Lee House - 1890

Lee House - "Free Classic" Victorian Queen Anne Residence

The 1890 Lee House is the oldest surviving residential structure built in Claremont during the City's earliest collegiate years of the 1890s. Its builder, owner and resident was Miss Elizabeth O. Lee, who resided there for several years while completing her music studies at Pomona College.¹

The Free Classic Queen Anne architectural style emerged in the latter part of the 19th century and serves as an architectural contrast to the more elaborately decorative Queen Anne Spindlework style more common for residences of the era. The Free Classic style's more formally classical features may well have resonated well with Claremont's burgeoning collegiate sensibilities and culture of the 1890s where Pomona College faculty taught Greek, Latin, math, science, English, German, and music. Lee House's distinguishing Free Classic architectural features are its Classical front-gabled form, prominent trio of arched windows, and Roman Doric columns.

Built at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Seventh Street at 641 College Avenue (formerly Warren Avenue), it was just a block northwest of Pomona College’s new 1889 location at Sumner Hall (formerly Claremont Hall and Hotel Claremont).

Pioneering Music Student

According to Pomona College's 19th century alumni records, Miss Elizabeth O. Lee (shown at right in front of her house, circa 1891) attended Pomona College as a student of music before the college moved to its Claremont location. There was no student dormitory or housing available yet at the new Claremont location, and Pomona College records state that male students therefore lived off-campus in private nearby houses while female students resided at Sumner Hall (formerly Claremont Hall).² Thus it was quite notable that a female student resided alone in her own residence off-campus. The panoramic photograph at right shows how undeveloped and rural the area was at the time, with Lee House shown at the extreme right in this circa 1893 panoramic photograph. Miss Lee, however, was undoubtedly unique in this community with her own two-parlor, two-bedroom residence displaying no fewer than thirteen 7-foot high double-hung windows, six of which were arched windows.In the1890s, residences for new college faculty and their families were being built. Elizabeth Lee's earliest neighbor was Edwin C. Norton and his family, Pomona College's first dean, who completed his family residence in 1892 ³ at 137 West Seventh Street (shown just to the left of Lee House), as well as a small schoolhouse. Both the Norton House and the schoolhouse building still exist at their original sites.
One of the most notable events of Claremont's earliest years was the 1903 visit of President Theodore Roosevelt who delivered his speech on the steps of Pearsons Hall less than a block south of Lee House.4 The event is shown at right with Lee House visible in the background.
Moving houses during this era was surprisingly common (and highly technical) - land was cheap, materials and structures were precious. Lee House was moved only 2½ blocks west in about 1917 to its present site at 353 W. Seventh Street, and part of the front porch was enclosed and the dormers were expanded. Its unusual original horse hitch still exists at the curb, as well as a concrete horse "parking spot" near the sidewalk.
K. M. Williamson (2026)owner/restorer since 1985

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References:

¹ Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook, vols. 1-3, pp. 15, 30, 105, 200. Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc

² Pomona College Timeline,https://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1900s/1908]

³ Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook, vol. 1, p. 118. Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc

4 Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook, vol. 1, p. 117, Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc

Existing 1890s residential structures built in Claremont:

(1890) Lee House, 353 West Seventh Street (private residence)
(1891) Barrows House, 428 Harrison Avenue (commercial use)
(1891-1893) Norton House, 137 West Seventh Street (private residence)
(1892) 206 West Green Street (private residence)
(1893) Baldwin House, 137 N. College Avenue (educational use)
(1895) 232 Harrison Avenue (commercial use)
(1895) 223 West Bonita Avenue (commercial use)
(1896) 462 West Seventh Street (private residence moved to the location in the early 20th century)
(1896) 231 West Sixth Street (private residence)
(1896) Cook House, 119 N. College (educational use)
(1898) Jencks House, 117/115 West Seventh Street (educational use)

Elizabeth O. Lee at her residence, circa 1894, "built by Miss Lee." Note the ubiquitous pile of Claremont rocks on the corner.¹

Panoramic view from 1893, looking northwest: Lee House is at the far right, facing Warren (College) Avenue, with Dean Edwin Norton's recently completed house shown to the left, facing Seventh Street and directly northwest of the Lee house.¹

Lee House is visible in the background in this May 8, 1903 photograph taken at President Roosevelt's address at Pomona College (Claremont).4

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