Matheson House
a.k.a. See Also:Southeast Gainesville Residential District
528 S.E. 1st Ave., Gainesville, FLJames Douglas Matheson, a prominent Gainesville merchant, built this house in 1867. It was inherited by his son, the Rev. Chris Matheson, who was mayor of Gainesville for eight terms in the early 1900s and a member of the Florida legislature in 1917 The house is today occupied by Mrs. Chris Matheson, his widow.
Architecturally, the Matheson house is significant in that the gambrel roof occurs relatively infrequently in Florida. The house reflects characteristics of a transitional style between late Colonial and early Georgian. The gambrel over a single file of rooms (as the Matheson house was prior to additions) can be seen in many North Carolina and Virginia houses after 1725. The similarities, for example, between the Matheson house and the well-known Booth House in Edenton, N.C. are striking. Both have a lean-to addition at the rear and a shed-type porch at the front. Both have a chimney outside and are spaced away from the gable. The main variation is in the type of dormer used, with Matheson having the pedimented type.
It is possible in the case of the Matheson house that the choice of a gambrel was an economic consideration, in that less material is required and shorter rafter lengths can be used. The cutting of the cypress shingles into ornate patterns would probably not have necessitated great expense due to the fact that Gainesville was, at that time, a milling center. Existing data indicates that the Matheson house, which served as a social center in postbellum Gainesville, is the second oldest house in the city.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.