Résumé

Draftsman, Whidden and Lewis, Architects, Portland, OR, c. 1890-1891.

Partner, [Kirtland Kelsey] Cutter and Lewis, Architects, Portland, OR, c. 1902-1904;

Principal, David C. Lewis, Architect, Portland, OR, 1904-1911. In 1917, Lewis maintained his office in Room #413 of the Couch Building in Portland, a building he designed.

The Oregonian newspaper stated in its obituary for Lewis: "More than a year ago Mr. Lewis was compelled to relinquish his business activities. Despite every precaution his condition grew steadily worse." (See "David C. Lewis Is Dead – Prominent Portland Architect Passes In California," The Oregonian, 04/05/1918, p. 23.)

Lewis worked in association with Frank P. Allen, Jr., (1880-1943), Architect, on the European Exhibits Building at the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905. Allen also worked as Director of Works for Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE) in 1909.

Lewis developed an association with H. Goodwin Beckwith, Architect for the design of the Railway Exchange Building, Portland, OR.

College

Graduate, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1890.

graduate coursework, Columbia University, New York, NY, c. 1893.

Lewis studied for one year in Paris, France, c. 1895.

Relocation

David C. Lewis was born to a prosperous, pioneer family in Portland, OR. His father, Cicero Hunt Lewis, Sr., arrived in Portland in 1851, when it was little more than a hamlet. Cicero married Clementine F. Couch, daughter of another early mercantile family, on 01/18/1857. During the 1850s and 1860s, the Couch and Lewis Families grew dramatically in size and wealth. In 1870, when David was three, his immediate family had six brothers and sisters and three domestic servants. The US Census of 1870 recorded that Cicero, controlled real estate worth $15,000 and had $10,000 in his personal estate. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1870; Census Place: Portland, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: M593_1287; Page: 192A; Image: 152458; Family History Library Film: 552786, accessed 05/30/2017.) By the late 1870s, David would have ten siblings.

David left Portland to attend Princeton University and Columbia University for undergraduate and graduate study, respectively. Between stints in school, Lewis returned to Portland c. 1890 to work; he visited Europe after Columbia, and then resettled in Portland. In 1900, he lived with his mother, six siblings and one sister-in-law at 125 19th Street in Portland, OR. This must have been a capacious mansion able to board that many family members and six servants including three household staff, two gardeners and a coachman. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Portland Ward 2, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: 1348; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0043; FHL microfilm: 1241349, accessed 05/30/2017.)

According to the US Census of 1910, he lived in both Portland, OR (on 04/21-22/1910) and New York, NY (05/07/1910). His Portland address was 285 21st Street, where he lived with his wife and two maids. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Portland Ward 2, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: T624_1285; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0131; FHL microfilm: 1375298, accessed 05/30/2017.) His temporary New York address was 276 5th Avenue, the Holland House Apartment Building. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 21, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1037; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 1270; FHL microfilm: 1375050, accessed 05/30/2017.)

Due to ill health, he relocated to the California Sanatorium in Belmont, CA, c. 1917; he died here on 04/03/1918. His death certificate listed his place of residence as 285 North 21st Street in Portland, OR, and it indicated that Lewis had lived in the California Sanitorium for four months before his death. (The Portland, Oregon, City Directory, 1917, [p. 695] also listed his permanent address as 285 North 21st Street.) He was laid to rest in Riverview Cemetery in Portland, CA.

Parents

His father was Cicero Horatius Lewis, (born 1826 in Cranbury, NJ-d. 01/04/1897), who worked in 1880 as a wholesale grocer and was a prominent benefactor of the local Episcopalian church. His maternal grandfather was the early Portland, OR, businessman, Captain John Heard Couch (1811-1870), his maternal grandmother, Caroline E. Flanders Couch. His mother was Clementine Freeman Couch (born 10/1838 in Newburyport, MA-d. 1914), who had 11 children, all of whom survived into adulthood. David had a brother, Lucius Allen Lewis (1863-1935), for whom he designed a residence in 1901. Other siblings were: Mary Emma Lewis Bingham (1857-1944), John Couch Lewis (1859-1939), Elizabeth Lewis Good (1863-1928), Evelyn Scott Lewis Mills (1865-1936), Sarah Heard Lewis (01/1870-1964), Robert W. (born 12/1872), Cicero Hunt Lewis (07/24/1875-1952), Clementine Lewis Hall (09/1877-1965) and Francis (born 08/1880 in OR).

Spouse

Lewis married Etta Jane Honeyman (b. 01/25/1884 in Portland, OR-d. 03/07/1932 in Phoenix, AZ) on 06/20/1906 in Portland. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Oregon State Library; Salem, Oregon; Oregon Marriage Indexes, 1906-2006; Reel: 1, accessed 05/30/2017.) her parents were William Honeyman (1840-1899) and Jane C. Dawson. They married 01/27/1864.

She subsequently married Jordan V. Zan (1876-1966). Etta Zan died in Phoenix, AZ, following a traffic accident at the age of 47.

Biographical Notes

Richard Ellison Ritz in his Architects of Oregon (Portland: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002), indicated incorrectly on p. 251 that his date of birth was December 21, 1867, not November 21, 1867. The correct date of birth is in David C. Chambers's own hand in an application to the Sons of the American Revolution, of 03/07/1900. See Ancestry.com "U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 Record for David Chambers Lewis." Accessed 03/25/2013. The application stated that Lewis was descended from David Chambers born 09/25/1768 in Trenton, NJ, who served as a NJ Militia Colonel during the Revolutionary War from 1776-1779. He fought at the Battle of Trenton, 12/26/1776.

• Portland, OR (Architect's Birth)
  Portland, OR

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• Belmont, CA (Architect's Death)
  Belmont, CA

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