Heceta House: A History and Architectural Survey

An architectural style known as Queen Anne inspired architects throughout the country between 1890 and 1900. The Oregon coast was not immune to the popular style, both the Umpqua and Heceta Head lighthouse keepers' residences embodied modest versions of the Queen Anne design. (The same plans were used for both the Umpqua and Heceta dwellings.)

Queen Anne was a misnomer, for the style had nothing to do with the British monarch. It is difficult to quickly define, for Queen Anne is a combination of many styles—Gothic, Classic, French, English, Chinese and Egyptian.¹ Because this mix resulted in buildings with a Victorian flavor, examples of the Queen Anne Style often are lumped under the heading, "Victorian architecture."

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¹Wallace Kay Huntington, "Victorian Architecture," in Space, Style, and Structure: Building in Northwest America, ed. by Thomas Vaughan and Virginia Guest Ferriday (Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1974), p. 293.

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History professor Stephen Beckham describes the Queen Anne rage this way:

In the 1890's architecture went slightly beserk in the region [the Pacific Northwest]. Balance, proportion, and symmetry were out of style. The popular taste demanded ostentation and celebration. In this decade, the Queen Anne Style, a mishmash of virtually every possible building feature, ruled supreme. The region's abundant wood and the ever-present lathe and jigsaw enabled carpenters to range widely, in fact to build as far as the owner's financial resources might permit.²

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²Stephen Dow Beckham, Identifying and Assessing Historical Cultural Resources in the Pacific Northwest (United States Forest Service, 1978), p. 10.

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At first glance, Heceta House looks simpler and more symmetrical than other houses of the period. For example, the shingled roof forms a simple cross. It is much less extravagant than roofs of typical Queen Anne Style, which featured towers, spires, balconies, dormers and tall chimneys to "complicate" the roof line. The home in the photograph below typifies the more elaborate Queen Anne Style.

Nevertheless, a number of important Queen Anne characteristics are present at Heceta House. Briefly, these are: contrasting horizontal layers, or elements; variety of textures and materials; irregular window treatment; extensive ornamentation; and contrasting colors.

Three different sidings were selected for the three floors of the house, creating distinct horizontal "layers." Ship-lap siding was used on the first floor; plain shingles on the second; and imbricated, or decorative, shingles on the attic floor.

Note the three different sidings creating an impression of separate, horizontal "layers."

These horizontal elements are further emphasized by the band of molding placed between the first and second floors and by the bellcast quality of the second floor shingles above the band. The second floor is separated from the attic by a slight projection with diminutive brackets.

This use of different sidings also is in keeping with another Queen Anne hallmark: richness of texture and variety of materials.

Originally, most windows in the house were four-over-four, double hung sash. There were a few notable exceptions a decorative window composed of a clear pane surrounded by smaller panes of colored glass was located at each extension of the front porch;³ crescent, or lunette, windows provided lighting for the storage areas beneath the sloping roof; and, in the east and west gable ends of the attic, pairs of eight-pane, casement windows were installed.

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³Originally, there were short extensions of the front porch on both the east and west sides of the house.

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This use of a variety of window types is termed irregular window treatment, and is typical of Queen Anne structures.

The larger, side windows originally had exterior, louvered shutters. There may have been interior shutters also, as brackets which could have supported them remain near some of the windows.

Porches were all but obligatory for Victorian homes, and the Heceta dwelling was no exception. The front porch was accentuated by decorative millwork⁴ which has since been removed.

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⁴The term millwork was used to refer to any mass-produced products manufactured at wood-planing mills.

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The porch railing featured a baluster piece composed of a series of vertical, staggered rectangles. A band of millwork complementary to the baluster piece was located under the eaves of the porch roof. A series of wooden spindles and spools made up this decoration.

Close-up of baluster piece illustrating grooved hand rail and horizontal pieces. Spindle-spool ornament is visible in the background.

The millwork patterns used at Heceta apparently were popular, for they are pictured in photographs of other Oregon houses.⁵ This duplication was not unusual, as such mass-produced items could be ordered from catalogs or patternbooks. These pattern books made it possible for anyone to construct a mail order home, Victorian style.

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⁵One such photograph appears on page 297 of Space, Style, and Structure.

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Decorative touches did not end with the front porch. Panels featuring recessed sunbursts were added below the apex of the gabled roof on the east, west and south walls. Originally, a small band of the spindle-spool pattern used on the porch was repeated below the sunburst panel on the front of the house.

At one time, decorative panels also were located above each oriel window of the dormer. These were impressed with a pattern of scroll work, rather than the sunburst design.

Sunburst panel with attached spindle-spool decoration is illustrated above. Scroll work panels above oriel windows also are visible.

The exuberant aspect of the house was further dramatized by the use of contrasting colors for the exterior.

According to early residents, the exterior, including window trim and doors, was white, the roof red, and the floor boards of the porch battle-ship gray.⁶ Bright blue exterior shutters provided a striking contrast to the white and red. The designer of the house no doubt deemed the red, white and blue color scheme appropriate for a government building.

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⁶Thelma Hansen Coma and Mildred Hansen Wells, private interview held at Heceta Head, Oregon, October, 1979.

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After the shutters were removed, the contrasting element was preserved by a new paint scheme. Exterior moldings; the porch hand rails and posts (but not the millwork); window trim (but not the sashes); and the sun portion of the sunburst panels were painted a contrasting shade. It is difficult to determine their color from photos, but it does not appear to be as dark as the present green trim. It may have been a lighter green, blue, or even gray, which were all typical Queen Anne colors.

The contrasting shade of the window trim, sun panel, moldings, porch posts and porch railings are illustrated in this photograph.

Two other features of the house carry out the Queen Anne design—the slightly corbelled, or projecting caps of the chimneys, and the high water table (the exterior ledge above the basement).

Structurally, the house is heavier and sturdier than many dwellings of the late 1800's and, certainly, is better constructed than most contemporary buildings. For example, an examination of the attic reveals two-by-six inch rafters and diagonal sheathing. The ballon frame system, which uses single studs that extend the full height of the frame, was used for some walls, and crossbridging was placed between floor joists. In short, the house was built to withstand a good many Oregon winters.