Williams House - Determination of Eligibility

Groundwork Planning & Preservation was hired by the Redwood National Park South Operations Center to prepare a Determination of Eligibility (DOE) form for the Williams House in Humboldt County, California. The DOE was structured in the form of a historic resource assessment report with accompanying State of California survey forms (DPR 523 series) and was commissioned with the purpose of compliance with Section 106 regulations prior to maintenance and upgrades of the property by the NPS.

In Humboldt County, the Orick valley is nestled within the Redwood State and National Parks and was an important contributor to the logging industry from 1950 to 1970. The Geneva Lumber Company was one of two large mills established in the Orick valley during the northern California lumber boom. In 1944, Arcata Redwood Co. purchased the area where the subject property now sits and began leasing a portion to the Geneva Lumber Company. The Geneva Lumber Company eventually acquired the property over a period between 1948 and 1951, and in 1951 the Williams House was constructed for the company superintendent William (Bill) Calvert. The Williams House today is a ranch-style residence used as National Park Service seasonal employee housing.
During preparation of the DOE, Groundwork completed research using primary and secondary sources collected at Cal Poly Humboldt University Library archives and the Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. Research also included online sources such as Ancestry.com for genealogy information including the U.S. Federal Census and related biographical records.
The DOE concluded that the Williams House did not appear eligible as a historic resource because it is a common example of the Ranch style and has been heavily modified. The NPS will utilize the information in the DOE to inform future management of the property.