20 Cascade Avenue, Charles Shober and Clara Vance Siewers House, 1917

Although many houses in the Washington Park historic district have Colonial Revival elements, the Siewers House is a fully rendered example. A large German-sided frame house with one-story side porches supported by paired Doric columns, the side-gabled roof includes three gable dormers to the front, each with arched windows. The distinctive tripartite entrance surround features fluted Doric columns supporting a central pediment above a recessed, glazed, double-leaf door, and multi pane sidelights and transoms flanked by paneled pilasters. The interior woodwork is significant.

Siewers (1878-1932), from a prominent Salem family, started as a salesman with Forsyth Manufacturing Company, then later founded and became president of Forsyth Chair Company. He invested in and eventually managed Forsyth Iron Bed Company, Forsyth Manufacturing Company, Forsyth Chair Company, and Forsyth Dining Room Furniture Company, merging the five plants to create Forsyth Furniture Lines, Inc. in 1922. (All of these plants were located just across South Main Street in what is today the Centerville and Sunnyside historic districts.) Siewers also served several terms on the board of commissioners of Salem prior to its consolidation with Winston.

The Siewers were living in Salem when they commissioned noted local architect Willard C. Northup to design a home closer to their factories with construction by Fogle Brothers Company. The home was damaged by a fire in the early 1930s that required a renovation and roof replacement. Upon Clara Siewers 1963 death, the property was given by the estate to the Moravian Music Foundation (https://moravianmusic.org/). The house served as offices and the library of the Foundation (founded in 1956) until 2001 when the home was purchased by Dr. Charles Turner, a grandson of the Siewers, and his wife Lynn. The Turners then completed a restoration of the house.