Jacob Kamm House
Encyclopedia
The Jacob Kamm House, also called the Jacob Kamm Mansion, is a French Second Empire style mansion in Portland, Oregon
, built in 1871. It was moved from its original Goose Hollow
location in 1950 to make room for Lincoln High School's campus.
. The construction was overseen by L. Therkelsen, and cost $80,000. While the French Second Empire style building suggests a stone or stucco exterior, it is actually built with flush horizontal siding and wooden quoins
. The wooden shingles on the Mansard roof
are scalloped to appear like slate
. The building is approximately 8671 square feet (805.6 m²) in three stories plus a basement, and contains six bathrooms. It was sited on Kamm's Goose Hollow 14th and Main 11 acres (4.5 ha) property. The original address to the house was 488 Main Street; the city's streets were renamed in the early 1930s and the location became Southwest 14th and Main.
Notable early features were central heating
, using steam from a ship's boiler, and a rudimentary system of air conditioning
, using cool air from the basement directed through the house through air pipes and cast iron vents. The air conditioning system was intact, but nonfunctional, as recently as 1974. In the 1970s, the house was remembered by Eric Ladd as being "well back from 14th Avenue", with a large magnolia
, a flowering cherry tree, fruit trees, and a "century old black walnut
".
began in the house in 1946, then called the "Adventure House", and run by the Portland Parks & Recreation
. By 1950, the museum was known as the "Junior Museum", and moved to a location in Lair Hill. The site was loaned to the Parks and Recreation Department from the Portland Public Schools, who already had plans for moving onto the site. By that time, the formerly rural area was "a community thickly populated, with houses and apartments closely spaced." An article in 1950 stated the Junior Museum was "filled with boys and girls who have never climbed a tree before", and that weekly attendance was 400-600.
location, called Old Main
. This was the third location for the school, which was the first high school in Portland and only the second in the West. The house was moved a short distance to Salmon and 18th in July 1950 for excavation of the high school and while Eric Ladd secured a final moving site. It was then moved to its 20th Avenue location around December 16, 1950, on wooden rollers, rather than wheels, since it was too heavy. The home was moved partway one day, and then was left standing on the road during a large storm. Since utility works was needed to disconnect and reconnect electrical lines crossing roads, the rest of the journey had to wait while utility crews repaired storm damage elsewhere in the city. The house was described as "barren and austere" by The Oregonian, which also noted its gas and electric chandeliers, decorative plaster wainscoting on the stairway flights, and inlaid hardwoods, though some rooms had been recovered in asphalt floor tiling. The move was coordinated by Allstate Construction.
Two days before demolition on the house was to begin in 1950, Eric Ladd purchased the Kamm house for $1000 to move it to a colony of significant homes, later called the "Old Portland Colony", having three historic homes by 1965. The mansion was moved approximately 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) to 1425 SW 20th Avenue on a 10000 square feet (929 m²) lot. Ladd intended to make it into three apartments, but ran a restaurant out of it for four years beginning in 1955. A 1955 society page
spread in a June 1955 The Oregonian discussed how guests arrived at the home dressed in clothing reminiscent of "the [1880s] when Portland social life saw one of its gayest periods", including arriving by horse and buggy
. The restaurant had opened for an Oregon Historical Society
benefit and reception for patrons of the society, with dinner being $100 per plate and 80 patrons in attendance. The restaurant could not get a liquor license for the first year. After the first two years, Eric Ladd simplified operations, did all of the baking for the restaurant himself, but still had to close the restaurant after another two years.
Eric Ladd (1921-2000) was called "the idiosyncratic Portlander who was in the forefront of historic preservation" by The Oregonian
at his death in 2000. He received an award from the Portland Beautification Association, inscribed "The Tenacious Preservationist". The Old Portland Colony also contained a replica of Abraham Lincoln
's Springfield, Kentucky
home, built for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
. The Lincoln home was opened as a museum and a sandwich shop in about 1956, but had a large fire some time later. By 1958, Eric Ladd was distracted by the Pittock Mansion
, where he had moved.
, bottle window, "turkey red and black carpets", bold red drapes, and "ornamental ironwork from the courtyard" came from the Portland Hotel
. It also contained "burled ash panelling from the great hall of the Knapp house", a large Stick-Eastlake
style home in Portland's Nob Hill, erected in 1882 and demolished in the 1950s. In 1965, mayor Terry Schrunk
and the city council inspected the homes, as Eric Ladd was trying to preserve the homes and raise funds in a manner similar to the fundraiser organized for the Pittock Mansion
in 1962. Eric Ladd lived in the home from 1963 until at least 1965. In 1967, the home contained furnishings from John Henry Belter. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
on November 5, 1974. A report from 1971 discussed
The Portland Historical Landmarks Commission voted unanimously in June 1982 to recommend to the City Council that the house be made a landmark. Peter Hoffman, owner of the house since 1979, announced the property was for sale at a meeting to make the house a landmark on September 9, 1982. The announcement caught the Landmarks Commission off guard. The home was "still for sale" by October 1982, and was on commercial land, meaning it was not being used for apartments. On November 3, 1982, the Portland City Council voted on whether to make the house a landmark. The owner of the property, Peter Hoffman, originally supported landmark status, but requested it not be made a landmark, as he felt it would impede his efforts to sell the house. The council voted against designating it a landmark, with Frank Ivancie
and commissioner Mildred Schwab
being the only votes to accept it as a landmark. By October 2009, the home had received Portland Historic Landmark status.
It is currently home to the Alliance française
de Portland, who hosts the annual Bastille Day
festival at Jamison Square
.
Bart King's An Architectural Guidebook to Portland states
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, built in 1871. It was moved from its original Goose Hollow
Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon
Goose Hollow is a neighborhood in southwest Portland, Oregon. It acquired its distinctive name through early residents’ practice of letting their geese run free near the wooded ravine in the Tualatin Mountains now known as the Tanner Creek Canyon and in the now infilled Tanner Creek Gulch...
location in 1950 to make room for Lincoln High School's campus.
Design and construction
The house, completed in 1871, was designed by architect Justus F. Krumbein, who was also involved on the Oregon State CapitolOregon State Capitol
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. The current building, constructed from 1936 to 1938, and expanded in 1977, is the third...
. The construction was overseen by L. Therkelsen, and cost $80,000. While the French Second Empire style building suggests a stone or stucco exterior, it is actually built with flush horizontal siding and wooden quoins
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
. The wooden shingles on the Mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
are scalloped to appear like slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
. The building is approximately 8671 square feet (805.6 m²) in three stories plus a basement, and contains six bathrooms. It was sited on Kamm's Goose Hollow 14th and Main 11 acres (4.5 ha) property. The original address to the house was 488 Main Street; the city's streets were renamed in the early 1930s and the location became Southwest 14th and Main.
Notable early features were central heating
Central heating
A central heating system provides warmth to the whole interior of a building from one point to multiple rooms. When combined with other systems in order to control the building climate, the whole system may be a HVAC system.Central heating differs from local heating in that the heat generation...
, using steam from a ship's boiler, and a rudimentary system of air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
, using cool air from the basement directed through the house through air pipes and cast iron vents. The air conditioning system was intact, but nonfunctional, as recently as 1974. In the 1970s, the house was remembered by Eric Ladd as being "well back from 14th Avenue", with a large magnolia
Magnolia
Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
, a flowering cherry tree, fruit trees, and a "century old black walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
".
Adventure House/Junior Museum
In 1946, a few years before the house was moved, The Oregonian said it "sits aloofly and well back from the fenced off streets", and said it had been continuously occupied, even though Kamm died in 1912 and his wife died in 1932. The Portland Children's MuseumPortland Children's Museum
Portland Children's Museum is a children's museum located in Portland's Washington Park, adjacent to the Oregon Zoo. Founded in 1946, Portland Children's Museum is the sixth oldest children's museum in the world and the oldest West of the Mississippi. The museum receives over a quarter of a...
began in the house in 1946, then called the "Adventure House", and run by the Portland Parks & Recreation
Portland Parks & Recreation
Portland Parks & Recreation is the bureau of the City of Portland which protects the parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails of the city of Portland, Oregon....
. By 1950, the museum was known as the "Junior Museum", and moved to a location in Lair Hill. The site was loaned to the Parks and Recreation Department from the Portland Public Schools, who already had plans for moving onto the site. By that time, the formerly rural area was "a community thickly populated, with houses and apartments closely spaced." An article in 1950 stated the Junior Museum was "filled with boys and girls who have never climbed a tree before", and that weekly attendance was 400-600.
1950 move
In 1950, the house was moved to make room for Lincoln High School, which was moving from its South Park BlocksSouth Park Blocks
The South Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian has called it Portland's "extended family room", as Pioneer Courthouse Square is known as Portland's "living room"....
location, called Old Main
Lincoln Hall (Portland, Oregon)
Lincoln Hall is a building containing a theatre and classrooms at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. It was originally home to Lincoln High School.-History:...
. This was the third location for the school, which was the first high school in Portland and only the second in the West. The house was moved a short distance to Salmon and 18th in July 1950 for excavation of the high school and while Eric Ladd secured a final moving site. It was then moved to its 20th Avenue location around December 16, 1950, on wooden rollers, rather than wheels, since it was too heavy. The home was moved partway one day, and then was left standing on the road during a large storm. Since utility works was needed to disconnect and reconnect electrical lines crossing roads, the rest of the journey had to wait while utility crews repaired storm damage elsewhere in the city. The house was described as "barren and austere" by The Oregonian, which also noted its gas and electric chandeliers, decorative plaster wainscoting on the stairway flights, and inlaid hardwoods, though some rooms had been recovered in asphalt floor tiling. The move was coordinated by Allstate Construction.
Two days before demolition on the house was to begin in 1950, Eric Ladd purchased the Kamm house for $1000 to move it to a colony of significant homes, later called the "Old Portland Colony", having three historic homes by 1965. The mansion was moved approximately 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) to 1425 SW 20th Avenue on a 10000 square feet (929 m²) lot. Ladd intended to make it into three apartments, but ran a restaurant out of it for four years beginning in 1955. A 1955 society page
Society page
In journalism, society reporting or society journalism is the reporting of society news in a newspaper or magazine. In the newsroom it is the province of the society desk.-Beginnings:...
spread in a June 1955 The Oregonian discussed how guests arrived at the home dressed in clothing reminiscent of "the [1880s] when Portland social life saw one of its gayest periods", including arriving by horse and buggy
Horse and buggy
A horse and buggy or horse and carriage refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses...
. The restaurant had opened for an Oregon Historical Society
Oregon Historical Society
The Oregon Historical Society is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preserves, and makes available materials of historical character...
benefit and reception for patrons of the society, with dinner being $100 per plate and 80 patrons in attendance. The restaurant could not get a liquor license for the first year. After the first two years, Eric Ladd simplified operations, did all of the baking for the restaurant himself, but still had to close the restaurant after another two years.
Eric Ladd (1921-2000) was called "the idiosyncratic Portlander who was in the forefront of historic preservation" by The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
at his death in 2000. He received an award from the Portland Beautification Association, inscribed "The Tenacious Preservationist". The Old Portland Colony also contained a replica of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's Springfield, Kentucky
Springfield, Kentucky
Springfield is a city in and county seat of Washington County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,634 at the 2000 census. It was established in 1793 and probably named for springs in the area.-Geography:...
home, built for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide exposition held in Portland, Oregon, United States in 1905 to celebrate the...
. The Lincoln home was opened as a museum and a sandwich shop in about 1956, but had a large fire some time later. By 1958, Eric Ladd was distracted by the Pittock Mansion
Pittock Mansion
The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style "château" in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, USA, originally built as a private home for The Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana. It is a 22 room estate built of Tenino Sandstone situated on that is now owned by the...
, where he had moved.
1960s decline
Called an "ailing home" in 1965, the home was "just the skeleton of the home Jacob Kamm built". It contained furnishings from other Portland landmarks. Notably, the "carved oak lobby pilasters", paneling, leaded glassLeaded glass
Leaded glass may refer to:*Lead glass, potassium silicate glass which has been impregnated with a small amount of lead oxide in its fabrication...
, bottle window, "turkey red and black carpets", bold red drapes, and "ornamental ironwork from the courtyard" came from the Portland Hotel
Portland Hotel
The Portland Hotel was a late-19th-century hotel in Portland, Oregon, United States that once occupied the city block on which Pioneer Courthouse Square now stands. It closed in 1951 after 61 years of operation.-History:...
. It also contained "burled ash panelling from the great hall of the Knapp house", a large Stick-Eastlake
Stick-Eastlake
The Stick style was a late-19th-century American architectural style. According to McAlester, it served as the transition between the Carpenter Gothic style of the mid-19th century, and the Queen Anne style that it evolved into and superseded it by the 1890s....
style home in Portland's Nob Hill, erected in 1882 and demolished in the 1950s. In 1965, mayor Terry Schrunk
Terry Schrunk
Terry Doyle Schrunk was an American politician who served as the mayor for the city of Portland, Oregon, from 1957–1973, a length tying George Luis Baker who also served 17 years . Prior to becoming mayor, he had been the sheriff of Multnomah County since 1949. In his 1956 campaign for mayor, he...
and the city council inspected the homes, as Eric Ladd was trying to preserve the homes and raise funds in a manner similar to the fundraiser organized for the Pittock Mansion
Pittock Mansion
The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style "château" in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, USA, originally built as a private home for The Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana. It is a 22 room estate built of Tenino Sandstone situated on that is now owned by the...
in 1962. Eric Ladd lived in the home from 1963 until at least 1965. In 1967, the home contained furnishings from John Henry Belter. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on November 5, 1974. A report from 1971 discussed
Upon entering the house, cold chilling air greets you. The sound of dripping water draws attention to the gigantic parlor living room area. The water streams profusely from the ceiling on to the expensive red carpeting. No one has been able to find the leak, so it is left to continue soaking the carpet. There is no container to catch the water.
The Portland Historical Landmarks Commission voted unanimously in June 1982 to recommend to the City Council that the house be made a landmark. Peter Hoffman, owner of the house since 1979, announced the property was for sale at a meeting to make the house a landmark on September 9, 1982. The announcement caught the Landmarks Commission off guard. The home was "still for sale" by October 1982, and was on commercial land, meaning it was not being used for apartments. On November 3, 1982, the Portland City Council voted on whether to make the house a landmark. The owner of the property, Peter Hoffman, originally supported landmark status, but requested it not be made a landmark, as he felt it would impede his efforts to sell the house. The council voted against designating it a landmark, with Frank Ivancie
Frank Ivancie
Francis J. "Frank" Ivancie is a retired Portland, Oregon businessman and politician who served as mayor of that city from 1981 through 1985. Prior to his term as mayor, Ivancie served for fourteen years on the Portland City Council...
and commissioner Mildred Schwab
Mildred Schwab
Mildred Schwab was an attorney and politician from Portland, Oregon in the United States. She served as City Commissioner from 1973 to 1986; she was appointed to fill the vacancy created when Neil Goldschmidt was elected mayor, and was reelected three times. Her brother, Herbert M...
being the only votes to accept it as a landmark. By October 2009, the home had received Portland Historic Landmark status.
Current
The home was sold to the Kamm House Partnership (William J. Hawkins III, Ron Emerson) by 1984. It contained both apartments and offices at that time, including a national office for the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Project.It is currently home to the Alliance française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
de Portland, who hosts the annual Bastille Day
Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July of each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale and commonly le quatorze juillet...
festival at Jamison Square
Jamison Square
Jamison Square is a city park in the area of downtown Portland, Oregon, known as the Pearl District. It was the first park added to the neighborhood.-Design:...
.
Legacy
In their survey of classic Portland homes, Hawkins and Willingham stated the home wasPortland's singular remaining great mansion from the decade of the 1870s ... the most proper design in the style.. [it] is handsomely proportioned, clearly imitating stone construction in wood. It has no tower, but the mansard roof is a distinct attribute, probably the closest in design to those in France.
Bart King's An Architectural Guidebook to Portland states
"A somewhat daunting structure, the Jacob Kamm House may qualify as the city's first real mansion. It has dramatic quoined corners, arched and elongated windows with keystones, and expressive baroque dormers in the mansard roof. Alone on a dead-end street, it seems to look reproachfully at an area developed in a hodge-podge manner.
External links
- Kamm house in 1959 (after moving) at the Oregon State LibraryOregon State LibraryThe Oregon State Library in Salem, is the library for the U.S. state of Oregon. The mission of the Oregon State Library is to provide quality information services to Oregon state government, provide reading materials to blind and print-disabled Oregonians, and provide leadership, grants, and other...
- Kamm house in ca. 1939 (before moving) at the Oregon State LibraryOregon State LibraryThe Oregon State Library in Salem, is the library for the U.S. state of Oregon. The mission of the Oregon State Library is to provide quality information services to Oregon state government, provide reading materials to blind and print-disabled Oregonians, and provide leadership, grants, and other...
- Kamm house photos at the University of OregonUniversity of Oregon-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...