Historic Property #4: Nellie Bosworth Dormody House

Address: 2968 Coloma Street (Historically, 51 Coloma Street)

Year Built: 1939

Architect: Unknown

Builder: Bob Beach

Architectural Style: Minimal Traditional with Storybook/Cottage Elements

Built in 1939 on what was known as the last vacant lot on Coloma Street, this seven room home was constructed by local contractor Bob Beach for the recently widowed Nellie Elizabeth Bosworth Dormody. She commissioned the residence after her High Street property was acquired for the Placerville Sanatorium. The house aligns with the Minimal Traditional style, which dominated United States residential construction in the late 1930s and 1940s. Serving as an affordable late Depression era evolution of earlier Tudor and Colonial Revival homes, the structure features a compact footprint, an efficient layout, simple rectangular massing, and a moderately pitched roof.

Storybook and English Cottage elements beautifully distinguish the home. The asymmetrical front facade is anchored by a prominent exterior chimney featuring irregular stonework that evokes medieval craftsmanship. Likely utilizing local fieldstone, the chimney demonstrates a regional adaptation of national styles to the Sierra Foothills. A steep front facing gable creates a picturesque composition, complemented by original multi pane windows that reflect Tudor influences. The raised foundation and front steps adapt the structure to its sloped lot. Interestingly, the front steps and retaining wall were likely retained from the old Wren property that previously stood on the site. The home preserves many original features today, including refinished oak flooring, original front windows, a period fireplace, and a solid wood entry door with 1930s hardware.

Courtesy: El Dorado County Historical Museum

Nellie Dormody was a towering figure in the civic life of Placerville. Born at Cedar Hill Farm in 1863, she became an educator at age sixteen when she opened a private school in her mother's parlor. She taught at Green Valley and Pilot Hill under poet and County Superintendent Edwin Markham, later running a private school on Clay Street for eleven years. In 1891, she married pioneer merchant, miner, and Deputy Sheriff Leonard J. Dormody. A dedicated civic leader, Nellie served three terms as president of the Placerville Shakespeare Club, State Treasurer of the Federation of Women's Clubs, and El Dorado County World War I chairwoman for the National League of Women's Service. Following the passing of Leonard in 1938, Nellie resided in her Coloma Street home until her own passing in 1953.