Porter Hall

This house is locally significant as a well-kept example of early 20th-century picturesque revival domestic architecture, the style represented here is an adaptation of the English medieval half-timber form. Porter Hall displays the more obvious elements of the style, including the half-timberwork, cambered "tie beam", overhanging second stories, "Tudor" arches, and multilight casement windows. Treatment of the interior is suggestive of Craftsman influences; noteworthy elements include the exposed posts and beams, windows in interior walls for increased ventilation, craftsman-style main staircase, and built-in cupboards. The medieval theme is not fully carried through (for example, the use of double hung sash at the front, and the shallow, flat-roofed rear additions), but the overall intention to emulate a picturesque medieval form is clearly expressed.

The house achieved its present aspect under the ownership of Dr. Charles James. The present owner believes Dr. James began work on the house in 1917, but Sanborn fire insurance maps indicate major expansion of the main block as early as 1913, with further expansion to the rear by 1924. The present owner believes that the present form of the house derives from a major remodeling of a house built here in 1882 by George Neuse. To date, no illustrations of the earlier house have been found, and there is no clear physical evidence of an earlier house within the present structure. Confirmation of this theory would require a detailed investigation of the premises.

The property holds local interest historically, in that Claude C. Porter lived at this address from 1906-1909 (thus the origin of the common name for the house). Porter (1872-1946) had an active political career at the state level, and in his later years achieves appointive posts in Washington. He was born in Centerville, and after schooling at Parsons College and law school in St. Louis, opened a legal practice in his hometown, in 1893. Although a Demo cat in a heavily Republican district, Porter was elected in 1895 to the state House of Representatives, and he served two terms before being elected to the Iowa Senate (also for two terms, 1900-04). For 20 years (1906-26) Porter was a perennial candidate (governor, senator) for the Democrats.