This is considered the oldest house in the Court-Chemeketa Historic Residential District. Probably built by Alvin Waller, pioneer Methodist missionary and advocate for Willamette University (where Waller hall, which he helped build, is named for him) and his son, a carpenter. Originally on State Street, east of the C. C. Stratton house, it has been moved twice. In 1893, Martin O. Chamberlin, Waller's brother-in-law, moved the house to his property across 17th Street at Court Street. It remained there until 1912 when it was moved again to its present site. Rose Chamberlin, as a widow, owned the house until 1925, but rented it. Several Willamette professors lived there and the 1926-7 Sanborn map shows it as a kindergarten. Three other families owned the property until the present owners purchased it in 1980.
Considerable additional information, written by Bonnie and Roger Hull (owners), is available in the Court-Chemeketa National Register nomination for the district. The Hulls are prominent members of the neighborhood group who researched the homes in the district and Bonnie was Committee Chairman when the nomination was prepared in 1986.
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