National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

NPSForm10-900-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: 22 Geneva-Minnesota Historic District, Medford, OR
ID No: 016
Historic Name: Dennison/Rental House
Address: 101 Crater Lake Ave
Architect:
Style: Craftsman
Year Built: c. 1920
Legal: 37S-1W-30AB, Tax Lot 14300
Humphrey-Andrews Addn, Block 1, Lot(s) 3
Builder(s):
Secondary Contributing
For unknown reasons this lot, owned by William and Emma Humphrey until 1922, appears to have
remained unbuilt until acquired by Clarence Knight via a Quit Claim Deed.61 The structure, a
modest Craftsman-style one and one-half story house, has a gable roof augmented by two oversized
shed dormers facing to both the front and back. Windows are 6/1 double-hung and siding is double-
drop. Small eave brackets and cornerboards are also components of the design. To the rear, facing
Minnesota, a matching gable garage is present with a modern-construction carport placed
immediately in front. The stone retaining wall, evocative of the site improvements of the interior of
the district, is of slump stone and dates from the present.
The social history of this structure, as well as its ownership is unclear. The initial resident actually
documented as living here is John H. Dennison, owner of the Medford Auto Company, who is listed
in the 1930 City Directory at this address. Dennison is known to have been in Medford as early as
1921 but his place of residence at that time in not clear. In 1925 the property was owned by an Ezra
Wilson who sold the easement along the rear of the lot to provide garage access for 103 Crater Lake.
Wilson does appear to have lived here and probably used the property as a rental. During the early
1940s Frances Hittson, a bookkeeper at the Community Hospital lived her, first renting and then
buying the house in 1945.62 After an interim ownership, Fred and Victrine Luy acquired the
property. They resided here at least into late 1970s.
Of undocumented construction date, the Dennison/Rental House dates from an interim development
period that deviates from the general history of the core of the Geneva-Minnesota District, and
employs a style not as clearly defined as the majority of the area's buildings. Social history is also
confused as the property was apparently used as a rental for much of the pre-World War II era.
However, the Dennison/Rental House is visually compatible with the Geneva-Minnesota District and
occupies an important gateway position at the eastern entrance
61 JCD140:136,29-May-1922.
62 JCD 256:603, 14-February-1945.