Downtown Art Moderne
Located just 1.2 miles from downtown Portland this house offers exceptional convenience and amenities for those wanting to live virtually downtown and have the advantages of a single family house with a yard.
The home was built in 1937 and is featured in Bill Hawkins book The Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon as an example of the Art Moderne style which is often cited as being inspired by the sleek oceanliners of the era. Says Hawkins:
"Most prominent is the curve-ended second floor balcony, strongly resembling the flying bridge of a 1930s ocean liner. The remainder of the house is composed of intersecting stucco-covered rectilinear forms, with all wall surfaces, including the rectilinear windows, in the same plane, without relief."
The lack of applied ornament and the flush windows detail create a pleasing planar effect which accentuates the clean geometric form of the house. This clean geometry, an essence of modernism, is enriched with a wonderful historical sense (LeCorbusier comes to mind).
The house was built for Harvey S. Hudson, an insurance magnate. Hawkins attributes the house to Roscoe Hemenway, a prominent architect of the day who worked mostly in more traditional styles popular at that time. The uniqueness of this house in his oeuvre may be explained by some research a previous owner of this house did. He found a grandson of Hudson who communicated that the house was actually based upon a drawing that the grandson had done when he was in high school. The grandson says that his drawing was influenced by photos of houses in France that he had been looking at. He entered the drawing in a high school art competition and won a prize. His grandfather, Harvey Hudson, liked the drawing and the style so much that he commissioned the house based upon it. So perhaps Hemenway was just following orders.
The current owners have done extensive upgrades to the home including:
- upstairs now features 4 bedrooms including master with own bath
- new windows upstairs
- three completely redone bathrooms with high end finishes and fixtures (see slide show details)
- updated kitchen with marble counters and two walk-in pantries
- new and updated electrical throughout
- completely replumbed with Wirsbo plumbing
- new 60 mil IB membrane roof (Energystar Affiliated) with transferable warranty
- new lighting fixtures throughout
- new hard-scaped driveway and stairs
- all new exterior and interior paint
location, location, location...
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- 1.2 miles to downtown
- very close proximity to PSU and OHSU
- downtown farmers market-best in city
- immediate access to Duniway and Terwilliger Parkways
- Schools: Ainsworth, West Sylvan, Lincoln
- views of Mt Hood and Mt St Helens, Willamette River, city lights
- beautiful landscaping with large level backyard
