in character, houses like the Tarpley House brought the Tudor Revival style from the estates of the wealthy to the neighborhoods of the upper middle class. This transitional period is marked by architects’ mixing of other English-inspired stylistic features with Tudor elements, particularly the English Arts and Crafts and the American Craftsman styles. This stylistic mixture was not limited to exterior decorative features. Architects designed open-plan, Arts and Crafts interiors for these early twentieth century transitional Tudors, such as represented in the Tarpley House, instead of the dark, medieval-style interiors of the earlier American versions. In Portland, builders used wood instead of masonry, and houses that were Tudor on the outside featured brightly-lit interiors with Craftsman style built-ins, open plans, and painted and natural wood. The Tarpley House is in keeping with this early, stylistic blending as evident through its distinctively Tudor exterior, including its half-timbering and cantilevered second story, and its open and bright Arts and Crafts interior.
The Arts and Crafts style was a natural partner for the Tudor style. Both English in precedent, they shared character-defining features where texture, materials, and craftsmanship were paramount. The Arts and Crafts movement originated in England around 1850, in response to the inferior quality of products being produced by factories that placed no value on its workers. John Ruskin was one of the first promoting the ideas of simple design and honest workmanship. The movement gained momentum when socialist designer William Morris (1834-1896) began writing and lecturing about the need for a rebirth of the arts. Rejecting classically inspired art and architecture, Morris looked to the medieval period, vernacular tradition, and nature for creative inspiration. While Morris was not an architect, he influenced many creative architects, including Philip Webb (1857-1915), C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941), and Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), all of whom adapted their designs to fit a simpler, more organic style.
Rather than revive past styles, Arts and Crafts architects borrowed historic forms for contemporary usage. Natural materials were preferred. The overall effect was a warm and livable home as is present in the Tarpley House. Adherents of the Arts and Crafts ethos rejected overly ornate Victorian design and the mass production of low quality goods. This progressive philosophy strongly influenced architecture, interior design, furniture design, and design in general at the beginning of the twentieth century. Rather than relying on “gingerbreading” to enhance a design, craftspeople were encouraged to evoke the “honest” beauty of natural materials, the beauty of natural surroundings, and the beauty of subtle lines. This theory is exhibited in the Tarpley House, with its use of wood flooring, paneling, built-ins, and clean lines throughout the house. The movement was equally concerned with spiritual connectivity with one’s surroundings, both natural and manmade.
Arts and Crafts style houses incorporated similar interior features, such as open floor plans, beamed ceilings, an abundance of woodwork and windows, built-in bookcases or cabinetry, and, of course, a fireplace, all of which are present in the Tarpley House. In the Arts and Crafts style, the fireplace was a prominent feature and special attention was paid to the location and construction of the hearth. Like the rest of the house, the fireplace was to be utilitarian, but in more affluent homes the fireplace was sometimes embellished with decorative tiles and mantles.
Completed in 1907, the Tarpley House displays excellent craftsmanship and detail, is well-preserved, and is locally significant for its Tudor Revival style architecture with elements of the Arts and Crafts style. The Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts styles became increasingly popular following the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition, and variations can be seen throughout Portland’s east and west-side neighborhoods. The Tarpley House is one of the earliest examples of this blending of two English-inspired styles in Portland. Portland architects were eager to showcase their skills in the design of new homes located in the vicinity of the Lewis and Clark Exposition. A new generation of progressive architects commenced the process of revolutionizing Portland’s largely Victorian landscape. These architects included forward-thinking men like Emil Schacht, Joseph Jacobberger, and Ellis Lawrence. The Tudor Revival style in Portland frequently exhibited the Arts and Crafts style, like the Tarpley House, and later, Craftsman stylistic influences. The earliest houses in the Tudor style adhered to Arts and Crafts floor plans, while exhibiting facade decoration in the Tudor style. The Tarpley House is an excellent early example of this stylistic blending, with its symmetrical design (characteristic of early Tudor Revivals), ornamental half-timbering in the gables, cantilevered second story, large exterior chimneys, projecting window bays at the first story, grouped multi-light casement windows with transoms, steep gables with exposed rafter tails, and wood shingle and stucco cladding. The interior of the Tarpley House features box beam ceilings, built-ins including benches, bookcases, and cabinets, paneled pocket doors, focal point fireplaces, and decorative mouldings and wainscot characteristic of the Arts and Crafts style.
Comparative Analysis
1. Frank Silas Doernbecker House (1903)
Located at 2323 NE Tillamook Street, the Frank Silas Doernbecker House combines a strong Tudor influence with some elements of Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts styles. The central feature of the house is the bellcast hip roof with gabled wall dormers and half-timbering over wood shingles below. The house is symmetrical, like the Tarpley House, denoting its early association with the Tudor Revival style. The Doernbecker House also has massive, prominently placed brick chimneys, a porte cochere, and a very detailed buried mahogany paneled interior. The Tarpley House has a much simpler interior with built-in benches and bookcases, and modest wood paneling. The Tarpley House shows a more innovative mixing of Tudor and Arts and Crafts styles.
2. Cardwell-Holman House (1905)
Located at 827 NW 25th Avenue, this Tudor house is asymmetrically designed, as opposed to the Tarpley House, whose symmetrical design owes to its association with the early Tudor Revival style. Also unlike the Tarpley House, which exhibits half-timbering with stucco infill on the upper half, and wood shingles on the bottom half of the building, the Cardwell-Holman House is sheathed in beveled clapboard siding and shingles, with half-timbering and stucco infill only present in the front, side, and rear gables. Decorative bargeboards are also present on the house in contrast to the more simplified, stripped-down bargeboards of the Tarpley House. The Cardwell-Holman House also exhibits a more asymmetrical floor plan than the Tarpley House.
3. Josef Jacobberger House (1906)
Located at 1502 SW Upper Hall Street, this Tudor house has a fundamentally asymmetrical design. It features a multi-gable roof with board decoration and a rectangular bay window at the second story. The facade has shingles extending down over the piers at the porches. Designed by prominent architect Josef Jacobberger, it also features six-over-one, double-hung windows.
4. L.B. Menefee House (1908)
The L.B. Menefee House, located at 1634 SW Myrtle Street in the Portland Heights neighborhood, was built one year after the Tarpley House and designed by prominent local architect William C. Knighton, who was known for his Craftsman-style architecture. In this house, he combines Tudor and Craftsman styles. There is a suggestion of half-timbering on the front gable, and there are two prominently placed massive chimneys on the sides. This house also exhibits exposed rafters, like the Tarpley House, and is a good example of the melding of Tudor and Arts and Crafts features. The decisions to have exposed eaves and rafters may have been influenced by the design of the Tarpley House.
5. Henry B. Miller House (1911)
The Henry B. Miller House combines some Arts and Crafts influences in a traditional Tudor design. In the early twentieth century, Arts and Crafts features were often freely mixed with the Tudor style as is evident in this house, designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, and manifested by the combination of horizontal siding on the second floor with Tudor half-timbering on the third floor, and stucco on the first. There are prominent brick chimneys, and a Tudor arch entry. The Arts and Crafts influences, while present, are less prominent than in the transitional Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts Tarpley House.
David C. Lewis, attributed architect
David C. Lewis was born in Portland in 1867, the son of Cicero Lewis and grandson of Captain John Couch.
He graduated from Princeton University in 1890, and returned to Portland to work for a year or two in the office of Whidden and Lewis (Ion Lewis, one of the founders of that firm, was not a relative), before returning to do graduate work in architecture at Columbia University followed by a year of study in Paris.
Lewis's first known project was the Chambers Building at SW 2nd and Alder (now demolished). He designed a Queen Anne house for his brother, L. Allen Lewis at SW King Street and Park Place in 1901. In 1904, he designed Trinity Episcopal Church at NW 18th and Everett, and also the European Exhibits Building at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. From 1905-1909 he designed six large office buildings in downtown Portland including the Couch Building in 1906, and an eight-story building on SW 4th between Stark and Washington that still stands. In 1906, he also designed and built a home for his family at 1911 NW 21st in the Dutch Country Manor style. Another house he designed was the Linthicum House, located at NW 19th and Flanders (now demolished). The symmetrically designed Linthicum House exhibits wood shingles on the bottom half of the exterior and half-timbering with stucco infill on the upper half, very similar in style to the Tarpley House. Also like the Tarpley House, the Linthicum House has simple decorative half-timbering in the gables and upper half of the house, and exposed rafter tails. In 1911, Lewis designed the Tudor Revival style Bishopcroft for Rev. Charles Scadding. Due to ill health, Lewis did not do much work after 1911. In approximately 1916 he moved to Belmont, California, and died there in 1918 at the age of 50.
Fred G. Oppenlander, builder
Living from 1867-1938, the building contractor for the Tarpley House was Fred G. Oppenlander, who had a long history of construction in Portland. Although not much is known about his family and personal life, a record of his building accomplishments does survive. In addition to the Tarpley House, Oppenlander’s building contracts included:
•1901, Ladd Estate, NW 22nd and 23rd and Flanders, alterations and additions, $2,000
•1906, L.J. Shell, NW Flanders and 20th, alterations, architect was Josef Jacobberger, $2,600
•1907, C.F. Swigert, 32nd and Willamette Heights , $3,000
•1908, Philip Buckner, East 55th and Hawthorne, architects were Whidden and Lewis, $20,000
•1908, Louis Burke, NW head of Lovejoy, architect was William Knighton, $10,000
•1908, C.E. Curry, NW Kearney and 24th, architect was William Knighton, $9,000
•1909, Robert S. Howard, Madison/Adrmore and Douglas, architects were Lazarus, Whitehouse, and Foulihoux, $13,000
Property Ownership History
Louis Tarpley continued his work with the O'Day law firm, and in 1920 was listed in the Blue Book of Oregon Cities as one of the best known and successful lawyers in Portland, “a man of splendid intellectual vision.” Fortunes changed for the Tarpley family in the mid 1920s, however. In 1925, the family moved to 956 Westover and the subject property was foreclosed. Concurrently, Caroline Kamm sued Louis Tarpley, and in 1926, Kamm received the property from the Multnomah County Sheriff for $10,000. In 1927, the Multnomah Bar Association disbarred Louis for obtaining money from clients by fraud, failing to remit to clients, concerting money of clients, and misconduct. It is thought the Tarpleys moved to the Coos Bay, Oregon area at this time. Bessie Tarpley's obituary appeared in the Salem Statesman in 1936.
H. W. and Katie Sharp, owners of a milling and machinery company, purchased the house from Kamm in 1928 for $15,000, and lived there until 1932. Other owners included Harry Seawall, who lived in the Tarpley House in 1932, and the Prudential Insurance Company, who occupied the property from 1933-1948. Later owners included Leon and Murial Sanders, 1948-1954, and Dewey and Clara Gaven, who lived on the property from 1954-1966. Barbee Lyon has owned the house since the 1970s, with Joan Kruse later joining him in ownership.
Conclusion
The Louis and Bessie Tarpley House, located at 2520 NW Westover Road, is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C as a fine and early example of the Tudor Revival style with Arts and Crafts elements. The Tarpley House differs from many Tudor Revival houses in that it is an early, understated example of the Tudor Revival style with interior influences from the Arts and Crafts style. Its clean lines, simplicity, and austere decoration set it apart as one interpretation of the large Tudor Revival family of representations. The Tarpley House also exhibits the fusion of two English-inspired styles, Tudor Revival and Arts and Crafts, which became increasingly popular in Portland after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. It is therefore an excellent early example of this stylistic blending. |
