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A.J. Sherwood House

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Sherwood-Bonney House
1901–1903, possibly George F. Barber. 257 E. Main St.
  • (Photograph by Leland Roth)

Coquille, a near-coastal town about 25 miles upriver from Bandon and the mouth of the Coquille River, is located on a broad expanse of valley floor where dairying was actively pursued. It is the county seat of Coos County. One of its prominent citizens was lawyer Alexander Jackson Sherwood, who had come to Oregon from Iowa in 1858. After marrying Cynthia Rogers in 1883, the couple had five daughters. Sherwood first served as county school superintendent in 1886–1888 before opening a law practice. He went on to become an early mayor of Coquille, and was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Coquille in 1903, later serving as the bank’s president.

Sherwood built a commanding house for his family on Main Street in 1901–1903, allegedly using a design published by George F. Barber, though the exact example has not yet been identified. The Sherwood House is a classic example of fully developed Queen Anne architecture, with a complex room and roof plan all organized around a dominant corner tower, polygonal in its upper stages and wrapped at its base by a porch. The porch spindlework, in particular, suggests a Barber source.

In 1929, the Sherwoods’ second daughter, Delia, married local pharmacist Luckey Bonney. Shortly after returning from their honeymoon, her father died and bequeathed the house to her. Following Delia’s death in 1993, Luckey remained in the house until the age of 97. New owners converted the residence into a bed and breakfast.

References

Clay, Steve L., “A. J. Sherwood House,” Coos County, Oregon. National Register of Historic Places Inventory–Nomination Form, 1992. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

Dodge, Orvil. Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties. Bandon, OR: Western World, 1969.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Leland M. Roth
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Data

Timeline

  • 1901

    Built

Citation

Leland M. Roth, "A.J. Sherwood House", [Coquille, Oregon], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OR-01-011-0064.

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