The Thomas A. Livesley House, built in 1924, was renamed Mahonia Hall after a group of citizens raised funds for the State to purchase it as Oregon's first official Governor's Mansion in 1988. It is located on a hillside lot at 555 Lincoln Street South in the prestigious Fairmount Hill neighborhood in Salem, Marion County, Oregon. The spacious half-timber, Tudor-style home was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, founder and first Dean of the University of Oregon School of Architecture and designer of Whitman College. Lawrence also designed churches, residences, and various parks in Portland, Salem and other areas. Mahonia Hall overlooks downtown Salem to the north; Minto Island, the Willamette Slough and Willamette River to the west and northwest. The home was designed for entertainment with a dormered ballroom on the third floor, an organ, and a wine cellar. Thomas Livesley, whose father had been a hop dealer in Wisconsin and Seattle, became Oregon's largest grower of hops in Oregon and was known as the "Hop King." Livesley was involved in many business ventures, including the Oregon Linen Mills, export trade with England and promoting the hop industry in Canada, where he became President of the Canadian Hop Growers, Ltd. As Mayor of Salem from 1927-1931 and State Representative for Marion County 1937-1939 he was a leader in the Oregon Democratic Party. In 1927 Livesley built Salem's first skyscraper, the eleven-story First National Bank Building/Capital Tower at State & Liberty Streets. The Livesley House/Mahonia Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
DATE
1992
SUBJECTS
Salem, Oregon; Marion County; Lincoln Street; Mahonia Hall; Livesley House; Livesley, Thomas A.; Livesley, Edna; Oregon Governor's Mansion; National Register of Historic Places
PHOTOGRAPHER
Norman, James
OBJECT
b/w photo
DIMENSIONS
8 in. x 10 in.
CREDITS & RESTRICTIONS
Norman, James
ADDRESS
533
STREET
Lincoln Street S
REMARKS
Information is taken primarily from South Salem News, November 15, 1983.
