PATRICK J HENRY | NE THOMPSON HISTORY

History Summary: 2809 NE Thompson St. Block 6, Lots 11-15 of the Dolph Park Addition Portland, Oregon

Prepared for Patrick Henry by Doug Decker deckerhistorical.com alamedahistory.org July 2022 __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 1

Overview

The English cottage manor style house at the northeast corner of NE 28th and Thompson in the Dolph Park neighborhood was built in the summer of 1926 for Frederick B. and Irma B. Mallory, the wealthy owners of a logging equipment manufacturing and retail business. The home has had 11 owners in its nearly 100 years, including a long string of timber industry business leaders up until the late 1970s. Prior to construction (and under Portland’s former street addressing system), the lot originally had a NE 28th Avenue address, which was re-oriented to the more prestigious Thompson Street address.

Dolph Park had strict racial prohibitions written into the deeds, prohibiting any other than white families as occupants. Restrictions also required minimum new construction costs which were at the high end for new construction at the time. Homes facing NE Thompson Street, which the developers clearly wanted to make the showcase street of the neighborhood, required even higher minimum construction costs.

The L-shaped form of the original house has changed over the years. The high-peaked roof over the front door—located in the open corner of the L facing southwest—is not original and appears to have been added in the late 1930s or early 1940s, though a balustered balcony in front of the second-floor windows now enclosed by the peak roof was original (today the railing is wrought iron). On the first floor, the living room’s south windows facing the inside of the L have been transformed into French doors with modest balcony railings. The ample outdoor living space—always an important feature of the home—provided sufficient space for the 19931994 construction of a three-car garage with an apartment above. An original garage along the north side of the home has been converted to living room and den space.

In its earlier years, the home, grounds and occupants were cared for by paid live-in staff.

As one of the earliest homes built in the heart of Dolph Park, 2809 NE Thompson exemplifies the high-profile, indoor-outdoor, purposeful design approach the original developers had in mind.

Construction When local builder Robert B. Beat paid his $18 for a construction permit on August 31, 1926 he reported to city building officials that the value of construction of the home was $18,000, including excavation and building materials, well above the minimum $5,000 amount required by the Dolph Park deed restrictions.

Working from site-specific architectural plans drawn by Portland architect Orlo Ray William Hossack, Beat wasted no time. By mid-October when the building inspector dropped by for a look, the house was completely framed in and Beat was racing against the weather to get a roof on. By the end of November, the roof was on, copper venting for a range hood was in place and plumbing was well underway. See notes on the original inspection card on the next page.

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Original construction inspection card for 2809 NE Thompson, on file at the Portland Bureau of Development Services (BDS). Builder Robert B. Beat would have also filed a set of architectural plans, which no longer exist at BDS. Two other observations are of interest from this inspection card: • Robert Beat built two rooms on the third floor when the drawings only called for one, and the window size for the second room was too small for building code. Inspector A.B. Starr refused to approve the plumbing that had been installed up to that time and left instructions for correcting both the window and the plumbing.

•

When Starr returned a week later, he noted that many of the changes he requested had been made.

Starr returned to the construction site three more times: in January 1927 noting that all of the plaster work had been completed but no trim yet; in March 1927 noting that door and window trim was about 50 percent complete and that the exterior driveway, walks and curbs were complete, and then in May 1927 to observe that the house was occupied.

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A sketch submitted with the building permit shows the original garage as an adjacent structure snugged up to the house along its north side (shown by arrow). This space was later converted into additional living space and is now the den.

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A drawing on the back of the plumbing inspection card provides further interesting clues both about the plumbing and about the original building:

With up being north in this drawing, you can locate the inside of the L by the front door, side steps down to a patio on the east side; a long covered porch on the north side; the garage at the far north and northeast edge of the residence; and locations of the various downspouts marked with a circle and connected by dotted lines. Placed at the corners of rooflines, these downspouts drained the gutters and fed a six-inch cement pipe on the west side of the property that flowed into the main sewer line beneath NE 28th Avenue.

Early Addresses and the Great Renumbering of 1931-1933 As you look at the original inspection card, you’ll see references for two addresses: 885 Thompson (the original address), and today’s address of 2809 NE Thompson.

Portland went through a major re-addressing initiative from 1931-1933. Under the original address system, there was no clear standard. Your address—885—didn’t necessarily mean eight blocks east or west from any particular street. Numbers were assigned in sequence, but inconsistently from block to block. Under the old system, it was not unusual for a house address to be changed several times to make sequential room for new houses being built on the block.

The Great Renumbering provided a much-needed standard, and a pattern that could be easily added to over time. The new address system told everyone that your house is located north of Burnside, and 28 blocks east of Union Avenue / Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 5

Following the wave of readdressing, clerks in the Department of Public Works had to go back into the files and type the new address on the top of each and every permit and inspection card—a huge job. This explains the two addresses you see.

The property had an even earlier address: prior to construction, the very first address was 474 East 28th Street North. The update to 885 Thompson was made before Robert Beat filed the construction permit. Also, in 1995, an address was added recognizing the new garage and the separate entrance off NE 28th: 2308 NE 28th Avenue.

Oregonian (published as Morning Oregonian.) - May 19, 1926 - page 5

May 19, 1926 | Oregonian (published as Morning Oregonian.) | Portland, Oregon | Page 5

About Architect Orlo Ray William Hossack The Mallorys could easily have worked directly with builder / designer Robert B. Beat who was a great talent in his own right. But on May 19, 1926, The Oregonian reported they had chosen to work with architect Orlo R.W. Hossack to draw the plans. Also noted was the price they paid for the lot: $10,000.

orning Oregonian.) - May 19, 1926 - page 5

hed as Morning Oregonian.) | Portland, Oregon | Page 5

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Orlo Ray William Hassock was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 18, 1891. In 1910, at age 19, Hossack appears as a draftsman in the Portland City Directory for the architectural firm of Bennes, Hendricks and Thompson, where he worked until 1912. In the mid 19-teens, he worked in several other architectural firms, including as an architect for the OregonWashington Railway and Navigation Co. On July 7, 1915 Hassock and Mildred Fitzpatrick were married in Portland. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 6

Following service in World War 1 as a lieutenant in the Army Air Service, Hassock returned to Portland and became partner in the Ready Built House Company. He was awarded his license to practice architecture in 1922 based on experience (“grandfathered”) and in 1923 established his own practice, based in the Terminal Sales Building at SW 12th and Morrison. Mildred died of Typhoid fever on March 30, 1924. In October 1927, Hossack married Mildred’s sister Carrie, also a widower, and adopted Carrie’s daughter Betty. Carrie was a teacher at Irvington Elementary. The family lived at 624 East 18th (today’s 2944 NE 18th).

By the mid-1920s, Hossack’s architectural practice had hit its stride and he was taking on highvalue residential projects, but also larger institutional projects, including the Washington County Courthouse; the Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital in Salem; the Egyptian-revival style Palestine Lodge (a Masonic Lodge at 6401 SE Foster Blvd., now on the National Register of Historic Places); the Kenton Masonic Lodge; and the Seventh Day Adventist Church at SE 43rd and Washington Street. In 1922, Hossack designed the Spies-Robinson Prairie School-style house in Irvington at 2424 NE 17th Avenue, also listed on the National Register. Hossack’s link with the Prairie School design of Frank Lloyd Wright may be through his first local employer, the Illinois-educated John Virginius Bennes who introduced the Prairie School House to Portland in 1909.

Throughout this post World War 1 period, Hossack was also active as a captain in the Air Service Reserve Officer Corps, and in civil aviation. In 1935, he took assignment as construction officer in the Civilian Conservation Corps, based in Boise, Idaho. While there, he contracted pneumonia and died on January 31, 1937 at the age of 45, leaving his wife Carrie and daughter Betty.

About Builder Robert B. Beat Beat was an influential designer and builder of homes on Portland’s eastside, primarily in Irvington. All told, he was responsible for more than 350 houses and two apartment buildings in Grant Park, Alameda, Laurelhurst, Eastmoreland, Portland Heights and Westover, including more than 100 houses in Irvington. During the time he was building this house, Beat and his crew were simultaneously building the Mediterranean style house (which he designed) directly across the street at 2753 NE Thompson.

Born in Perth, Scotland in 1873, Beat emigrated to South Africa not long after marrying Mary Rae, also from Perth. He worked for a time in the Kimberly diamond mines of South Africa, and the couple traveled to New Zealand before arriving in San Francisco the night before the great earthquake of 1906. Beat went to work immediately as a carpenter and relocated to Portland in 1907.

While not a registered or traditionally trained architect, Beat’s early designs are outstanding examples of Arts and Crafts style and were sought after by high-end homeowners. As architectural styles changed over time, Beat adapted his work to include European and Mediterranean revival styles. Beat died at age 57 on December 5, 1930 in a fall from the roof of an apartment he was building on SW Vista. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 7

Owner Chronology 1927-1933 Frederick B. and Irma B. Mallory Frederick and Irma had been married for just under two years when they moved into the house on Thompson, and no children. By then he had made a small fortune based on his patent of a specific type of pulley used in logging, and through the logging equipment supply business he built up in the early 1900s. An earlier marriage in the early 1920s had ended; Frederick and Irma were married in Skagit, Washington on August 3, 1925, he was 47 and she was 35.

The F.B. Mallory Company building at 133 SW Pine, today’s Pine Street Market.

The Oregonian reported the couple had moved into the house on April 5, 1927 and not long after set off on an extended vacation to Cuba. The 1930 census shows them living in the house, which is valued at $65,000—ten times the value of most neighboring homes—with a married Japanese couple in their 30s who are listed as “cook” and “servant.” In 1932 they traveled for five months through Europe and the middle east.

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Irma was a member of the Portland Shakespeare Study Club, which met frequently in the home, noted on the society pages of The Oregonian. The last society news note in the newspaper during the Mallory years recounted a party for lumber industry leaders who were household names at the time: Autzen, Shaver, Rosenberg, Banfield and Shelk.

By 1932, the Mallorys had moved to San Francisco where he worked as a high-profile investment broker. The Mallory Company changed its name in 1936, about the time the couple’s marriage was coming apart. A sensational and highly publicized divorce followed. He died in San Francisco in 1945 at age 67. She died in Napa, California in 1976 at age 88.

1933-1934 Franz B. Drinker Franz Drinker was a close associate of Ralph B. Lloyd, developer of properties in the Lloyd Center area. He was single at the time and lived in the house briefly with his widowed mother Emma while he managed the Lloyd Golf Course in Sullivan’s Gulch, which was later demolished to make room for the Banfield Expressway. Drinker went on to become president of the Portland Rose Festival Association and founding board member of Timberline Lodge.

1934-1935 William A. and Susan E. Illidge William Illidge was a prominent Portland attorney who often worked on lumber and forest land related cases. The Illidge family, including 13-year-old son William Jr., 11 year-old daughter Susan, eight-year-old daughter Leilah and Susan’s mother Sarah Huffert, lived in the house briefly after Drinkers, moving in 1935 to the Barnes Mansion at NE 35th and Klickitat.

1935-1947 Myron C. and Edith M. Woodard The Woodard family moved in during the fall of 1935, relocating from Silverton where Myron was the General Manager of Silver Falls Timber Company. They brought three generations to the house: Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon) · 15 Oct 1935, Tue · Page 6 Downloaded on Jul 17, 2022

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From the Statesman Journal, October 15, 1935

Edith served on the Board of Trustees of Lewis and Clark College. In addition to his role as founder and president of the Silver Falls Timber Co., he founded and ran the Westport Lumber Co., the Nehalem Investment Co., and was a director of the First National Bank of Portland.

Several years later, daughter Catherine Woodard Ferrin married Charles B. Wegman, and moved to southwest Portland.

Alameda_History Sun, Jul 17, 2022

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Myron died unexpectedly in the house on the morning of April 30, 1946. Edith sold the house the next year and passed away on October 4, 1956.

1947-1951 Richard C. and Edna C. Stetson Disaster struck the year after the Stetson family moved into the home. 12-year-old son Richard Jr. had been playingOregonian with(published matches in an upstairs room when fire got away from him. as The Oregonian) - August 28, 1948 - page 9 Fortunately, no one was injured, but the home sustained $4,000 worth of damage.

August 28, 1948 | Oregonian (published as The Oregonian) | Portland, Oregon | Page 9

From The Oregonian, August 28, 1948

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The 1950 census shows the Stetsons at 2809: Richard C., age 41; Edna, age 37; Richard Jr., age 14; Martin S. Stetson, age 5; and Anna Edwards, age 65, housekeeper. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 10

1951-1960 Roy A. and Oldene B. Gould The Goulds were a dynamic duo, as comfortable working on a logging site in the woods or in a mill as they were in a corporate board room or working the halls of Congress. Together they ran the Atlas Logging Company and the Diamond Lumber Company: he was president and she was treasurer.

Oldene Gould

Roy Gould

With no children, they poured themselves into their work which was primarily in the Tillamook Burn area of the northern Oregon Coast Range, where they owned and operated a mill that cut and sold timber salvaged from the burned area. In 1951, the Goulds moved to Portland from a logging camp in Glenwood, on the edge of the Tillamook Burn. Oldene died in the house on September 12, 1960 from breast cancer. Roy moved out of the house to Tillamook six weeks later. He remarried, moved back to Portland, and died on August 1978 at age 71.

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1960-1978 Bernard E. “Ben” Jr., and Elma M. Niedermeyer Ben and Elma raised nine children during their 32-year marriage, the youngest growing up in the Thompson Street House. Ben was a classic lumberman, marketing large orders for lumber between suppliers and retailers. He ran five lumber trading businesses, one of which was accused in the mid 1970s of defrauding investors of equity and interest and diverting profits, some of which the couple had to repay. The Niedermeyers divorced in 1977 and Ben remarried.

Both stayed in the Portland area. Ben died in 1997 at age 76. Elma died in 2009 at age 86.

1978-1982 Eugene A. and Rita B. Caudle Eugene was a Hollywood-area businessman who chaired the Grant Neighborhood Association’s Committee to Seek Closure of the Grant Campus and was spokesperson for area residents. Fed up with litter and vandalism problems in the late 1980s, Caudle and many neighbors wanted to prohibit students from leaving campus during the school day.

1988-1993 Robert Trotman and Thomas Aschenbrener Robert Trotman is an interior designer and owner of Robert Trotman Interior Design. Thomas Aschenbrener is the founder of the Northwest Health Foundation.

1993-2008 Ken F. and Heidi A. Zener During the Zeners’ time in the house, it became known as a Halloween magnet, featuring a “Tunnel of Terror” that led up the front walkway to the ground door and attracted kids of all ages far and wide. Trick-or-treaters ran the gauntlet of scary neighbors and family cousins in the tunnel only to be met at the door by Frankenstein (Mr. Zener) who delivered the final scare.

From October 1994 until May 1995, the Zeners built a new three-car garage and overhead apartment.

2009-2022 Frobes-Smith Living Trust (Patricia J. Frobes and Richard C. Smith) The Frobes-Smith family evolved the Zener Halloween tradition by replacing the Tunnel of Terror with a 22-foot-tall black cat that straddled the walkway and pleased passersby young and old. The Frobes-Smiths explain the cat comes with the house.

About Dolph Park Dolph Park was platted in April 1924 by Eliza Cardinell Dolph (1849-1934), matriarch of the Dolph family which was influential in Portland in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Eliza was the widow of Cyrus Abda Dolph (1840-1914), who had a long list of legal and civic accomplishments, including serving as Portland City Attorney, helping found Reed College, serving as lead attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad, director of the Oregon and California Railroad, president of the Library Association of Portland and other positions. Cyrus’s brother Joseph Dolph was a two-term U.S. Senator from Oregon. Clearly, Eliza and Cyrus—and their three children—were amongst the most well off of Portlanders and the family controlled property in every quarter of the city. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 12

The property that is today’s Dolph Park, however, came to Eliza through her own side of the family: the Cardinells. Her parents Charles and Jane Cardinell arrived in Oregon in 1865 and were involved in real estate development as the city grew. They amassed a small fortune and when her father died at age 85 on August 22, 1907, real estate, investments—and several very valuable musical instruments including a Stradavarius violin—came to Eliza and her brother Charles B. Cardinell. Included in the estate were two tracts of property: one in the Fernwood Plat and one in the Bowering Donation Land Claim, both between NE 28th and 32nd Avenue, from Thompson to Tillamook.

These properties had been owned by her parents from the moment they were platted by Hannah W. Smith in May 1887 as part of the Fernwood Addition. Real estate transfers show the property going directly from Hannah Smith to Eliza’s parents Jane and Charles Cardinell, and some properties to her younger brother Charles B. Cardinell (1858-1923) as well.

In the early 1920s, with an explosion in real estate values all around these undeveloped lands— Irvington to the west, Alameda to the north, Beaumont and Rose City Park to the east—Eliza Dolph recognized the attractiveness and marketability of her long-held family properties.

Following the death of her brother in 1923, she brought together the Cardinell properties with those owned by four other families to create Dolph Park. The plat was filed on June 30, 1924, containing 10 blocks and 122 lots.

The first advertisement for property in the “beautiful wooded tract” appeared in August 1925, noting the deed restrictions that were placed on the property by Eliza Dolph and the other owners, which would have been a strong selling point to the buyers they were seeking. There were three required conditions of ownership in Dolph Park, the first of which is shocking, but sadly common in many Portland neighborhoods at this time: o “In consideration of the mutual benefits, the dedicators do hereby declare that for a period of twenty-five years from the date of this dedication the premises shall be used exclusively for residence purposes and shall be occupied by the white race and no member of any race other than the white race shall own or occupy any portion of Dolph Park; o “No residence shall be built upon the lots facing upon Thompson Street which shall cost less than $5,000; o “No residence shall be built upon any other lot in Dolph Park costing less than $4,000.”

This form of institutional racism was formally expressed in other new Portland subdivisions of the era, and was a fundamental, pervasive, informal force throughout Portland and Oregon.

Later, in the 1930s, the practice of redlining—designating areas where banks would not offer loans for purchase or maintenance—affected property values and families’ ability to accumulate wealth. Dolph Park was an enclave of wealthy white families, many of whom at the time made their fortunes in the forest products and manufacturing sectors. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 13

On September 6, 1925, The Oregonian carried a short news story about the brand new subdivision: Oregonian (published as The Sunday Oregonian.) - September 6, 1925 - page 21 September 6, 1925 | Oregonian (published as The Sunday Oregonian.) | Portland, Oregon | Page 21

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Plat of Development

Development plat filed with the Multnomah County Surveyor on June 30, 1924. 2809 NE Thompson shown by arrow. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2809 NE Thompson History Summary 15

1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance Sanborn Map

This map from 1924 was made by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company, which mapped 12,000 US cities showing the location and construction materials of homes, their access to water mains, and the location of fire hydrants. Sanborn maps were the industry standard for fire insurance underwriters. Today, they are an excellent source of information about early neighborhood development. All of Dolph Park was undeveloped at this time. Arrow indicates approximate location of 2809 NE Thompson.

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