Project Spotlight: Historic Renovation- McCann House — A History
It's not often a project comes our way with this much historical heart and community interest. We thought we'd dedicate a post to the McCann House restoration. This home strikes a nostalgic chord for many Bendites, and just as many would love to know what the owners have planned—and get a peek into the process. We'll save the current design decisions for another post, but for now, here's a deep dive into the history of one of Bend's most iconic homes.
Quick Facts
Built: 1915
Architect: David C. Lewis (Portland)
Style: Georgian Revival
Size: 5,500 sf
First Residents: Thomas McCann family (1916–1921)
The Beginning
The Thomas McCann House was built in 1915 by the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company for Thomas McCann, the vice president and general manager of its Bend mill. At the time, Bend was fighting for its economic survival, and the Shevlin-Hixon and Brooks-Scanlon mills provided job security for workers and stability for the region.
Thomas McCann, the son of Mary Shevlin McCann, grew up working in the family's lumber operations in Minnesota, where the parent company was based. In the family's initial forays out west, they based themselves in Portland—where they met many prominent members of the community, including architect David C. Lewis.
The Architect
McCann commissioned David Chambers Lewis to design his new home in Bend. This would have been a rare occurrence at the time—Bend was a small pioneering town, and the homesite was merely a rise among ponderosa pines and juniper trees not far from the Deschutes River. The house was set on three large lots, later expanded to four.
Historians have noted that the McCann House shares many design elements with David C. Lewis' father's home, the Cicero H. Lewis residence in Portland. The configuration of the front entry and stairs is similar, and many exterior and interior details are additionally reminiscent of Lewis' own Portland home, which can still be visited today.
David C. Lewis was an outstanding architect of the day. He was educated at Princeton and Columbia and had already made a name for himself by the time he was asked to design the European Building at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905. He was subsequently commissioned to design the Oregon Building at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909. He also designed Trinity Episcopal Church in Portland, the Railway Exchange Building (a National Historic Register building), his brother's home—the L. Allen Lewis residence, now a Portland landmark—and several other prominent residences and public buildings throughout the Portland area.
Built for the Family
Although there were four general managers during Shevlin-Hixon's tenure in Bend, Thomas McCann and his family were the first residents, living there from 1916 to 1921. Many of the home's features were designed with this first family in mind.
The McCanns had small children, so a nursery adjoining the master bedroom was necessary. They also employed live-in staff, so the third floor—with its iconic dormer windows—was reserved for their quarters. The home included many interesting features to support a household of this scale, some of which still exist today: a set of back stairs running from the third floor to the basement, a bell-summoning system, a rear service hall, two pantries in the kitchen area, a central vacuum system (rare at the time), and a woodbox with a false bottom that allowed firewood to be brought up from the basement.
There are three fireplaces in the house—two downstairs and one in the master bedroom. When the home was built, the original heating fuel was sawdust, delivered by horse-drawn wagon from the mill. It was dumped into an outside box, went down a chute, and onto a conveyor belt that fed the furnace. You can almost picture the millworkers—lucky or unlucky enough to draw the short straw—driving the wagon over to the McCann place on frigid Bend mornings.
Interestingly, when Copperline began renovating the home, we found century-old sawdust between the layers of lath and plaster—used as insulation. But that's a story for another post.
The Original Description
When the McCann House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 (it has since been removed from individual listing), then-owners Roger and Sharron Comeau provided a beautiful description of the home. We're including it here for the architecture enthusiasts:
The Thomas McCann House is a 5,500-square-foot Georgian Revival (also known as Colonial Revival) residence designed by David Lewis, a prominent Portland architect, in 1915. It is in very good condition and is still in use as a residence.
The house, oriented to the west, was originally sited among mature pine and juniper trees overlooking the Deschutes River. It occupies Lots 1 through 4 of Block 12 of the Park Addition, City of Bend.
The house comprises two-and-one-half stories plus a full basement. The concrete foundation supports balloon-framed wall construction covered with clapboard siding. The cedar-shingled gable roof is interrupted by three oversized pedimented dormers with shingled cheeks on the west elevation and several shed dormers on the east elevation. Most windows are simply framed multi-over-one sash with shutters.
The west elevation is characterized by formal simplicity. Divided into three bays, the facade is framed by open, columned porches on the sides. Both flat upper decks are surrounded by Chippendale-style railings. The recessed entry is covered by a consoled gabled roof. An elliptical opening in the gable is mirrored by an elliptical wooden fan over the entry. The massive paneled door is bordered by sidelights but no transom.
Three small casement windows above the entry lead to the upper stair hall. Sets of single windows are disposed on either side of the central bay. The composition is completed by the pedimented dormers, each containing traceried, round-headed lights and scroll moldings.
The other elevations are characterized by asymmetrical placement of windows reflecting the interior functional arrangement. Of particular interest on the east (rear) elevation is the Palladian window leading to a stairway landing.
The interior plan is characteristic of the Georgian style, with rooms placed around a large entry and central open stairwell. The main living room is on the right of the hall and the formal dining room is on the left.
The living room is detailed with a painted wainscot and ceiling moldings made of plaster. Both the living room and dining room open directly onto an exterior porch.
The library sits to the right of the stair and carries its own expression, derived from the rather heavy wood coffered ceiling and handsome fireplace. The main-level floor surface is distinctive, constructed from narrow maple slats less than one inch in width.
The upper-level sleeping rooms are symmetrically placed around the stairwell: a master bedroom with adjacent nursery on one side, and a sleeping porch and bedroom on the other. The sleeping porch faces the east yard and is enclosed with a continuous row of windows that pivot about their centers, allowing for maximum ventilation.
The attic is a generous space with light admitted by the three large dormers and their beautiful rounded-top windows. The decorative detailing on the exterior of the dormer windows is indeed a trademark of Mr. Lewis. The building is very close to its original design and shows no sign of structural or material deficiency. —Sharron and Roger Comeau
Fifty years after that description was written, Copperline had the privilege of restoring the McCann House for its current owners. See the finished project →
This post draws from the National Register of Historic Places Inventory. The McCann House is part of the Drake Park Neighborhood Historic District.
Copperline Homes has been building custom homes in Bend and Central Oregon since 2004. We specialize in high-end custom homes built on relationships, intention, diligence, and innovation.