The property on which the house sits was part of an 1850 640-acre land claim by William S. and Mary Jane Torrance.

A 19-acre portion of the property, located in Dunthorpe which was then known as Rivera, was acquired in 1904 by Henry Ladd Corbett, a prominent politician and businessman who twice served as President of the Oregon State Senate.

[1] The house was built in 1915 and 1916 by Corbett, who had married Gretchen Hoyt in 1908.

It was a large two-story home with 7,000 square feet (650 m2) of interior space.

In addition to the family living areas, there was a two-story servants' wing connected to the main house.