George Steinbach Cabin Aurora, Oregon

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

The George Steinbach Cabin is a hewn log structure. It was a temporary home built until a more substantial home could be afforded. In form and plan, the log structure is similar to many which, at one time, stood throughout western Oregon. Although it was built in 1876 during the Colony period, it is difficult to ascribe to it any features specifically representative of the Germanic background of its owners. However, it is one of three surviving log structures from the Aurora Colony which provide further opportunity for architectural research.

The cabin, a rectangle 29 feet by 26 feet, is a one and a half- story hewn log structure with one-story lean-tos attached to its south and west sides. Although the lean-tos look additive and are of frame construction, in two places the interior frame members are logs which extend from the main log structure itself, indicating that the whole was constructed at one time. The log portion of the building is about 15 feet by 18 feet, and the lean-tos project another 11 feet.

The walls are constructed of horizontally laid logs, hewn flat inside and out. Their diameters are about eight to ten inches, which is unusually small in section for log construction. The corner notching is a full dovetail, but the log overlaps are only one or two inches, creating unusually large chinking spaces between logs, as much as six to eight inches. On the east wall, the ends of the rafters which support the second floor can be seen. The log walls extend to the eaves, and above them in the gable ends horizontal weatherboarding covers over the stud walls. The north and west walls of the lean-tos are also covered with horizontal weatherboarding. All wood surfaces are, at present, unpainted and natural in finish.

The main roof pitch is about 40 degrees. From its eave line spring the lean-to roofs at a pitch of about 30 degrees. The roofs are covered with shingles and the ridge has a shingled cap. The eaves are open with a small plain board fascia.A brick chimney about 15 inches by 30 inches pierces the ridge at the south end of the log portion of the building.

The front door is constructed of plain, flush face, vertical boards detailed with cross battens behind. The two window openings on the eastern front elevation and the two on the north are horizontally placed rectangles, each composed of a pair of six lights sash, placed side by side. In the second floor gable end a single six-light sash is also placed on edge with its three panes making the height of the opening and the two panes the width. The non-traditional treatment of openings, as well as the less expert and lighter character of the log construction supports the late 1876 date, assigned to it by tradition.

The building, which faces east, is located in the yard behind the Museum at the southwest corner of the Aurora Colony Historical Society property. To the east of the cabin, there is an open equipment shed. It is used to house wagons and agricultural machines and was constructed in the 1960s. It is sited along the southern property line and is entirely open on its northern side, which faces the lawn behind the museum. It is a simple utilitarian structure of vertical boarding on an exposed frame, 75 feet long and 25 feet deep.

The west side of the cabin siding was redone in the 1990s.