A recent discussion at the Architectural Heritage Center led to the question
What is the oldest standing house in Portland?
James B. Stephens House - SE 12th Avenue - Portland, Oregon
To our knowledge, within the city limits it’s the James B. Stephens House on SE 12th Avenue. The circa 1864 house was moved to its present location in the early 1900s.
Of course, outside Portland there are a number of older homes still standing. In Oregon City there are several that predate the Stephens house, including the well-known McLoughlin House.
So as a result of this discussion and the recent interest in house history, we thought it would be both fun and informative to gather a list of the oldest homes in the Portland Metro area. In addition to Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties, we should also include Vancouver and Clark County, Washington, since they too have some interesting historic homes from before Oregon achieved statehood.
To get things started, here’s the beginning of a list of the oldest known standing homes in the Portland area.
1845 Francis Ermatinger House – Oregon City (On the Historic Preservation League of Oregon’s 10 Most Endangered Buildings list for 2011)
1846 Dr. John McLoughlin House – Oregon City
1847 William Holmes House (aka The Rose Farm) – Oregon City
1849 Dr. Forbes Barclay House – Oregon City
1850 Morton McCarver House – Oregon City
1851 Captain J.C. Ainsworth House – Oregon City
1856 Alvin T. Smith House – Forest Grove
1859 Thomas Hines House – Forest Grove
c. 1864 James B. Stephens House – Portland
1865 Governor Curry House (attributed) – Portland
1870 1728 SE Belmont – Portland
1872 Jacob Kamm House – Portland
1873 Benjamin Cornelius Jr. House – Forest Grove
If you know about a home that should be on this list, please send it our way.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out this upcoming AHC program on House History Research.
Don’t forget the Commanding Officer’s Quarters at Fort Vancouver, presently known as the Grant House on Officers Row in Vancouver, WA. Completed in 1850 & still open to the public today as the Grant House Restaurant!
My house! The Thaddeus Fisher House, 915 SE 33rd Ave and Belmont! 1881
Another one to add – 6119 N Villard, Portland (1894). A little “younger” than what is listed above, but we think it’s one of the older homes in the Arbor Lodge area (excepting the John Mock house, of course!) We’ve only started to scratch away at the history.
Just heard today about a house in St. Johns that may date to 1855. The house is on N. Edison and has been heavily altered, but it’s certainly possible. Supposedly it was moved to its present location from near the river back c. 1905. If this proves to be true, that would bump the Stephens House from the top of the list for the oldest house within the Portland city limits.
1859 Augustus Fanno Farmhouse – Beaverton It was donated by the family to the Tualitan Hill Park & Rec Dept. in 1982. It stands in its original location off of Hall Blvd. just west of 217
Does that make the Belmont house the oldest one in the city in its original location?
Great list–thank you for sharing this. I’ll be looking for these houses while out and about in PDX.
The Canemah National Register District has 24 structures dating from 1859-1880. However, some of them are in better shape than others. I will send you a PDF of them to you to add to your list.
We now have all survey forms and area history online – check us out at http://www.orcity.org/planning and look for us under the historic info drop down menu.
Christina Robertson-Gardiner- Preservation Planner, City of Oregon City.
There’s a small farmhouse at 35 NE Fremont Ave in Portland. The construction date is listed as 1860 at Portlandmaps.com I don’t know if this is verifiable, but the house appears distinctly older than the 1880s houses nearby.
Ted Buehler
Interesting! Thanks for sending this our way. We’ll have to investigate further.
http://www.zillow.com once had a feature where you could search all the houses in an area by date of construction. I’m no longer able to do this — I can only search “for sale” and “recently sold” houses this way. Someone clever with the user interface might figure out what buttons to click and search the whole city of Portland for homes build between 1800 and 1865 to see if there are any other old farmhouses out there.
Ted Buehler
There was a Brooklyn Neighborhood newsletter a few years back talking about one of the houses on SE. Pershing Street that was from the 1860′s that is still in original location and has been altered very little. I can’t remeber the name but the original owner was German and the Brooklyn historical society could find the information for you.
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