This house is in the Oregon Historic Sites Database as the Alvin C. Greenwood House. The two-story structure was built in 1930 and Greenwood was the general contractor. A building permits list published in the July 18, 1930 Oregonian includes the house, estimated to cost $25,000. The plumbing permits from August 28, 1930, and September 29, 1930, pictured below, indicate the house originally had seven bathrooms, three with bathtubs and one with a shower. The address was 1126 Ariel Terrace before the 1931-1933 Portland street renumbering.
The December 28, 1930 Sunday Oregonian has a sketch of the house, no doubt done by Ewald, with the same title as this blog post. It has the following caption: "Stucco [walls], tile [roof], and wrought iron will be used in this fine home planned for Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Greenwood on Ariel terrace, Westover, at the end of the Westover [street]car line. E. T. Pape is the designer." The family was living in the home by October 19, 1931, as there was a reference to them at that address.
Subsequent newspaper articles indicate the Greenwood family lived in the house until 1972, when it first shows up in real estate ads. Alvin Charles Greenwood was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1885, but came to Portland in 1909 with his wife, the former Lillian M. Caesar, who born in Wisconsin in 1884. Greenwood was involved in highway construction in the Pacific Northwest. An article in the May 2, 1933 Oregonian indicated he suffered a serious injury when a truck from his Greenwood Construction Company backed over both his legs at a worksite in Lockwood, Oregon.
Numerous newspaper notices detail Lillian's involvement with such groups as the University of Oregon Mothers Club, the Allied Arts Club, Kappa Xi, the Delphian Society, and Chi Omega Mothers Club. She apparently was also a professional artist, winning first place in the professional division at the 1947 Multnomah County Fair for an oil painting of flowers (according to the August 20 Oregonian).
The couple had five children: Keith Charles (1909-1937, who died in an auto accident), John Alvin (1911-1987), Kathryn M. (Mrs. Charles Curtis Smith, 1913-2000), Jane (Mrs. Joydon Claridge, 1914-2006), and Robert Lawrence (1917-1982), as well as at least 12 grandchildren and at least 21 great-grandchildren, according to their obituaries. Alvin died May 3, 1954, and Lillian died on Christmas Day, 1971.
The 1940 Census shows Alvin and Lillian living in the big house with daughter Kathryn, her husband, and their three children.
The house was not sold until 1972, after Lillian's death and 41 years of occupancy by the Greenwoods. An August 20 real estate ad from that year notes that the house has approximately 2300 square feet of living area on each level, five spacious bedrooms, four full baths, three half baths, a 22' by 34' living room, a formal dining room, a breakfast room, a library, a studio, a recreation room, three fireplaces, and a beautiful curving staircase. The asking price then was $85,000.
In April 1985, the asking price was $399,000, but it sold for $310,000 that October. It sold twice in 2006, in January for $1,510,000 and in May for $2,450,000.
Here's a photo of the house from around May 1981, which was included in the City of Portland Historic Resource Inventory:
That inventory notes some of the special features of the house, such as the leaded glass fanlight over the recessed arched entry, and the upper level balconette with a wrought-iron railing just above it, both visible in the picture below:
Other features include decorative wrought iron over a lower level front window (just behind the wall in the picture below), and Art Deco motifs, between the windows just above it.
© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.
No comments:
Post a Comment