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Inventory Form

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:715 12th St historic name:Blowers House
Hood River, Hood River County current/other names:Gatchel House
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:3N 10E 36
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/contributing NR Status:
prim constr date:1903 second date: date indiv listed:
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Foursquare (Type) prim style comments:
secondary style: Colonial Revival sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: Foursquare (Box) architect:C. J. Crandall
builder:Cox & Wallen, Ludwig Struck
comments/notes:
This house was moved from across the street when the hospital wanted to use the parcel for a parking lot. Moved in the mid-1990s.
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Hood River Heights ILS Survey & Inventory Project
   Hood River Heights Neighborhood RLS Survey & Inventory Project 2008
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: N/A
ILS survey date: 08/01/2008
RLS survey date: 04/08/2008
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess 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)
Stylistic Summary The Blowers house is a good example of the Foursquare style with Colonial Revival elements. Completed 1903, the house displays characteristics of the style in its massing, hipped roof, central dormer, wide boxed eaves and friezeboard, decorative brackets, exterior brick chimney, double-hung wood sash windows, and a full-width front porch. Colonial Revival characteristics include the bay windows and Tuscan porch posts. The Foursquare style with Colonial Revival influences was a popular house style in Oregon from the early 1900s to the 1930s, and fairly common in the 2008 Hood River Heights Historic Survey. Setting Located on a lot that slopes down to the north, on the northeast corner of 12th and Prospect streets, the 1903 Foursquare house faces west on 12th Street in a mixed residential/commercial area. Residences are located to the north and east of the property, and a parking lot and the local hospital to the south and west of the property. Perimeter plantings and lawns surround the two-and-a-half story house except for a paved driveway off Prospect Avenue to the east. A mature fir tree stands in the lot’s northwest corner and hedges of arbor vitae line the east and south borders. Physical Description Designed by a C. J. Crandall of The Dalles, Oregon, and built by contractors Cox & Wallen, the Blowers House has an exterior brick chimney, hip roof with gable dormers, wide overhanging eaves supported by carved modillions, a wide friezeboard, and horizontal wood siding finished with large corner boards. The one-over-one, double-hung wood sash windows are finished with simple wood trim, and projecting sills and lintels. Double bay windows, Tuscan porch posts, and lower and upper front porches add to the stylistic details of the house. The front (west) façade has a gable attic dormer with paired windows above a second-story bay window and full width porch deck enclosed by a balustrade with short, boxed posts. Four Tuscan columns rest on paneled box bases that support the upper balcony. The lower porch is enclosed with a balustrade that flanks the wooden entrance steps. The front has symmetrical window openings and a central entrance that project slightly from the face of the house. The north façade has a two-story bay on the east end. The west (rear) façade has a gable attic dormer above the second story. The first story has an enclosed rear porch with three small windows. Paired windows on both side of the tall brick exterior chimney, and a two-story bay window are on the south side façade. A covered porch supported by three Tuscan porch posts is on the southeast corner of the house. A double door opens into the rear porch room. The house has a poured concrete foundation. Building Permits Interior remodel-rebuild porches- kitchen- floors (no change in footprint) 7/2002, retaining wall 7/1998, and moved the house in 11/1995. The house was altered somewhat when the house was moved. These alterations include: the original ashlar rock foundation was replaced by a poured concrete foundation; removal of the original Corinthian style posts on ashlar rock support piers; and the balustrade railing was replaced by a higher railing (to meet current building codes). The east façade’s upper sun porch (at the northeast corner) windows were removed and covered with siding, and the corbelling was removed from the south side chimney. The side porch ashlar rock post piers were replaced with concrete.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
Building History Amby and Ellen Blowers completed their new house on 12th Street in 1903. Architect C. J. Crandall from The Dalles designed the house for the prominent Hood River couple. A summer 1903 article in the “Hood River News” states, “A.S. Blowers is building in a grove of large oaks in Blower’s Addition a splendid house, which he says when completed will cost him $5,000. The house is 34x42, two stories, with full-size basement and a large attic. The colonial style of architecture prevails. Facing Viola Avenue on the west is a large porch, the roof of which is supported by four massive rock pillars, extending five feet above the floor and capped with iron posts. The steps also are of stone. On the north side of the building is a large chipped-brick chimney ornamented with stone work. There are 14 rooms in the house, every one well-lighted and comfortably arranged. The front entrance opens into a spacious hall, with stairways and a grate or fire place…….The dwelling will be heated throughout by a furnace. The walls are all lined with building paper. The bath room is lined with adamant. Cox & Wallen have the contract for the carpenter work. The finishing work is being done by Ludwig Struck. Bert Heath built the chimneys and did the stone work. C. J. Crandall of The Dalles was the architect.” Occupant History A. S. and Ellen Blowers built the house in 1903. Amby Silas Blowers was born December 31, 1845 in East Otto, New York. Some of his relatives were early colonists and served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. At age 17, Amby enlisted in Company A of the 2nd Reg. Minnesota Vol. Calvary and fought in the Civil War, discharged in 1866. On April 18, 1866, Amby married Ellen L. Damon who was born in Bennington, Vermont, on November 19, 1847. During the next two decades, Amby worked in milling and mercantile, serving as County Commissioner for Ottertail County and as Mayor of New York Mills, Minnesota. Amby and Ellen Blowers settled in Hood River on March 4, 1889. With his son Lawrence N., Amby bought the mercantile business at the corner of First and Oak streets from E. L. Smith. County records indicate that by 1892 Amby owned at least 87 parcels of land in the Hood River area. He platted two residential areas in the city: Blowers First (1899) and Blowers Second Additions (1906). Amby was active in public affairs. He served on the City Council, County Commission, and was mayor of Hood River in 1904, and helped develop the west valley irrigation ditch, built Hood River’s first brick building at the southeast corner of Second and Oak streets, and was a member of the R.A.M., G.A.R. and the Free Masons. Amby and Ellen had nine children, eight survived to adulthood. Ellen died April 22, 1908. Amby then moved to Portland where he died four years later. The house was sold to the Blount family in 1908. Telford Blount owned the house until 1926 when it was sold to an investment company, who transferred the property the same year to John Smithson. The Smithsons owned the house until 1946 when the Pattons purchased the property. The Pattons sold the house to the Gatchels who were long-time owners. The Gatchel family owned the property until 1991 when it was sold to Hood River County Memorial Hospital. The hospital gave away the house, wanting the land for an expansion project. In 1995, the house was moved across the street to a vacant lot and restored. Chain of Title 1903: Owner of record: A. S. Blowers 1908: Purchased by Telford Blount etal, deed recorded 7/10/1908 1926: Purchased by Portland Investment Company, deed recorded 4/8/1926 1926: Purchased by John E. Smithson, deed recorded 4/28/1926 1946: Purchased by Heber and Zelpha Patton, deed recorded 5/4/1946 1948: Purchased by Lois Hand Gatchel, deed recorded 3/19/1948 1991: Owner of record: John F. and Ethel Gatchel 1991: Purchased by Hood River Memorial Hospital, deed recorded 5/17/1991 2002: Owner of record: American General Finance, Inc. 2002: Purchased by Craig and Tracy Jones, deed recorded 3/8/2002, In Assessor File 2004: Purchased by Ted W. and Karen Ostre, deed recorded 8/6/2004, In Assessor File 2008: Sold to a new owner at time of this report.
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:Hood River County Library University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:Hood River County Historical Museum
Bibliography:
Ancestry.com. Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records. 2008. www.ancestry.com. Blythe, S. F., and Bradley, E. R. “A Pen Picture of Hood River and Hood River Valley.” County of Hood River,” 1900. City of Hood River Building Permit File, Building Department, 8/2008. Clark, Rosalind. Architecture Oregon Style: Architecture from 1840 to the 1950s. Portland: Professional Book Center Inc., 1983 “Directory Hood River, Odell, and Parkdale Exchanges.” Oregon-Washington Telephone Company, January, 1924. Donovan, Sally. “Historic Context Statement: City of Hood River, Oregon.” City of Hood River, OR. 1991. Hood River County Assessor’s Office. Property files and City Ownership Tax Book, 1913–1914. Hood River County Historical Society. History of Hood River County, Oregon: 1852–1982, Volume 1. Hood River: Hood River County Historical Society, 1982. Hood River County Historical Society. History of Hood River County, Oregon: 1852–1987, Volume 2. Hood River: Hood River County Historical Society, 1987. Hood River News. Summer 1903. Blowers' House Construction article. Hood River County, OR. Hood River County Historical Museum. Family biographical files. “Hood River Directory.” Portland: R. L. Polk & Co., 1910, 1917, 1920, and 1925. McMurray, William. “Hood River, Oregon.” Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, pamphlet, ca. 1909. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. City of Hood River, 1905, 1908, 1916, 1928, and 1942. “Telephone Directory for Hood River, Oregon.” Pacific States Telegraph and Telephone Company, September, 1905. United Stated Federal Census. Census reports for 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930. Western Cities Illustrated. Hood River County, Oregon, Hood River, Odell, Parkdale, Cascade Locks, Mt. Hood, Bridge of the Gods, Columbia Gorge. Promotional pamphlet. Western Cities Illustrated, 1955.