Norris House

Historic house in California, United States

United States historic place


Norris House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


37°26′33″N 122°8′57″W / 37.44250°N 122.14917°W / 37.44250; -122.14917
Area	less than one acre
Built	1927 (1927)
Built by	Goodenough, Wells
Architect	Clark, Birge
Architectural style	Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	80000859^[1]
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1980

The Norris House is a historic house located at 1247 Cowper St. in Palo Alto, California. The house was built in 1927 for Kathleen Norris, a novelist and columnist who was once the highest-paid female author in the United States, and her husband Charles Gilman Norris, also a noted novelist. Kathleen Norris' novels featured female characters who represented her ideals of motherhood and moral virtue; her columns appeared in major magazines and included both short stories and advice columns. Charles Gilman Norris wrote novels which touched on contemporary social issues and served as Kathleen's agent.^[2]

In 1949, the Diocese of San Francisco purchased the house to serve as the Newman Center for Stanford University. Around 2000 the house was sold into private hands again.^[3]

Architect Birge Clark designed the Spanish Colonial Revival house. At the time, the house was Clark's largest and most expensive design. The house's layout features several one- and two-story sections surrounding a patio. The house is built from white stucco with a tile roof; handcrafted ironwork and woodwork is used in the beams and decorations.^[2]

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1980.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Boghosian, Paula; Beach, John (May 31, 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Norris House". National Park Service. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
^ "Catholic Community at Stanford, History". Retrieved April 28, 2016.