Hope Continually -- Psalm 71:14: Pittock Mansion Tour

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Pittock Mansion Tour - Part Three

The Breakfast Room

The Pittocks ate most meals here. The room originally contained a table and nine chairs, to seat the large family. This furniture is Federal (1790s-1810s) style, and the wallpaper is a reproduction of the original. A niece recalled having a choice of bacon and eggs or cereal for breakfast, and grapefruit, likely imported from California by rail. Each morning, estate steward James Skene brought Henry Pittock The Morning Oregonian newspaper. Henry became its owner and publisher in 1860.

Video of the Breakfast Room

Staircase.

In 1914, Peter Gantenbein was born in Pittock Mansion. As a child, he played with this puppet theater. After college, which included study at Cambridge University and a trip around the world, Peter served in the army during World War II. He worked for The Oregonian until 1950 and then helped found and serve as director of the World Affairs Council of Oregon. Peter and his father, Ed Gantenbein, were the last family members living in the mansion, moving out in late 1958.

Peter's room - he was born at the mansion.

Puppet theater

Video of Peter's room

I love old children's books.

Lucy and Ed Gantenbein's bedroom does not look as it did when they lived here, instead, it now features Classical Revival (1820s-1830s) furnishings. The windows overlook the site of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition, which attracted 1.5 million visitors. After the fair, developers tore down most of its buildings and filled in the site's Guild's Lake. Boosters created new events such as the Rose Festival (founded in 1907) to continue promoting Portland.

The West Sleeping Porch

The Gantenbeins used this sleeping porch as a children's bedroom from 1914-1919. After Henry and Georgiana Pittock died, and Georgiana's nieces moved out, the children moved into the available empty bedrooms.

Through the window, the family could see their tennis court (now the parking lot) and the forested back half of the estate. In Henry's ledger of accounts, he called his new home "Maple Grove" because of the many big leaf maples.