Chappell-Swedenburg House - Ashland, OR - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The following verbiage is taken from the National Register of Historic Places to describe the significance of this former residence:

The commodious, two and a half story frame house at 990 Siskiyou Boulevard in Ashland completed for retired New York stockbroker Charles C. Chappel in 1905 is the outstanding example of Colonial Revival architecture in southern Oregon. It was designed by Frank C. Clark shortly after the architect's arrival in the Rogue River Valley in 1902. The house displays a high quality of craftsmanship and detail throughout, including especially its columns and pilasters of the Greek Ionic order used in the portico, the upper story facade, and in the entry stairhall. Its hipped roof with deck balustrade, classical cornice, and central, pedimented section projecting from the facade were derived from archetypes of the Federal Period. However, with it a symmetry of plan, its polygonal window bay, flare-top chimneys, Palladian window, and wrap-around veranda, the house embodies, in addition to the distinguishing characteristics of the Colonial Revival Style, stylistic features shared in common with the Queen Style. In this respect, the house reflects the influence of McKim, Mead and White, foremost proponents of a "free classic" phase of the Queen Anne which evolved as the Colonial Revival. By his own account, Clark spent a brief period of four months in the New York office of McKim, Mead and White while attending Cooper Union Night School of Engineering in 1896. Clark moved to California the following year when his health broke. The Chappel-Swedenburg House was the scene of fashionable social occasions in its early years. Chappel's heirs occupied it until 1919, at which time it was acquired by Dr. Francis Swedenburg, a driving force behind construction of Ashland Hospital. Shortly after the death of Swedenburg's widow in 1965, the property was annexed to the campus of Southern Oregon State College and was subsequently used as an art center and, more recently, an exhibit center for the Oregon Shakespearean Festival. An object of controversy over the past decade as college officials juggled maintenance and development priorities, the house recently had its long-range future secured when the College endorsed a policy of adapting it for use as administrative offices, public meeting rooms and a branch museum exhibit area for the Southern Oregon Historical Society. A fund drive for restoration has been launched by the Southern Oregon College Foundation in cooperation with the Alumni Association. With its generous front lawn shaded by deciduous and evergreen trees, the house is distinctive among the park-like array of landscaped residential properties extending from the business district southeasterly along Siskiyou Boulevard. Intact and unaltered, showing only signs of deferred maintenance, it possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling. The house is significant as an early and important work of leading Rogue Valley architect Frank C. Clark (1872-1957) and also for its association with Charles Chappel and Francis Swedenburg, noteworthy figures in Ashland business, professional and social life in the early years of the 20th century.

Street address: 990 Siskiyou Blvd Ashland, OR County / Borough / Parish: Jackson County Year listed: 1982 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Commerce, Health/Medicine, Architecture Periods of significance: 1919, 1905, 1904 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Education, Recreation And Culture, Social Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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