Lee House - 1890

Lee House - Victorian Queen Anne 'Free Classic' 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 original owner/resident and its Free Classic Queen Anne style reflect Claremont's emerging collegiate sensibilities and culture of the 1890s. Lee House was built at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Seventh Street by one of Claremont's earliest residents, Miss Elizabeth O. Lee. It is a rare example of the late-Victorian era's Queen Anne Free Classic style: front-gabled, a trio of arched windows, and classical Doric porch columns. This more "classical" style emerged in contrast to the highly decorative and popular Queen Anne Spindlework style for residences of the 1880/1890 era.

Lee House was built at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Seventh Street, at 641 College Avenue (formerly Warren Avenue), northwest of Pomona College’s new Sumner Hall (formerly the Claremont Hotel). Around 1915, Lee House was moved only two blocks west to its present location at 353 West Seventh Street, and part of the front porch was enclosed and the dormers were expanded. The Lee House property was renovated in the early 2000s by its longtime owner Dr. K. M. Williamson.

Pioneering Music Student

Pomona College's alumni records from 1890 show that Miss Elizabeth O. Lee, shown at right circa 1891, attended Pomona College as a student of music. It is notable that Elizabeth Lee resided separately at her own private residence when Pomona College's earliest female students instead resided at Sumner Hall under the direct protection and influence of English Professor Phoebe Estelle Spaulding. Completing her music studies while residing off-campus in her own newly-built home suggests a remarkable degree of personal independence, especially considering how undeveloped the surrounding area was (photo at right: Lee House is at far right).

Early life on College Avenue

In the early 1890s, additional residences for the new college faculty and their families were being either built or moved from elsewhere. Elizabeth Lee's first and nearest neighbor was Edward C. Norton and his family, Pomona College's first Dean, who completed his nearby residence and a small schoolhouse between 1891 and1893, at 137 West Seventh Street. The Norton House still exists at its original location (see panoramic photograph at right).
Moving residences during this era was surprisingly common - land was cheaper, materials and structures were precious. Although Lee House was moved only 2½ blocks, the 1887 Sumner House built among citrus groves three miles away was moved over unpaved rough terrain to its present site in 1901.
One of the most notable events of Claremont's earliest years was the 1903 visit of President Roosevelt. The event is shown at right with Lee House visible in the background.

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References:Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook Collection, p. 105. Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook Collection, p. 200. Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc Wheeler, F. (1884-1938). Wheeler Scrapbook Collection, pp. 118, 212. Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Retrieved from http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/wsc

Elizabeth O. Lee at her residence, circa 1894, stating that she herself had the house built. [Note the ubiquitous pile of Claremont rocks on the corner]

Panoramic view from the early 1890s, looking northwest: Lee House is at the extreme far right of the image, facing Warren (College) Avenue, with Dean Norton's recently built home directly northwest facing Seventh Street. [Photo by F. Brackett]

Lee House is visible in the background in this 1903 photograph taken at President Roosevelt's arrival in Claremont [from the Wheelter Scrapbook labeled "President Roosevelt in Claremont 1903"]

Claremont's existing 1890s residential structures:

(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)

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