National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

NFS Form 10-900-A
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86)
Section Number: _7_ Page: 20 Geneva-Minnesota Historic District, Medford, OR
The Groceteria was hugely successful, eventually spawning a sort of local chain with multiple
Medford area locations. The congenial Bill Gates was the company's president and public
spokesman while Lydiard provided the business acumen that assured the company's prosperity. 51
Financially successful, Gates purchased the large open tract that runs to the rear of the subject
property, parallel to Minnesota Street. The parcel remained open, a favorite play area for
neighborhood children. Gates also acquired the small cottages to the south of family home, which
still survive just beyond the district boundary, and retained them for many years for rental income. 52
Gates was involved in a wide variety of other business interests and civic projects, serving as
Chairman of Jackson County's WWII bond drives, as a director of the Chamber of Commerce, and,
with his brother, an early advocate of improved roads in the southern Oregon area. 53 The Gates
family remained in the property until the early 1960s.
The William and Anna Gates House retains substantial integrity to its original design and
appearance. The home of one of Medford's most prominent businessmen for over forty years, the
structure gains significance through that connection. Although somewhat compromised by the late
1980s widening of Crater Lake Avenue, which reduced its setback from the curb, the William and
Anna Gates House continues to convey its historic setting and the associations which make it
significant.
ID No: 015
Historic Name: Chessmore-Andrews
Address: 35 Crater Lake Ave
Architect: Bennet, W. J. (Attrib)
Style: Stick/Queen Anne Cottage
Year Built: 1896
Legal: 37S-1W-30AB, Tax Lot 14200
Humphrey-Andrews Addn, Block 2, Lot(s) 1
Builder(s):
Secondary Contributing
The single oldest structure located within the Geneva-Minnesota District, the Chessmore-Andrews
House was reportedly built circa 1896, probably as part of the orchard developments that were then
prevalent on the east side of Bear Creek. The one-and one-half story hipped-roof volume is detailed
with the elaborate surface decoration typically associated with the Stick, or Eastlake variants of the
late Victorian period. The gable-end treatment, with diagonal board panels and a fine "sunrise"
design at the peak are similar to structures previously identified as the work of architect W.J.
Bennet. 54 Bennet, a designer who enjoyed a prolific Medford practice for an eighteen month period
information on Lydiard, another District resident.
51 Roland Hubbard, op. cit.
52 These were known as the "Parker Cottages" apparently after the earlier owner of the land upon which they
were built, a Mrs. Parker.
53 Capitol's Who's Who for Oregon, 1953. (Portland, Capitol Publishing Co., July 1953), 448.
54 Compare, for example, the detailing of the Shone-Charley (Waverly) Cottage or the Sophenia Ish Baker