Keeping historic atmosphere livable is goal for many north-of-campus homeowners

Like a living time capsule, the neighborhoods north of Oregon State University have managed to retain old-fashioned traditions such as family dinners, close-knit communities and popping next door to borrow a cup of sugar.

Walking through College Hill, College Hill West, North College Hill and Cedarhurst, the emphasis on friendliness is evident.

People driving down quiet side streets near campus stop to talk to pedestrians, neighbors call each other by name and mothers meet for coffee every morning after dropping their kids off at the bus stop.

The warm, inviting atmosphere is something the neighborhood actively works to maintain, bringing welcome baskets to new residents, organizing annual block parties and holiday gatherings, and watching out for each other in times of crisis.

“The type of neighborhood we want to have is one where people know their neighbors, are friends with their neighbors and help each other out,” said Dan Brown, president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association and Ward 4 city councilor.

Brown, an OSU emeritus professor of business marketing, and wife Lisa, a retired Hewlett-Packard employee, co-own Brown Marketing Group, LLC.

They live in College Hill West, in the historic J. Bexell House, a Tudor revival built in 1926, with their two children.

The Browns moved to their home on the corner of Van Buren Avenue and 30th Street in 1993. At the time, they were one of the few families in the neighborhood with young children.

As the elderly people who’d occupied many of the College Hill homes for decades began dying or transitioning into retirement homes, more young families moved in, according to Brown.

Having a diverse, livable neighborhood welcoming to families is important to residents of College Hill and the surrounding areas, Brown said.

“We want to have a nice, safe, attractive neighborhood where children can play and go to sleep at night,” he said.

Convenient location

Though not to the same extent as in years past, the neighborhoods north of campus are still dominated by OSU faculty members who appreciate being able to walk or bike to work.

That’s part of what attracted Lynn and Barb Ketchum to College Hill, in addition to its proximity to the dining, shopping and entertainment amenities of downtown and Monroe Avenue.

The Ketchums moved into their 1927 bungalow more than three years ago, but they’ve owned it for 11 years.

Previously, the couple lived in and restored a home directly behind the one they’re in now.

Barb Ketchum, personnel manager for OSU’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, has a graduate degree in interior design with an emphasis on historic preservation.

Together with husband Lynn, an Extension and Experiment Station Communications multi-media producer, they’ve renovated four homes in Corvallis.

Their craftsman bungalow on 30th Street retains many of its original 1920s features, including an eyebrow porch and cottage-style windows.

“I think it’s the epitome of Corvallis charm, these old neighborhoods,” said Lynn Ketchum, 54, of the College Hill area.

“We like old houses. We like the charm. We like the old wood. We like the creaky floors. All those things that are special about old houses that are missing in new places,” added Barb, 57.

Lynn Ketchum finds particularly fascinating the “alley culture” cultivated in College Hill.

Many residents park behind their homes, and the alleys are a place for neighbors to chat and kids to play.

Watching out for each other

The neighborhood got the chance to test its bonds when a waterline burst in September, flooding basements of homes in College Hill West with water and waste, and again during the winter wind storms.

Bob and Mary Becker were among those receiving neighbors’ support. Their 1938 English Tudor home sustained $8,000 worth of damages when the water main broke.

Mary, 80, was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time, and couldn’t clean up the sewage-contaminated basement.

Neighbors rallied around the Beckers, and helped drain their basement.

“Everyone was extremely kind to us,” said Bob, 84.

They also have a neighbor who routinely rakes all the lawns on the block and “takes care of us all.”

Bob Becker is an emeritus professor of biochemistry at OSU. Mary, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry nutrition, is a retired OSU researcher.

They’ve lived in the same house since 1963. Before purchasing it, Mary looked at “about 120 houses.”

Missing Harding

The Beckers raised their two daughters in College Hill. The kids attended Harding, and their friends would stop by every morning before school for games of hearts and old maid.

Although their children were out of the house long before Harding closed after the 2001-02 school year, the Beckers still felt the loss.

“We were all disappointed when Harding School closed because watching kids going by every day to and from school was really special,” said Mary Becker.

The Ketchums, who didn’t move to Corvallis until after their children had left for college, shared these sentiments.

“We really miss Harding School. We worry that without Harding the neighborhood is less attractive to families,” said Lynn Ketchum.

Emmett Mills, 12, experienced the loss firsthand.

He attended Harding for two years until it closed and he was transferred to Adams.

“I was very sad. I couldn’t walk to school anymore,” he said.

While residents praise the many charms of the neighborhoods north of campus, they admit that no place is perfect.

Beyond the closure of Harding, other issues affect College Hill, College Hill West, North College Hill and Cedarhurst.

Many people in Cedarhurst, which is bordered to the west and the south by OSU agricultural properties, enjoy their proximity to the Dairy Barn and Sheep Center. It’s a fun outing for kids, and keeps them close to nature.

There are some olfactory consequences, however.

“We love our quiet, but at times, smelly neighbors: dairy cows west of us, beef cows south of us,” said Donna Keim, who lives in Jean Starker Roth’s old house on Jackson Street between 38th and 39th Streets.

Parking is also a problem, neighbors say.

Many streets allow parking only on one side, and a few blocks do not allow parking at all. Small garages require many residents to park on the street, and it’s hard to compete for coveted spots with students and faculty who use the neighborhood as overflow for crowded university parking.

“The things we love about the neighborhood, like being close to the university, also present challenges. You kind of take the good with the bad,” said Mike Middleton, a Northwest 29th Street neighbor.

Neighbors also are concerned with traffic on Harrison Boulevard, especially since the property west of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was annexed into the city by voters in 2004 — something Cedarhurst residents fought for years, according to Laura Lahm Evenson, president of the Cedarhurst Neighborhood Association.

The planned Witham Oaks development could create 221 homes off Harrison at the west end of town, and residents of Cedarhurst and College Hill are concerned about what the housing boom will mean for already congested traffic.

Student rentals and Greek houses in the neighborhood draw mixed reviews from home owners.

“I love being around students. They’re so invigorating and enthusiastic,” said Karen Randolph, who lives on 35th Street and Harrison at the edge of the historic district.

Students make an effort to be respectful, she noted.

“They’re very nice, very polite. When there’s going to be a party, they come by and let us know and ask us to call them before we call the police. They invited us to a couple parties, but we’ve never gone. We watch out the window while they do their thing,” Randolph said.

Other neighbors report less enjoyable interactions with students.

While she enjoys the “active, vibrant” feel of North College Hill, Carol Chin acknowledged the downside of living among a cluster of boisterous students.

“Thursday nights and game days are noisy, and renters and landlords don’t always keep up the outside of their houses,” said Chin, president of the North College Hill Neighborhood Association.

Chin, assistant professor and senior researcher in OSU’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, has lived in the same house, built around 1917, for 15 years.

Beyond noise and traffic, some College Hill residents are worried about what will happen to the building occupied by Samaritan Heart of the Valley Care Center once the facility moves its operations to the former Corvallis Care Center on Northwest Spruce Avenue.

Samaritan Health Services has already transferred management of the skilled nursing facility to Wilsonville-based Avamere Health Services. The new space is being renovated and expanded, and residents are expected to be transferred there beginning in summer of 2008, according to Julie Manning, Samaritan spokeswoman.

At that time, Samaritan plans to sell the building, and several parties have already expressed interest, Manning said.

The building, which opened as Corvallis General Hospital in 1922, probably won’t be used as a health-care facility anymore, said Manning, adding that its new owner and use will be “compatible with the neighborhood.”

Landing a spot on National Register of Historic Places

In 2002, College Hill West became a historic district listed with the National Register of Historic Places. The designation, meant to preserve the neighborhood’s sense of time and place, means that alterations to homes within the district have to be cleared with the city’s Historic Resources Commission (formerly the Historic Preservation Advisory Board).

College Hill West is one of only two recognized historic districts in Corvallis. The other, Avery-Helm, is downtown.

The distinction brings with it advantages and disadvantages, depending on whom you ask.

“There are restrictions. Some people look at that as an asset, and some look at it as a problem,” said Deb Kadas, who lives in College Hill West in the old K.C. Reitsma house.

In order to become an official historic district, a majority of home owners had to be supportive of the designation. Kadas was among those in favor of the district.

Marlan and Angela Carlson view the district as a threat to the neighborhood.

Not long before their home became part of a historic district, the Carlsons replaced the old single-pane windows in their 1920s home with more energy-efficient double-pane vinyl windows. They also added skylights.

The Carlsons believe these improvements wouldn’t be allowed now by the Historic Resources Commission.

They believe the commission should permit tasteful improvements and expansions that don’t detract from the neighborhood.

Some of their neighbors are having trouble getting second-story additions to their homes approved. In order to accommodate growing families and keep houses from becoming rentals, home owners must be allowed to modify their houses to fit their evolving lives, the Carlsons say.

Middleton and his family were successful in getting the Historic Resources Commission to approve an addition to their historic home to accommodate the arrival of twins.

“We went through the wringer a little bit, but everything was approved in the end,” he said.

Several residents have said they support the historic district in general, but that the Historic Resources Commission has been too strict about preserving every detail of individual houses, rather than the character of the neighborhood as a whole.

The Carlsons believe residents don’t need a historic district and the oversight that entails to take care of their property in a way that suits the neighborhood.

“Pride and peer pressure are enough. We don’t need the Historic Resources Commission,” said Marlan Carlson.

“We police ourselves,” added Angela.

Chin and others in North College Hill tried without success to get their neighborhood, which is older than College Hill and College Hill West, added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Ultimately, not enough property owners supported forming a historic district. Chin believes a handful of landlords were behind the opposition.

“They didn’t appreciate what we were trying to do for the neighborhood, and the quality of life we were trying to give for the people who live here all the time. We wanted to foster pride by educating people about the history of the district,” she said.

May is National Historic Preservation Month, which Brown will mark with his annual tour of College Hill West. The Assistance League of Corvallis also will offer a tour, which will include the Casa Musica on the corner of 35th and Tyler.

Chin will give a walking tour of North College Hill.

Corvallis Tourism offers brochures detailing houses of historic importance in both North College Hill and College Hill West, so people can take self-guided tours year round.

House hunters

When looking to move into one of the neighborhoods north of campus, finding a house is like embarking on a treasure hunt.

Property often sells by word of mouth, so rather than wait for homes to go on the market, prospective buyers sometimes take a more proactive approach.

Jim Phelps walked around the neighborhood distributing flyers informing home owners he wanted to buy their house, and asking if they were interested in selling. After all that effort, he found a College Hill home listed in the real estate section of the newspaper and bought it the next day.

For those who live in College Hill or College Hill West, it’s not uncommon for strangers drop by and make offers on their homes.

That’s how Marcia Kaylen got her house.

“I was determined to live in the neighborhood, so I had my Realtor go door-to-door looking for people thinking about moving,” said Kaylen, who lives in the old Wiegand house on 29th and Van Buren. “I got lucky. I just felt like it was meant to be.”

Neighborhood quotes

People living in the area north of campus had so much to say about their neighborhoods that even a two-part series wasn’t enough space to accommodate all the input the Gazette-Times received.

So, in order to include more opinions from North College Hill, College Hill, College Hill West and Cedarhurst residents about what makes their part of town different and what concerns they have about where they live, here are some additional quotes:

“I ended up marrying the boy I fell in love with in sixth grade,” said Laura Lahm Evenson, president of the Cedarhurst Neighborhood Association. Evenson and her husband both grew up in the neighborhood and attended Harding School. “Most of my kids got to experience Harding. It’s a real sense of community. A real sense of belonging. My siblings still consider Corvallis home.”

“It’s really kid-friendly,” said 12-year-old Emmett Mills of his College Hill West home. “It’s really safe, so at night we can go play flashlight tag. During the summer we can play sports at Harding on the playground. There’s a lot of great bike riding places around here.”

“We moved to the neighborhood because we really appreciated the strong sense of community and diversity. It looked like a place where you get to know your neighbor,” said Mike Middleton, who lives with wife Suzanne and their three children on Northwest 29th Street between Jackson and Johnson Avenues.

“Everyone is so nice and so helpful. Whenever there’s a windstorm, people gather around and help clean up,” said Jeannette Arbogast, who lives on the corner of Northwest 30th Street and Van Buren Avenue.

“It was magical for the kids to be able to walk to school every morning. There’s definitely less of a sense of community when your kids ride a bus to school,” said Christine Stillger, whose son Emmett attended Harding School before it closed.

“Whenever we see a For Sale sign come up in the neighborhood we call all our friends and everyone we know and say, ‘You’re moving here!’” said Middleton.

“I think it would be great if people 150 years from now were still selling houses by word of mouth,” said Ed Miller, whose College Hill home was once a sorority (during a restoration project, he found an old corset box in the walls).

“On Jackson Street, we have a yearly block party. Many of the original builders/owners still come back to those parties. At the beginning days of 35th and Jackson, it was a professor row of houses and over 50 kids lived on the street. Just the last five years have shown some of the original owners starting to leave to live near their children, or some houses are being bought by kids of the neighbors to start the second round of kids,” said Donna Keim of Cedarhurst.

“My husband and I purchased our house on 29th Street in the summer of 1972 and have lived there continuously except for approximately four sabbatical years. We raised our three children there and made lifelong friends of many neighbors. At the time our children were young there were half a dozen other families with young children, and we formed a sort of babysitting co-op for several years. Our children developed several friendships that are still close, more like cousins than friends,” said Angela Carlson of College Hill West.

“We love the mix of generations and occupations here. Some of our neighbors lived here when our house was built! We know almost all of our neighbors very well and have three or four neighborhood social events every year. We have no relatives in the Pacific Northwest, but it feels like our kids have an extended grandparent network!” said Lisa Corrigan of Northwest 30th Street.

Neighborhood Meeting: What North Of Campus thinks

On Feb. 15, about 40 people living in the neighborhoods north of campus braved the cold, rainy night and came to Harding Center for a community meeting sponsored by the Gazette-Times and organized by Dan Brown of the College Hill Neighborhood Association.

After a rough start — attendees were briefly locked out in the rain — the forum got under way, giving residents of North College Hill, College Hill, College Hill West and Cedarhurst a chance to talk about why they love their neighborhoods, concerns they have about where they live and how they hope the area will look 150 years from now.

Here’s what they had to say:

Positives

• Proximity to campus

• Historic homes

• It’s a very walkable neighborhood

• Lights at Christmas

• Harrison’s tree canopy

• Can walk or bike to work

• Kids play outside

• The people

• Many of the houses have basements

• Lots of students

• “There’s a friendliness here.”

• Shared community values

• Respect for neighbors

• Nice gardens

• Swapping tools and stories across the alley

• No cookie-cutter houses

• Mature landscaping

• Easy walk to shopping and restaurants

• Close to the edge of town for hiking/biking

• Viable neighborhood

• “It’s one of the little gems.”

• Good mix of ages

• You’re able to show your personality

• “You can express your individuality.”

• “I love hanging my clothes outside.”

• Block parties

• Multigenerational neighborhoods

Negatives

• Landlords/renters don’t respect property

• “People are so destructive.”

• Witham Oaks annexation

• Uncertainty over what will become of the Heart of the Valley building

• Basements have illegal apartments

• The historic associations with OSU are lost by landlords

• Lots of students

• Not enough parking

• Historic codes make it difficult to improve houses

• High housing prices

• Parking only on one side of the street

• Having to get a “hunting license” to find parking

• Small group of people ruining it for the rest

• Parking on lawns

• No enforcement of city codes

• Neighbors talk down to students

Where we go and what we do for fun

• Majestic Theatre

• Events at Corvallis High School

• Chamber music

• Restaurant scene

• People watching on Monroe/downtown

• Best folk music in Oregon

• Bike paths

• Hiking

• Canoeing

• School activities

• Classes at Benton Center

• Lectures at OSU

• Gardening

• Franklin School activities

• The Co-op

• Darkside and Avalon cinemas

• Pub crawling

• Outdoor theater

Wants

• Code enforcement officer

• Better parking, open up both sides of the street

• Keep the residential quality of the neighborhood

• Put a lid on traffic

• Connect Circle Boulevard to campus to reduce traffic on Harrison

• OSU is working to become a better neighbor

• Improve triangular beautification areas on Arnold Way

• Integrate students/Greeks more into neighborhoods

• Open up Harding as a public elementary school again

• For the neighborhood, including historic homes, to last another 150 years

• Balance historic preservation so that houses aren’t being torn down but codes aren’t so restrictive they prohibit improvement

• Return rentals to single-family residences

• Better neighborhood signage, more recognition of historic ties to OSU

• More public transportation

• More dialogue

Mary Ann Albright can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.

Coming in March

Next month, reporter Bennett Hall will explore downtown as part of the newspaper’s 12-month Where We Live series on Corvallis neighborhoods during the city’s 150th anniversary.