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Located at 15 S 200 E in Fairview, Utah, the James Anderson house is architecturally significant as an extremely ornamented example of folk/vernacular house design. The 1 1/2 story hall and parlor home with wall dormers became a favorite building type for Utah builders in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s. The basic house has been recorded in the state devoid of stylistic trim, with Greek revival features, Gothic finials, and with decorative features associated with later pattern-book Victorian thinking. The James Anderson house is a classic example of the latter”- the fusion of an older vernacular concept of house plan with an innovative (and quite speculator really) approach to external visual appearance. Given the potential for elaboration, the builder-architect of the Anderson House approached the extravagant. The controlling order of the old symmetrical folk model prevented excesses and the end result is a house of considerable elegance and beauty. (*)
James Anderson was a successful Fairview farmer and merchant and his achievements are mirrored in the fine house he built in the 1880s. Born in 1842, the son of Mormon converts, Archibald and Agnes Anderson, James came to Utah from Scotland with his family in the March of 1860. James married Hannah M. Cheney in 1866 and prospered as local farmer, ultimately acquiring some 70 acres of land and 3000 sheep. He was elected a member of the City Council, was president of the Fairview Co-op, was on the board at Fairview State Bank, was named a director of the Union Roller Mills, and held stock in the local creamery.
The James Anderson house in Fairview is an extremely colorful variant of the folk/vernacular “hall and parlor” house plan. Decorative effects are achieved here by using red brick trim against the dominate yellow brick background to define and dramatize the prominent features of the house.
The Anderson house faces west and is 1 1/2 stories high with a one story rear “T” extension to the east rear. The house’s main western section has four rooms in the normal hall and parlor “two-over-two” arrangement. The house is steedly gabled with a corbelled stove chimney placed slightly off center on the ridge. Porches occur on the sides of the frame one story rear “T” and a brick segmented bay protrudes from the north end. There is a hipped porch on the facade topped by a fine spindled balcony which is reached by the second level front door. The balcony woodwork is repeated on the side bay window. There is a symmetrical three-opening facade with upper wall dormers.
Stylistically the Anderson house is rather eclectic with the colorful red brick bordering its most distinctive feature. The house corners are solid red brick bordered by alternating yellow and red brick courses. This red-yellow marquetry is found around all the doors and windows and on the side bay. The window and door heads are segmented relieving arches with three rows of alternating red and yellow header courses. There are simple cornice returns on the gables. Both the end gables and dormer gables contain intricate fan-bracketing. The house remains unaltered and in excellent condition.
