Lizzie and John Denison House (1705 Court St NE) Salem, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places Data
The Lizzie and John Denison House (1705 Court St NE) has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Court Street--Chemeketa Street Historic District. The following information has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 87001373
- Date Listed
- August 26, 1987
- Name
- Court Street--Chemeketa Street Historic District
- Address
- An irregularly shaped area of appr. 38.57 acres bounded by the closures of Court Street & Chemeketa St. on the west, Mill Creek on the north & east, and on the south by the rear lot lines of properties on the south side of Court St.
- City/Town
- Salem
- County
- Marion
- State
- Oregon
- Category
- district
- Level of Sig.
- local
- Areas of Sig.
- EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT; POLITICS/GOVERNMENT; ARCHITECTURE
Description
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 Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Assessor's Map 26AC 7-3W
Tax Lot 84400-250
Owner: Donald Duncan, 1705 Court Street, NE, Salem, OR 97301
Primary Contributing
This nicely proportioned Craftsman Bungalow has been modified several times over the years but has managed to retain much of its original character. It is side-gabled with a large chimney on the west side. The house has a large front-facing dormer with a set of two double-hung sash windows in it. The porch, recessed beneath the main roof, originally was supported by three sets of free-standing Craftsman piers, but the east half of the porch has been filled in with windows and siding. In 1981, an apartment addition was built on the back (north) side of the house, and the apartment has a separate entry on the east side. Situated on the northeast corner of Court and 17th Streets, this house has a prominent central location in the District.
History
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 lot it stands on was purchased by the Denisons in 1910, and they are listed as living at this address by 1911. John Denison was a farmer, and early photographs show that there was once a barn-like structure at the rear of the lot. The Denisons sold to Arthur and Hattie Page in 1915. They had been married in 1888 and came to Salem in 1914. He was a farmer, she an active member of the Bungalow Christian Church (cf. commentary on #37), established in 1913 on a site across 17th Street. In about 1925, the Pages built the small bungalow now numbered 246 17th (#91) and moved there. In 1926, they rented their large house to Sceva and Lillian Laugh1in, who bought it in 1930.
Sceva Bright Laughlin was from 1923 until 1947 a faculty member at Willamette University, working there as professor of economics, sociology, and anthropology. He had been born in Iowa in 1881, educated at Penn College in Iowa and at Harvard and University of Chicago, and awarded his PhD at University of Iowa. In Iowa, he had worked as principal of a high school and as superintendent of schools in several small towns. A Quaker, he also taught at the Friends' Boys School in Ram Allah, Palestine. In 1923, he came to Willamette from Park College in Parkville, Mo. While at Willamette, Prof. Laughlin wrote three books. He served as a member of the Salem City Council and was a member of the Grange and of the Farmers Union. He died in 1947 (obituary, Oregon Statesman, Aug. 19, 1947). His widow, Lillian Laughlin, lived on in the house until 1960, when it was sold to the current owners.
