705 9th Street

ALGERNON AND CHARLOTTE DRESSER HOUSE -- Statement of Significance: Algernon S. Dresser was born in 1858 in Maine. He taught school in Maine, and then studied law, passing the Maine bar in 1885. He arrived in Oregon in 1886, and in Oregon City in 1888 where he went into law partnership with W.T.A. McBride. Later, he was a law partner with George Brownell for three years, and then practiced alone. In 1900, he served as a joint representative of Multnomah and Clackamas Counties in the Oregon State Legislature. His wife Charlotte was born in 1863 in California. They did not by their mid-thirties in 1900 have any children. Dresser sold the house in 1905 to R.W. Brown, who again sold the property in 1912 to F. Elmer Albright. Albright was part owner of Jack & Albright, grocers at 911 7th Street. Albright owned the house into the early 1940s, selling in 1941 to Lawrence Heinl, a draftsman. By 1944 Heinl had sold the house to Ralph Niles and his wife Lucille. Both Ralph and Lucille Niles worked for CWF & Son and lived in the house for only a few years even though they owned it through the remainder of the historic period. By 1953 the property was used as a 3-unit apartment building, and it continued as a 3- or 4-unit rental through the 1960s.

This two-story Vernacular residence has a complex plan that rests on a raised, poured concrete foundation. Its gable roof is covered with composition shingles and is pierced by an interior chimney. Windows are primarily wood 1/1 single and double-hung, paired on a continuous sill. The house is sided with composition shingles and features a wraparound porch, with square, capped posts on a closed rail. Decorative features include exposed rafter tails, brackets, the slightly projecting bay on the upper floor, and a narrow rake molding. Alterations include a c.1911 single story gable wing; a c.1915 porch extension; a partial porch infill, complete with windows; replacement siding; new railings on both the front and side entries; and the trellis work on the front porch.

This property is a locally designated historic site located within the McLoughlin Conservation District. Contact ocplanning@orcity.org for more information.