The Conro Fiero House, also known as Woodlawn Acres and latterly as the Mon Desir restaurant, was a revival-style Tudor mansion built in 1910 by Conro Fiero. Originally listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on December 9, 1981, it was delisted on June 1, 2011, following its destruction by fire.

History

The original structure was built in 1910 by Conro Fiero, an orchardist, for his wife, Grace Andrews, a Broadway actress. Also known as Woodlawn Acres, the house was the main residence on a estate which was referred to by its original owners as Woodlawn Orchard. They lost the property during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when the fruit industry became unstable. From the mid 1940s the building began to be used as a restaurant, becoming one of the most historic restaurants in the Rogue Valley area over a period of about 50 years. George T. and Lillian E. Ehrheart acquired of the estate, along with the house, in 1943, opening a restaurant that served "Southern-style chicken dinners" in 1946 but it closed within six months. Afterwards a fine-dining establishment was set up by Alex and Julie Tummers. It was the Tummers who first named their restaurant "Mon Desir" which means "my desire" in French. This restaurant remained in operation for ten years. The property was bought by Stanley and Tommie Smith in 1966 and they continued using it as a restaurant until 1979. They added a banquet room and an additional bar in the dining area. The popularity of the restaurant grew during this time as it was listed among the top 250 North American dining establishments. "Mon Desir" then passed into the hands of Russ Walters from 1979 to the 1980s, and then to several other owners, eventually ceasing to function as a restaurant in 2005. It was purchased by the most recent owners, Edic Sliva and Lisa Tollner for $1.7 million in 2005. They bought the property along with other adjoining parcels of land, intending to turn the area into a development consisting of condominiums. Construction never got off the ground. Several other attempts to revive the structure were made. Karaokes were sometimes held there and attempts were made to film a horror movie in 2007 and 2008 but lack of funding stalled the effort. William Link also attempted to revive the old restaurant. The house, located at 4615 Hamrick Road, Central Point, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1981. On Monday January 11, 2010, an early morning fire destroyed the structure, causing it to be delisted on June 1, 2011.

Design

Construction and design of the house is attributed to Whitehouse & Fouilhoux, owned by

Morris H. Whitehouse Morris Homans Whitehouse (March 21, 1878 – April 4, 1944) was an American architect whose work included the design of the Gus Solomon United States Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Biography Whitehouse was born in Portland, Oregon, on Mar ...

and

J. André Fouilhoux Jacques André Fouilhoux (September 27, 1879 – June 20, 1945) was a French-born architect active in the United States from 1904 to 1945.''The New York Times''. (July 21, 1945) ''The New York Times'', p. 1. Accessed August 18, 2020. He is most ...

. It was a one-and-a-half-story bungalow built in the Arts and Crafts style. Construction was completed in 1910. The main structure had a rectangular plan and faced Hamrick Road towards the east. It stood off some from the roadway by a lawn and a driveway. On either end of the front facade there was a projecting

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof with overhanging eaves, faced with barge boards. The upper half of the gables was decorated with timber in horizontal and s-curve shapes. The lower half of the facade was covered with weatherboards. Wings were added on either end towards the back in 1965 and 1968, giving it a U-shape. A lounge was added on one end and an enlarged kitchen towards the other. Two-thirds of the front facade was taken up by a veranda with a sloping roof. The portion of the roof above the veranda was further enhanced with a gable-roofed

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

, decorated with bargeboards and a multi-paned window. The veranda consisted of paired columns. The entrance to the inside was from this veranda. There were three doorsthe main door with doors on either side. Each door was hung with strapwork hinges believed to have been custom-made by Honeyman Hardware of Portland. The interior of the structure was finished with plaster and paneling. A chimney, faced with bricks, was also present. Other features included a chimney stack in close proximity to the main structure, towards the southern end. Built of brick, the chimney also had a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led necking and a tapered flue liner. There are two double-hung windows. There was also a

well house Well houses (Arabic: ''Biara'') were farmsteads established in the vicinity of orange groves in mid-19th century Palestine. In addition to luxury villas, the complex included a well, a water storage pool, a pumping system and irrigation channels. ...

with a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

towards the rear.

References

External links

Images of Conro Fiero House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiero, Conro House 1910 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Ashland, Oregon Former National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Historic district contributing properties in Oregon Houses completed in 1910 Houses in Jackson County, Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, Oregon