Winslow Boutique (Pearce Building; 305 Court St NE) Salem, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places Data
The Winslow Boutique (Pearce Building; 305 Court St NE) has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Salem Downtown State Street-Commercial 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shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.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
- 100002368
- Date Listed
- September 28, 2001
- Name
- Salem Downtown State Street-Commercial Street Historic District
- Other Names
- Salem Downtown Historic District
- Address
- Roughly bounded by Ferry, High, Chemeketa, and Fronts Sts.
- City/Town
- Salem
- County
- Marion
- State
- Oregon
- Category
- district
- Level of Sig.
- local
- Areas of Sig.
- ARCHITECTURE; COMMERCE; SOCIAL HISTORY; ENTERTAINMENT/RECREATION
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 Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Classification: Historic Contributing Historic Name: Pearce Building Current Name(s): Beauty Salon; Roz John; Green Thumb Year of Construction: 1940 Legal Description: 073W22DC08000, Salem Addition, front of Lot 5, Block 32 Owner(s): Pioneer Trust Company
This two-story Modernistic style reinforced concrete building is on the comer of Court and Liberty streets. The corner of the building forms a curve, sweeping from the south-facing facade around to the west-facing facade. A second-floor window bay repeats this corner curve.
This sweeping curvature is the primary focal point of the building. The second-floor facades are flat, rising straight up to the roof edge without a cornice. The window bays are recessed into the primary plane of the facade. These seven second-story window bays are rectangular, recessed areas containing multi-light steel sash windows. The ground floor of both facades has display windows with stucco "bulkheads." The building has retained its original fabric and design and contributes to the historic qualities of the downtown district.
Statement of Significance
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 Pearce Building, built in 1940, is a contributing resource in the district because of its association with the commercial development of downtown Salem on the eve of the United States' entrance into World War II. The building is also associated with sisters Helen and Dorothy Pearce, who owned this site and had the present Modernistic style building constructed. Helen and Dorothy Pearce acquired the property in 1918 from Wade & Pearce Company.
Robert M. Wade, overland immigrant to Oregon in 1850, founded R. M. Wade & Company in Salem in 1865. George A. Pearce, Helen's and Dorothy's father, began clerking in the Wade store in 1871; he became president and treasurer of the firm when it was incorporated in 1885. Lot Pearce, his younger brother, served as the company bookkeeper for many years. "Wade's," as it was familiarly known, sold agricultural and household equipment from their two-story brick structure (constructed in 1869) at the corner of Commercial and Court streets. The company eventually specialized in farm equipment, carrying all the latest iron tools and equipment manufactured in the 1870s and 1880s and, eventually, tractors. The company also pioneered the use of sprinkler irrigation equipment (known as "Wade Rain").
By the early 1890s, when R.M. Wade established the company headquarters in Portland, Wade's distributed its goods throughout the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Northwest. In 1902 the Salem branch of the business became "Wade-Pearce's Company." From 1915 to 1929, R.M. Wade's son-in-law, Edward Newbegin, presided over the company, followed by his son, Wade Newbegin.
Both Dorothy and Helen Pearce were born in the family home at 267 North Winter Street in Salem, Oregon. Both sisters graduated from Willamette University in the early 1900s. Dorothy, a musician, then attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and also studied music in New York. For many years, Dorothy Pearce maintained a music studio in Salem, taught music, and belonged to several local and national music clubs and associations. Prior to her death in 1966, she served as an officer in the Salem district of the Oregon Music Teachers Association."
Her sister Helen Pearce, a student of English, became the first woman graduate of Willamette University (in 1915) to receive her Ph.D. (in 1930 from the University of California, Berkeley, after receiving her master's degree from Radcliffe College in 1926).
Helen Pearce taught English at Willamette University from 1920 to 1955. She was a scholar on the subject of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Later in her career, she chaired the English Department at Willamette University. She also became an authority on local Salem and Oregon history; she co-edited the first ten volumes of Marion County History.
Helen Pearce distinguished herself as the first Oregon woman to preside over Zonta International (from 1938-1940), and was a charter member of the Salem branch of the American Association of University Women. Helen Pearce passed away in 1978. The Pearce family estate retained ownership of the Pearce Building property into the late 1900s.
