From the
Coquille Chamber of Commerce:
"The John Paulson House is significant as an excellent example of a well-preserved Queen Anne style. This home is one of the two “high style” Queen Anne residences in Coquille, the other being the Sherwood/Bonney House at 257 E. Main.
Characteristics of the Queen Anne style include asymmetrical plans, multiple gables and other interesting roof forms, corner towers, wrap-around porches, and an array of decorative elements associated with the late Victorian era.
The interior of the Paulson House boasts a staircase crafted entirely of myrtlewood.
John Paulson was a lumberman. His daughter Maxine and her husband Guy Mauney lived in the house for many years after his death."
From the National Register of Historic Places nomination form:
"The most distinctive features of the house are its rounded bay, which is surmounted by a conical-roofed tower with knob and spire finial, and wrap-around veranda at the northwest corner. The veranda, with its bowed corner section, Doric columns, and railing and upper
deck balustrade of turned balusters, shows the influence of the Colonial Revival, which was fashionable in Oregon by the turn of the century. The body of the house is clad with shiplap siding, while gable ends and corner tower are clad with patterned shingles."
The nomination form also has this further biographical sketch of the Paulsons:
"John E. Paulson was born October 29, 1875, in Clam FaAlls, Wisconsin. He first came to the West Coast in the 1890s and established himself in the lumber business. He returned to Wisconsin and married Christina Lund at Superior on December 16, 1903. Christina, born October 4, 1878, at Ringebu, Gudbrandsdal, Norway, had emigrated to Beaver Creek, Wisconsin in 1881.
The newly wed pair arrived in Coquille in 1904. Construction of their house is understood to have commenced in 1905 and was completed in 1906. The south coast of Oregon was developing as a center of the lumber'industry. Paulson prudently invested in timber and became part owner and secretary-treasurer of the Coquille Mill and Merchandise Company, originally incorporated as t#e^Lyoni Lumber Mill in 1884. Paulson's position gave hitn access to the highest grades of ilutojjer, some of which undoubtedly was used in the construction of his home. The Paul sons raised three children: Walter Francis, born 1906; Maxine (Mrs. Guy Mauney), born 1908; and Margaret Paulson Rockrise (1917-1957).
Although Paulson was primarily a lumberman throughout his career, he had diverse business interests and owned apartment houses on Collier Street in Coquille in the 1920s. Mrs. Paulson died on December 17, 1938, and Paulson left the house thereafter, having occupied it with his wife 32 years. In the early 1940s, Paulson deeded the subject property to his older daughter, Maxine, who was married to local lumberman Guy Mauney. The Mauneys, in turn, raised three daughters in the house, Karen, Marcia and Ann. John E. Paulson died in Portland, Oregon, November 17, 1961."