The two-story bungalow located at 514 Siskiyou Boulevard in Ashland was built in 1909 from plans drawn by leading Rogue River Valley Architect, Frank Chamberlain Clark.  The pedigreed home’s design, setting, materials, workmanship and association with prominent local banker and state legislator E. V. Carter make this home one of Ashland’s finest historic properties.

One of the three largest bungalows in Ashland, the Carter-Fortmiller House is distinguished by broad horizontal lines, upturned eaves, and an outside end chimney of both stone and brick. The interior is finished is in pure Arts and Crafts tradition with appropriate enriching details. Originally dark-stained, exterior siding has been painted. Trim was historically white and remains so. The stone foundation is carried into the chimney base, while brick runs the rest of the chimney height. Oriental influence is suggested in the curved eaves of the gable of a single-story bay on the south end of the house, a design element not repeated elsewhere in Ashland bungalows. The use of beveled and leaded glass in sidelights of doors and windows is also unique to the home, and are all intact to this day.

The large double lot was carefully landscaped. According to local tradition, E. V. Carter invited San Francisco landscape Architect John McLaren to plan his new yard when the latter was in Ashland to design Lithia Park.  John McLaren’s other designs include Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Central Park in New York City.

The Carter House replaced a Queen Anne Style house originally on the lot and built in 1886.  The Carters occupied the Queen Anne for 17 years prior to its relocation to the opposite side of Siskiyou Boulevard in 1908, where it still is today. The Queen Anne E. V. Carter House was entered into the National Register in 1979. Carter resided in his second house on Siskiyou Boulevard for 24 years. Following his death in 1933, the house passed into the hands of department store executive C. W. Fortmiller, who occupied it until 1946.

The Carter-Fortmiller House is surrounded by houses of equal and older vintage. E. V. Carter was responsible for the plan and layout of Siskiyou Boulevard, which provides primary access to Ashland from the south. The proximity of Carter’s earlier house, constructed in 1886, creates a special circumstance for Ashland. The two houses represent almost fifty years of E.V. Carter’s life in Ashland. Both structures indicate his ability and determination to have an up-to-date residence. The George Taverner House at 912 Siskiyou Boulevard, the Chappel-Swedenburg House, owned by Southern Oregon University, and the Ashland Carnegie Library are distinctive structures nearby on the same side of the Boulevard.  Ashland continues to work for the preservation of historic buildings.