The George Hochstedler House
Posted on: January 11, 2008
THE GEORGE HOCHSTEDLER HOUSE
Location: 237 6th Street SE, Albany, Oregon (in the historical Hackleman District)
Architectural Style: Stick
Builder: George Hochstedler
Date Built: 1889
Owners: In the 1880s, George Hochstedler owned the Hochstedler and Sears Planning Mill in Albany, Oregon. Hochstedler and his partner, architect Ed Zeiss, supplied plans and instructions for builders. Hochstedler had his home constructed using the finest wood products manufactured by the mill. Later, Hochstedler became the Albany branch manager of Sugarpine Door and Lumber Company. The Hochstedler House was eventually sold to general store owner Charles Parker, whose wife Hardie was a music teacher in Albany. As of the writing of this book the Hochstedler House was being used as a triplex apartment building.
ANECDOTES: Stick style architecture was considered one of the first truly American forms, where wood was seen as a medium in its own right rather than as a substitute for stone and masonry. (Many of the buildings you have seen thus far used flush wood siding to mimic stucco or masonry.) What better place for this style to proliferate than in the Northwest where wood was abundant. Wood pieces were placed in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal angles over siding at places where the unseen structure frame could be “seen” or accented. Stick work was used on Queen – Anne – and – Eastlake – styled buildings for its decorative value. The Hochstedler House has a steeply pitched, hipped roof combined with gabled roofs on all elevation.
