Adolph Olaveson came to Canada from Norway in 1873 and built his home with his wife Julia and four children circa 1896, in the area which is now known as Swedetown. The architectural style is “Ontario Worker’s Cottage.” It has a central front door flanked on either side by large rectangular vertical windows. The front part is the original cottage, an extensive addition having been tacked on at the rear. The original section has a steep gable roof parallel to the road. Adolph was a master plasterer in constant demand to finish the walls of municipal buildings, homes and businesses that were being rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1887. Julia was a midwife who assisted with many births. The property currently is operated as Four Ninety Bed and Breakfast. The Jurigas owned the property for a number of years.
Olaveson House is a one-and-a-half storey, rectangular plan, wood frame construction with a side gable roof, scalloped shingles in the side gables, clapboard siding, small
flat-headed windows in the side gables, flat-headed eight-over-eight windows on the first storey of the east and west elevations, and a central single door entrance on the
south elevation flanked by two flat-headed eight-over-eight windows. On the north elevation, there is a one-and-a-half storey, rectangular addition with a gable roof, clapboard siding, and a balcony on the northern end. There is also a small shed roofed addition to the northeast corner of the main structure that contains a single door
entrance.