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Building History

North Carolina-born Nelson Gales Blalock (1836-1913) trained as a physician at the Jefferson Medical School in Saint Louis, MO, and served in the Union Army as a surgeon during the Civil War. until 1863. After the war, he returned to start a practice in IL. Within a decade, Blalock ventured West to start a new life in the Walla Walla Valley, arriving on 05/29/1873. Blalock operated a medical practice, but also founded several other businesses including lumber milling, wheat farming and fruit-tree growing.

Prior to 1905, he resided in a three-story dwelling on North 2nd Street, but moved to this two-floor residence at 253 Marcus Street in 1905. Dr. Blalock passed away in 1913. (See Penny Andres, Walla Walla / Her Historic Homes, Vol. III, [Walla Walla, WA: Saxum Publications, 1998], pp. 6-7.)

Building Notes

The Blalock House had a transitional stylistic character. It still demonstrated formal variety with its dormers, projecting front port and bay window consistent with Queen Anne style design, but it also reflected the Colonial Revival's emphasis on simplification and symmetry. The oval window gracing the front dormer can be found in other Colonial Revival dwellings. The building also lacked the scrollwork, turned posts and complex color schemes of the Queen Anne style.

PCAD id: 25361