"The Oaks" 112 Logan Boulevard, Altoona, PA

Location: 112 Logan boulevard , Altoona, PA

Build Date: 1896

Description: This elaborate Queen Anne house has an unusual low-pitched, front gable roof with minor secondary gables at the front and sides, and a flat roof over the rear of the house. There are decorative brackets and dentils under the flared eaves all around. It also has bowed windows with a distinctive sill treatment including an encircling band of trim with small brackets on each window frame. The underside of the oriel is festooned with decorative swags. Both the front (east) and south sides of the house have two-story bays with the same sill band, and a wrap around porch with squared columns and a simple, geometric balustrade. The house has drop siding except the oriel, which is clad vertically for a smooth finish.

History: This house was built in 1896 for DR. J.B. Keefer, a dentist, who paid $900 for the prominent lot. In 1901 Hiram and David Parker, Contractors and Builders who owned a planning mill in Juniata, acquired the property through a sheriff's sale, and two years later sold it to Kate Seward for $4,500. Seward's husband, Orlenzo, was the manager of L. Hoster Brewing Company. The 1904-1905 Polk directory lists their residence as "The Oaks, Llyswen." In 1917 widow Kate Seward sold the house and the lot beside it, including the large two story garage and several outbuildings, to Katherine Morrison for $7,858. Patrick Morrison operated the Colonial Hotel on 12th Avenue. The Morrisons lost their house to a mortgage company in 1938, which then sold it to Lovell Malone, A locomotive engineer for the Pennsylvania Rail Road, In 1944 for $4,500. A.M. Jacobs, Manager of the Jacobs Motor Company, a Hudson dealership, purchased the property in 1949 and lived in the house with his wife Mae, until his death in 1968. Her estate sold it in 1971 for $15,000. In 1983 the owners razed the old stable-turned - garage and converted the house into an Upstairs\downstairs duplex. Two of the original oak trees still shade the front yard.

Sources: sanborns: 1909,1920,1932,1951. City directories, Tax records, Deed books: 108\383: 144\250: 249\128: 437/478; 486/249; 611/57; 922/261; 1073/72; 1082/553; 1156/187

http://memory.loc.gov/

Project Information: This report was part of a larger project to document the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania. The project was undertaken by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER), Robert Kapsch, Chief, at the request of America's Industrial Heritage Project (AIHP), Randy Cooley, Director. An overview of the history of the city (HABS No. PA-5784) and an overview of Llyswen (HABS No. PA-5787) Provide context for these buildings as well as comprehensive list of sources. See also additional HABS reports on buildings in the city and other neighborhoods.

This report was prepared by Kathy Edwards in the summer of 1989 under the supervision of Alison K. Hoagland, HABS Historian, and Kim E. Wallace, Supervisory Historian. Edwards's and other project Historians' work was published as RailRoad City: Four Historic Neighborhoods in Altoona, PA (Washington, DC.: HABS/HAER, National Park Service, 1990) Edited by Kim E. Wallace, Supervisory Historian and Sara Amy Leach, HABS Historian.