Feature 294: 616 West Maple Avenue (in 2011)

Classification: Contributing.
Historic Name: Allen House.
Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival.
Construction Date: 1936.
Period 4 of Harry S Truman’s Life: Attaining National Prominence, 1934-1953.
Tax Identification: 26-340-01-05.
Legal Description: Moore's Addition, part of lots 10 and 11.
Description: Contributing two-story wood-frame dwelling; irregular in shape; hipped roof with slightly projecting eaves, clad with composition shingles; stucco exterior; four-over-one double-hung sash wood windows; leaded glass in some windows; cut stone foundation with daylight basement. The property is located on a large corner lot with mature hedges along west sidewalk. The yard features several coniferous shade trees.
• A contributing wood-frame garage with hipped roof and stucco siding dates to the house construction [Feature 295].
History/Significance: This lot is located only one-half block south of the Gates/Wallace/Truman house, across an alley, which also runs between the properties. Margaret Truman played with the four Allen sisters (Marie, Harriet, Mona, and Barbara) when growing up at 219 North Delaware Street. Charles Allen worked as a physician in Independence for many years. The Allens lived in this house into at least the 1950s.
Charles H. Allen and his wife had this house built around 1936. It replaced an earlier two-story rectangular dwelling, with a porch across the West Maple Avenue facade, occupied by Ephraim Crow and his wife; both were opticians.