Nils Ahlstrom House

The Nils Ahlstrom House was built for Nils Ahlstrom, then a conductor with the Southern Pacific Railroad.[3] Ahlstrom, who was born in Sweden in 1829, relocated to Ashland, Oregon with his wife, Lavinia, also Swedish.[4]

The house was built near the Ashland Depot shortly after the railroad that connected Ashland to Portland, Oregon, and northern California was completed in December 1887.[3] The land on which the house was built was bought from George H. Andrews early in 1888. The two-story structure was built by John Fruhan[5] and completed about October of that year. The construction of the structure was reported to have cost $800.[6] The structure housed Ahlstrom's family, though five of his children died during a diphtheria outbreak.[3] Ahlstrom died in May 1902 and his wife in 1920. Ownership then passed to one of their children. Currently the house remains privately owned.[4][5]

The classical revival structure was raised by John Fruhan, then a local workman.[3][5] The building is T-shaped, incorporating a rectangular main structure and an additional wing towards the back.[3]

The two-story structure rests on a stone foundation and has a hipped roof. There are four double-hung sash windows towards the front. Decorative moldings line the tops of the windows and the door frames. On the inside the main rectangular structure hosts four rooms downstairs with a kitchen and pantry located on the lower level in the wing section. Upstairs are five bedrooms, one of which is located, along with a bath and the staircase that leads from below, in the wing. The house also boasts two chimneys.[7]

The house, which was entered on the National Register of Historic Places, also forms part of the Ashland Railroad Addition Historic District.[8] The Ahlstrom house represents the type of structures common among railroad workers during the era just after the completion of the railroad.[7] It was one of the first such structures to be built in Ashland during that period.[7]