Corvallis couple steps up to save the historic McBee House from a date with a match

“Moving a building is preservation of the last resort,” said B.A. Beierle on Sunday as she gazed up at the historic farmhouse that had just arrived at her orchard in south Corvallis.

“House moves are even more complicated than rehabilitation projects,” she added.

But, B.A., who leads local group PreservationWORKS and her husband Lenny, another devoted historic preservationist, decided that if it meant saving a historic structure from destruction, they would go for it.

“It was really a tough decision for us to be party to that,” she said. “Lenny and I did a lot of soul searching about it.”

Last December, the 1896 McBee House had a date with a match as a fire fighters’ training exercise.

The Benton County Historic Resources Commission had reviewed an application for demolition of the house and its outbuilding, then located at 7280 Cutler Lane off Airport Road, from owners Kathie and Mike Robinson.

“They needed a place for their farm manager to live,” B.A. said.

Although the Robinsons appreciated the history of the house, they felt its existing condition and potential repair expense eliminated consideration of rehabilitation.

“They looked at this — and perhaps they have better judgement than we do — and felt this was more than they wanted to do,” said B.A. on Sunday.

The Beierles attended the hearing and thought the structure had possibilities.

“We had a site, but we didn’t have a building. They had a building, but they didn’t have a site. So it worked out really well,” B.A. said.

After listening to testimony, the Historic Resources Commission approved the demolition permit, but with a 150-day delay in case other arrangements could be made.

That delay ended in May, but by that time, the Beierles had stuck a deal with the Robinsons to move the house and outbuilding to their property at 5572 S.W. Third St.

Because the structure had to be moved across several farm fields, it was decided to wait until the end of the summer when the ground was hard and crops had been harvested to make the move.

This week, Chris Schoap Building Movers of Eugene propped the house up on huge steel supports and more than 20 wheels. The professional movers towed the house in two stages.

The first challenge was navigating the house past two huge Port Orford cedars and across several farm fields to a holding location on Larry and Rosetta Vennell’s farm along Llewellyn Road on Wednesday.

The final leg of the journey was made Sunday morning. Power lines were dropped, so that the buildings could proceed east to Highway 99W, and north up the highway and across farmers’ fields to the Beierles’ lot in Southwest Corvallis.

Highway 99W was temporarily closed for thirty minutes during Sunday’s move. The entire two-day move took less than three hours.

Lenny rode his bike with the house during the last leg of the journey, keeping pace with the tow truck, which moved at speeds up to 15 m.p.h.

“Where there were trees, they would just go easy through there. They would try to make the trees flex, but there was one spot where they actually had to ...”

“Chainsaws,” interjected B.A.

“Pacific Power was really heroic in offering to help us with that,” finished Lenny.

When it reached its final resting place, the movers orientated the house so that it faced north-south and east-west as it had during its first 112 years.

The Beierles know that their hard work has just begun.

“The building had been, not abandoned — but empty for a long long time, and exposed to the elements,” B.A. said.

Every major system in the 1,400-square foot house, including plumbing must be replaced.

In addition, there is water damage in the kitchen, bathrooms and in the supports that the house rests on.

“But we’re not doing this for the first time,” said B.A. “This is our third one, so we have no one to blame but ourselves.”

The couple’s past restoration projects have included a 4,000 square-foot Victorian house that they converted into a restaurant as well as four Victorian apartments.

“So this one is a lot simpler, believe it or not,” B.A. said.

In addition, a large part of their decision to take on the project had to do with the importance the couple places on minimizing their impact on the environment.

B.A. points to statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that show construction and operation of buildings account for 48 percent of the United States greenhouse gases production, as compared to transportation, which accounts for 27 percent.

“When we lose a historic resource in whole or in part, we waste the materials used in the structure, the earth the landfill sits upon and the structure’s embodied energy,” B.A. said.

“Economically, it costs more to restore than to build new. Especially the labor costs,” said B.A.

But, she notes that although preservation projects may cost more in outright expense than new construction, total lifetime costs need to be evaluated.

“It had to be fiscally prudent. For us, the sweat equity is a component of balancing the financial equation. If all we wanted was a roof and walls, certainly there are thriftier ways to do that,” B.A. said.

“McBee built his house with full-cut, clear lumber — no knots, no knotholes. The lumber alone would be costly in today’s market, if you could find it,” she said.

“The greenest building is one that’s already built. Any new building, no matter how much green technology it incorporates, represents a new impact on the environment,” B.A. said.

But at the core of their decision, the Beierles are happy to preserve a priceless piece of history.

On Sunday, B.A. examined her new house lovingly.

“This house has plenty of doors and windows. Most of the rooms on the first floor have two doors. It’s really fascinating,” she said.

“It’s a blend of three different styles: Steep roofs like that are gothic revival ... and this corner post business, those are distinctive for colonial revivals ... and the bays (windows) with the colored lights (glass) in them, that’s Queen Anne, she said as she pointed out each feature.”

“So, it’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but very typical of rural architecture to be eclectic like that,” she said.

The move and restoration will start a new chapter in the history of the house.

“This is no longer the McBee House; it’s out of context now,” said B.A. “We renamed it. From now on it will be Woodberry Hall.”

B.A. and her husband currently reside in northwest Corvallis, but plan to move into the house , once it is completely restored.

“This will be our home, ” B.A. said.

W. H. McBee House History

The 1896 McBee House formerly seen from Southwest Airport Road at Cutler Lane had two Port Orford cedars dating to 1910, flanking the east side. A large 1900 barn stands southeast of the house site and an accessory building n contemporary with the house n was located just west, and moved with the house to its new location at 5572 S.W. Third St. on property adjoining the property of the historic Smith-Rickard House.

W. H. McBee, born in 1839 in Missouri, immigrated along the Oregon Trail in 1852 with his parents, William and Elizabeth McBee, and their children. The family settled a farm in the Smith Loop area near the the Willamette River, and W. H. lived there, even after his marriage to Annie L. Vannoy. The McBee brothers managed the family farm in turn, until each acquired his own farm.

In 1873, W. H. McBee purchased 211 acres north of the present house site at 7280 Cutler Lane from the Benjamin Cutler Donation Land Claim, and in 1876, he purchased an additional 133 acres to the south from the William Ownby Donation Land Claim. W. H. McBee built the house when he was 57, and sited it next to Muddy Creek with expansive views of the Cascades to the east and the Coastal Range foothills to the north.

The one and a half story W. H. McBee House, is an excellent example of a rural farmhouse with Gothic, Colonial Revival, and Queen Anne design elements. Flat-roofed first floor bay windows serve as balconies for upper story doors. Small colored glass surrounds the bays’ central windows. Porches were once highly ornamented. This combination of design elements makes it distinctive among Benton County farmhouses.

George W. Davis and his wife Mary J. Linebarger Davis, a niece of W.H. McBee, purchased the farm in 1907, when W. H. McBee retired from farming and moved with his family to Corvallis. McBee died in 1924, at 85. The Davis family continued to grow grain and raise livestock at the farm, and operated a threshing service for Benton County farmers.

Later the Allen family produced grass seed on the farm, and today, A2R Farms and Redpath Seed produce grass seed on 800 acres that include the historic McBee House and Farm.

Oregon Inventory of Historic Properties, Historic Resource Survey