On Saturday, April 1, I took Autumn, Sierra, Summer, and Kylee to the Pittock Mansion. It is located in Portland and was really a neat tour! The next several posts will be photos from the tour.
When you see something with a P sign, that indicates it was an item that was actually owned by the Pittock family.
The first room pictured was the library. What a unique ceiling!
In 1914, eight members of their extended family moved in with Henry and Georgiana. Daughter Kate and her husband, Lockwood Hebard, took up residence in the south wing. The Pittocks' youngest daughter, Lucy, her husband Edward Gantenbein, and their daughters Rhoda, age 6, and Georgiana, age 1, filled the west wing. The Gantenbeins' third child, Peter, would be born here later that year. Georgiana Pittock had also taken in her two orphaned nieces, Helen Van Houten and Louise Gallien, and they joined the rest of the family in the new hill-top home. A live-in cook and maid also moved into the new house.
Henry Pittock, publisher of The Oregonian newspaper, and his wife, Georgiana, moved into their new home in 1914. With five large bedrooms, two sleeping porches, and four servants' bedrooms, Pittock Mansion seemed ready to accommodate a crowd, and this large family soon filled it.
The Library
Georgiana met here with the chauffeur, Herman Hawkinson, to plan the day's visits. In the evenings, Lockwood Hebard, Kate Pittock's husband, often served the family apples from the estate's orchard. Kate loved jigsaw puzzles and often had partially completed puzzles in several rooms at once.
Video of the Library.
Video of the hallway between the rooms.
The details just in the hallway between the rooms are beautiful! I love the added lighting to really light it up.
I don't know why but I love the curtains in the doorways.
Early intercom system for homes.
Front door.
Thermostat back in the day.
Bust of Henry Pittock.
The driveway approached Pittock Mansion from the downtown side of the estate. Visitors saw this side of the estate with the formal front door, first. However, most people entered through the covered side door. It was more convenient and provided shelter from the rain.
Pittock Mansion's architect, Edward Foulkes, grew up in Portland and trained at Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had a challenging client in Henry Pittock. Henry wanted an architecturally impressive house with the latest technology. Foulkes' experience designing commercial buildings such as apartments, hotels, and office buildings helped him to include the latest conveniences like central heating.
Note the steam radiator and wall thermostat. The French Renaissance-style mansion also has seven fireplaces. They were mostly decorative because an oil furnace provided heat.
The Music Room
Few of Pittock Mansion's rooms look as they did originally. For instance, compare the two 1914 photographs of the music room to the room today. The photographs show dark, heavy Renaissance Revival and Louis XIV (1643-1715) furniture. These furnishings resemble those in the 1914 sketches created by interior designer Bertha Stuart proposing how to decorate the room. Only a handful of the original furnishings and little photographic evidence exist of how the mansion appeared in the Pittock's time. As a result, when refurbishing rooms, the designers have relied on examples from other houses. The most recent refurnishing of the music room occurred in 2003. The goal was to create an example of a high-style parlor circa 1914. The gilded French revival Louis XVI (1775-1790) furnishings reflect a style popular for parlors in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The house always featured a picture window framing a spectacular view. The path to the viewpoint was part of the original driveway on the 46-acre estate.
It truly was the most beautiful room in the mansion!
That piano and harp!
How do you not just adore this view?
Video of the music room.
The City of Portland purchased the Pittock estate for $225,000 and was restored. In 1965, it was opened to the public.
The Smoking Room
Henry Pittock hired Portland artisans and suppliers to complete his home. Harry Wentz, later an instructor at the art museum, painted this room. Fred Baker designed this and other light fixtures. He later worked on Timberline Lodge, Temple Beth Israel, and at the University of Oregon. Bruno Dombrowski used skills learned in Europe to create and install the inlaid floors. A "Smoking Room" was standard in luxurious homes. Men and women withdrew to separate spaces after dinner - the men to smoke and drink and the women to chat. The lack of tobacco staining suggest the Pittocks rarely smoked.
Imagine the detail in this to be a smoking room!
Video of the Smoking Room
The Dining Room
Elements of this dining room, like the fireplace tile and use of wood paneling, were influenced by the Arts and Crafts style popular in Portland homes of the era. The Pittocks used this room for formal dinners and ate most meals in the breakfast room. The mirror above the sideboard allowed all the diners to enjoy the mountain view. At times guests may have glimpsed the adjoining butler's pantry and kitchen, too, though these doorways and the bustling servants behind them were often screened from view.
View from the dining room.
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