Alameda Old House History

Streetcars and buses like these have served the Alameda neighborhood since 1910.

The turret house at 3880 NE Wistaria, built in 1928, has been through hard times the last 30 years.

It’s been a busy winter preparing history studies for properties all over Portland, working on the historic newspaper project and some other deep dives, and making presentations on local history topics.

Rose City Herald front page, August 29, 1930 The Rose City Herald was a weekly broadsheet newspaper published from 1922-1944 covering the middle neighborhoods of Northeast Portland: Rose City Park, Gregory Heights, Irvington, Alameda, Beaumont, Wilshire,…

Planning for spring and summer season guided history walks is underway: I’ll be leading four walks for the Architectural Heritage Center through Northeast Portland neighborhoods.

Recently, we had a chance to visit with Jennie Fennelle, a northeast Portland resident and old house dweller who also runs an interesting podcast called Echoes from the Attic.

From the Oregon Journal, July 10, 1910 Our research into Portland’s early homebuilders continues, with three more profiles which illustrate the range and type of people and companies who built our homes in the early years of the 20th century.

It’s always been a visual landmark on NE Wistaria Drive: the 1928 turreted English Tudor style house that anchors the big downhill bend at the confluence of Wistaria, NE 41st and Cedar Chavez Boulevard.

Looking north through southeast Portland and along the shoulder of Ross Island, about 1925.

In our continuing quest to learn more about the people who designed and built Portland’s neighborhoods and homes, we’re adding nine more builder biographies bringing our total number of homebuilder and architect profiles to 41.