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Owe �oao�rtva raz�.a0 � a NPS Fain 10- 9C0-a United S a e s Department of the interior National Park Service • National Register of Historic Places Continuation- Sheet Section number — Page c___ Dr. Arch Jordan House Orange County, North Carolina the traditional two-story form to communicate their status and taste . "5 The pattern and style chosen by Dr. Jordan was widely available through popular pattern books , and ornate materials made easier to attain by post-civil-war industrial and transportation advances . While other examples of Italianate styling appear in several rural Orange County houses, the Dr. Arch Jordan house is clearly the most ornate, complete, and ' best preserved example of this architectural style in Orange County. The Pitard House (Study List #OR 829) , for example, while displaying Italianate features such as decorative window and door moldings, a round-topped and* divided front door, and a low-hipped roof, lacks the extent of decorative Italiante styling of the Dr. Arch Jordan house. A very similarly designed house to the Pitard House located in the same township (Study List #OR 818) likewise displays limited Italianate features, but again, is not as complete an example of the style as the Jordan house, and is in poor condition. The John Kenion house (Study List # OR 736), while exhibiting select characteristics of the Italiante style such as bracketed eaves and arched window surrounds, projects an overall style of Victorian eclectic . The authors of the comprehensive survey of Orange County historic resources found the Dr. Arch Jordan house to be "the most elaborate late nineteenth century dwelling in rural Orange County, " and an architectural history of Orange County concluded that among the many structures portraying picturesque architecture, the Jordan house is the clearest rural Orange County example of the Italianate style. 7 Social History Context: The Dr. Arch Jordan house is secondarily significant for its association with important community members and institutions of Caldwell, North Carolina, Dr. Archibald Currie Jordan was the premier physician for this small rural community in the twenty-five years from 1881 to 1906, and made many contributions to community life. Beyond serving as the local medical professional, he served as a teacher, trustee, and financial supporter of the Caldwell Institute (at one point also called the Caldwell Academy) , a local school. The Caldwell Institute was formed in the mid- 1800s as a day school, became a boarding school in the late 1800s, and later served as the Caldwell community ' s public school. Jordan also served the school and community in opening, along with his brother Thomas, a general store/pharmacy across the road from his house, which came to be known as the Jordan Brothers ' Store. The store/pharmacy enabled community members and Academy students to get their prescriptions filled without making the seven-mile trip to Hillsborough. Such cross-roads stores were vital institutions in rural Orange County, providing loans and credit to neighborhood farmers in tough economic times, and needed s Richard L. Mattson, "History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina," 49. e Ibid., 49 ; 47. - --- - — - - - -- - - - - - - - 7 Jody Carter and Todd Peck, "Historic Resources of Orange County, " unpublished manuscript (Hillsborough, NC: Orange County Planning and Development Department, 1993 ), 66; Richard L. Mattson, "History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina," 49 .