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MA-born Businessman Charles W. Slocum (1835-1912) became a master carpenter in Providence, RI, and resettled in Vancouver, WA, by 1858, working first at Fort Vancouver as a carpenter and, in 1861, as the fort's building superintendent. While he worked at the fort, Slocum became a pioneer merchant, partnering with James Crawford to open the first Crawford and Slocum Company general store in Vancouver c. 1860. They opened other stores in Walla Walla, WA, Lewiston, ID (1862) and Boise, ID (1863). Slocum married in 1861 and began building his governmental connections at Fort Vancouver and other places, friendships that paid off in the form of frequent Federal government contacts. By 1877, he decided to spend some of his wealth on a new dwelling, an ornate, Italianate design with two floors and a wraparound front porch. Construction began in 05/1877 and ended early the following year.

The Italianate in the US began on the East Coast in the 1840s, popularized through the architectural pattern book, Rural Residences (1835), published by Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892); the Slocum House was a late example of this Classically-derived style. It included such Italianate features as its pedimented gable, low-pitched roof (in this case a hipped and gabled one), trabeated windows, prominent corbels seen at the eaves line, scrollwork brackets, rooftop balustrade, and a rooftop belvedere.

PCAD id: 19206