Those Places Thursday: Willister Court Apartments, Portland, Oregon, An Ewald Pape Design

Another of the earlier designs of my architect first-cousin-twice-removed, Ewald Theodore Pape (1894-1976), is this apartment building at the corner of SE Madison and SE 29th, which at one time was known as the Willister Court Apartments.  Here's a photo I took of it from the Madison side in June 2018:




The "Middle Class Apartments in East Portland" Multiple Property Listing on file with the National Park Service has this to say about the Willister Court Apartments (section F, page 3):

"In 1928 [sic, should be 1926], Ewald Pape designed two quarter block apartment buildings, both one-story English Cottage style, for a parcel owned by Robert McFarland, the north half of the lot bounded by Madison, Hawthorne, 29th and 30th....the Willister Courts were at the west end at 2910 SE Madison Street [at the intersection with SE 29th]. For these parcels, Pape used an "L" shape and placed his units as close to the street as possible. The result was an interior courtyard for garages and greenspace away from the noise, dust and intrusion of the streets."

Here's the November 5, 1926 plumbing permit:

Here's the footprint of the building, from the PortlandMaps.com website.

Each unit has a separate address, with a front door and a back door.  Starting at the upper right corner of the map above, the units wrap around to the left (west) along Madison and then down (south) along 29th.  Here is 2924 SE Madison.  This corner unit has its main entrance to the right, behind the hedge, and the back door is on the left side of the building, somewhat visible.

And here - on the patio, on the left side, are the entrances to 2922 SE Madison (on the left) and 2920 SE Madison (with the flower on the door).

On the other half of this patio, you can see the front and back doors for 2918 SE Madison:

Next, steps from either side take you up to a landing with the entrances to 2912 and 2910 SE Madison:




On the corner of Madison and 29th is a very small unit with the address 1404 SE 29th.  Its front door is immediately to the right of the house number, on that stair landing, while its back door is also visible in this photo.  I'll write more about this unit in a bit (since I got to go inside it), but the windows immediately to the left of the house number are those of the living room, while the windows near the back door are for the bedroom

Continuing south along 29th, four units open onto a long narrow landing.  Here are 1410, 1412, and 1414 SE 29th:

And here are 1412 and 1414 (again) and 1418 SE 29th:

This is the other side of 1418 SE 29th.  There's a small sign hanging from the corner, pointing back to 1422 SE 29th, Units 1-4.  You can see another building in the background, to the right.  That building is NOT Ewald's design, which was only for the original 11 units in the complex.  It's a later addition, adding four units in a two-story building where I believe the garage advertised for the rest of the units used to be (back when cars were smaller and 11 cars might have actually fit on its location).

Below are some rough-drawn plans of the complex from PortlandMaps.com for a May 2017 permit to do some alterations.  It shows the access points to the basement storage areas and laundry room, as well as the main entry and back doors for all the units (except the back door for 1410).

While I was going around taking photos of the building, a lady residing in 1404 called out to me from her living room window and asked what I was doing.  When I explained that my architect relative had designed the building and I was documenting his work, she asked if I would like to see the inside of her apartment!

At left is the address sign and the mail slot for her unit.  I did not feel comfortable taking pictures of the interior, but I saw little things that let me know it was Ewald's design, such as small built-in shelving areas in the kitchen.

The apartment was quite small, but had an interesting flow.  I sketched a rough floor plan out, which is above right.  One enters the living room of the apartment, which flows to a small eating area and kitchen.  One must go through the bathroom to get to the bedroom, which is also where the back door for the apartment is.  The bedroom is quite small and only suitable for a twin or full-size bed.  The apartment is well lit, with windows on the west and north sides in the living area and a window (pictured below) in the kitchen area, as well as a window in the bedroom.

According to various articles in the Oregonian, the building sold in April 1931 for $45,000; in January 1935; in May 1936 (when the buyer named it Willister Court); in August 1938 (for $45,000 plus a trade for some suburban acreage); and in October 1952 (for $58,000); with a sale somewhere between those last two, probably in 1945.  An April 13, 1941 Oregonian article indicated the apartments were being "reconditioned," redecorated and with "installation of new ranges."  However, the exterior of the building, except for differences in paint, looks identical to photos that accompanied the May 24, 1936 and August 14, 1938 Oregonian articles about its sales.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.