Find a local contractor to take a look.

You need a local contractor to really take a look at it in person as from a picture there is not a way to tell you for certain and any one who tells you one way or another I would not trust. Have a professional in your area who is familiar with this style of homes and your area come out and assess it for you.

It stands to reason that not only the perimeter walls but some interior walls are providing support for a stick-built home from that long ago.

Homes like this did not have beams extending across walls.

It appears to be the exterior wall (or the equivalent thereof) of the large cube portion of the building. I don't see how it can not be load bearing, the roof is being held up by it!

That said, you can widen a doorway through it if you install an appropriately sized header or beam and support it down to the foundation.

I would not even trust a contractor get an actual structural engineer to check this out. I had a 1905 house and never assumed anything untl it was checked. by an engineer,My guess is the house is balloon framed so it is not as easy as just framing in a new header

One of the tricks with balloon framing is you can't just support a floor, you have to support the wall above where you want to install a header. Screwing a 2x to the studs above the opening is the usual and you have a roof outside with a ledger. You might add more screws to that ledger and support it with something temp while you work on the door.

Exterior wall + hip roof = load bearing. Anything can be done, though, with appropriate beams, support posts, and foundation work. And signed-off engineering drawings!

I agree - almost certainly load-bearing. Also I would expect the studs in the wall to be 2 stories tall since 1908 puts the house squarely in the balloon framing era. But with care and the right professionals you should be able to woden the opening.

i can clearly see that corner is holding up one quarter of the roof.. how can there be any debate...

this isnt some fancy cantilevered building..

agree with wiegand... and the above...

ken

Absolutely load bearing for all the reasons noted above.

"I would not even trust a contractor get an actual structural engineer to check this out. I had a 1905 house and never assumed anything untl it was checked. by an engineer."

This is not good advice. If a contractor needs an engineer, he's got one on speedial. Engineers are subs on jobs like this. Go ahead, buy a bunch of math you don't need.

If your heart beats funny, you don't go to a cardiologist, you go to your GP. If your GP makes a referral, you go. Same thing.

Awesome picture. What year was it taken? I'm really surprised that a garage and connecting room were built with a house in 1908. With the foundation going under only the main square part of the house, it seems even more likely to me that it was an addition. Yes, with a structural engineer and a bigger budget, you can make some kind of wider opening happen.

Kendrah- the picture was taken in 1914

Here’s the zoomed out photo. It is in a historical book about our city.