S <br />i <br />Ernest Brunner worked the family farm and dryer operations and married Marie Darrington at <br />the age of thirty-three, she was twenty-eight. Marie was born in Nye Hill, Mohtana and <br />attended nursing school in Portland. between 1927 and 1930. She ultimately worked as a nurse <br />and anesthesia specialist in Eugene.. In 1938 Ernest and Marie became parents with the birth of <br />their son Joe. In March of 1939, Ernest died in a tragic tractor acciderlt on the family farm, <br />leaving Marie a young widow and mother. <br />On July 9, 1940, Marie married Peter Schmitz,.Jr., who had been best man at her marriage to <br />i <br />Ernest Brunner. Peter Schmitz, Jr.. was born in Minnesota in 1909 and his family arrived in the <br />Cheshire area of Oregon between 19.10 and 1913. Following their marriage the.couple f <br />purchased the house at 1410 River Road from the elder Brunner's, along with ten acres of land. <br />Peter Schmitz oversaw all aspects ofthe Brunner Commercial Dryer and wasinstrumental in <br />developing the peak growth and prosperity of this business. Peter Schmitz died in 1989, when <br />Joe Brunner took over management of the operations. <br />Inforrnation garnered from the. application, personal interviews with the Schmitz relatives, and . <br />an understanding of the development of the River Road areas suggests that the Brunner and <br />Schmitz families associated with the Brunner Commercial Dryer operation were persons <br />significant to Eugene's past because of their long tenure as operators of the dryer business. <br />Nut and'fruit dryer's were not common in the community and Ms. Carter's research reveals that <br />only six existed in 1944 and only four were existant in 1955. The Brunner Commercial Dryer <br />continued in operation until 2003, making it one of the longest lived commercial dryers in <br />Eugene. <br />c) Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, peridd,•or method of <br />construction, or. represents the work bf a master, or possesses high artistic values, <br />or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack <br />individual distinction. <br />The American Foursquare form of architecture is a building type that was popularized between <br />1900 `and 1920 in the Pacific Northwest and is considered an outgrowth of the Prairie Style that <br />was made popular by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Midwest: Key elements of the style include a <br />square or rectangular floor plan; wide overhanging eaves; two stories in height with one story <br />porches or wings; massive square porch posts and hipped roof dormers; paired and triple <br />casement windows sometimes with leaded glass; and horizontal board siding. A low-pitched <br />hippe,d'roof helps to create a sense of horizontality in this building form. Eugene's Historic River <br />Road, page 12.8, collaborates that the American Foursquare is less a style than a form and was <br />popular for some farmhouses in the River Road area. <br />The Brunner-Schmitz House is a distinctive example of the American Foursquare form of <br />residential architecture for.Eugene. The house is in excellent condition and includes all of the <br />key elements referenced above. The house exhibits a porte cocherez on the north elevation <br />z Porte' Cochere: 1. A carriage porch. 2. A doorway large enough to let a vehicle pass from street to parking area. ' <br />HR8 Agenda • Page 7 <br />396