Given Portland’s sheer volume of fabulous historic homes—plus the quantity of fine architects working today—asking five experts to pick the 10 greatest residences in the city’s history might have sounded the bell for an architectural cage fight. But despite vast aesthetic differences (and deep philosophical discussion about the meaning of “greatest”), the quintet of judges Portland Monthly invited to tackle the task found consensus in just a few hours on not only the top 10 but even a single all-time favorite.
Published: April 2011
Mr. Tice, I suggest you read the article more carefully. Only one of the houses listed has been torn down and replaced by a parking lot.
Is it just me, or did NW and SW Portland seem a bit over-represented. . .
Will we be able to tour the Watzek house soon?
Such a shame that most of these exist now only as memories and parking lots.
If we accept Carter’s definition, then it follows that a family of 6 living under the Burnside Bridge may be the finest ‘home’ in the city…. Whether you recognize it or not, the built environment- be it a house or a city- impacts your quality of life in ways large and small 24/7. With that as a given, seems to me we might as well try to make the most of it.
A wonderful selection and history. Have a particular place in my heart for the Lloyd Frank house and have wondered about it’s possible influence on the design of Timberline. Something about the way it bends against the mountain set behind it is very similar.
An interesting list. Any list restricted to ten homes would have to be incomplete, but I would have liked to see these as a timeline rather than a ranked set, then maybe small images of some of your also-rans. On that note, I was surprised to see the jewel of a home Joachim Grube designed for his family in the 1960s hadn’t made either the main list or the Jurors’ Picks slideshow.
Greatest homes? Not quite. A great home is the product of the people living in it, and it has nothing to do with architecture. What you have here is a collection of well-designed houses. A house is a structure. A home is where people live.
Thanks for sharing these homes. Being a Portland native it is nice to see the variety of architecture we have here in the great NW…
Hope Gary Smith found out that there were Watzek tours this past weekend. They’ll do it again soon, Gary, and this house will take your breath away.
This beautiful stately manor reminds me of the old photos of my gr. gr. grandfather’s estate in County Cork, Ireland. Sadly though, his home has been destroyed over a century ago. I truly enjoy viewing all of the Tri-County historical homes.