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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:1507 NW 24th Ave historic name:Goldsmith, Bernard and Emma, House
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Goldsmith, Max, House; Hermanson Design
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 1E 33
resource type:Building height (stories):2.5 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c.1898 second date: date indiv listed:10/25/2018
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:Office
second orig use: Multiple Dwelling
primary style: Shingle Style prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Shingle siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:Lazarus, Edgar Marks
builder:
comments/notes:
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
NR date listed: 10/25/2018
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
Active 1st  2025
106 Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Goldsmith house at 1507 NW 24th Avenue, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, was built in 1892 as the primary residence for Bernard and Emma Goldsmith . Designed by architect Edgar Marks Lazarus, it exemplifies the distinctive characteristics of the Shingle Style in Portland, as well as the evolution of Lazarus' residential work. The house is on a topographic rise on the corner of an urban block, with the primary elevation and entry facing NW 24th Avenue and the secondary street-facing elevation fronting NW Quimby. As is common in the neighborhood, streets were cut below grade, leaving the house site elevated above the street. The house contains approximately 4,800 finished square feet, excluding the exterior porches, with living spaces on the first floor, sleeping rooms on the second floor, a finished attic, and a partially below-grade full basement. The house is sided primarily with four-inch, lap siding, with shingle patterns used to accentuate the street-facing front and side facades above the porch roof level. The lancet window, belcast hip roof, and decorative round-headed front porch gable vents are all signature architectural details used by Lazarus in the stately homes he designed in the 1890s. Overall the house retains a high degree of integrity, despite an effort to demolish it that resulted in the loss of some interior finishes. The current owner has restored the exterior and rehabilitated the interior, preserving key spaces on the first floor and restoring and replicating interior detailing where known.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Bernard and Emma Goldsmith House is eligible for the National Register at the local level under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as a notable representation of Oregon architect Edgar Marks Lazarus's residential body of work, in particular his interpretation of the Shingle Style in Portland, Oregon. Edgar Lazarus began practicing in the state of Oregon in 1890 as a residential architect. His earliest domestic work is recognized for bringing the Shingle Style to Portland – an architectural style that was in vogue at the turn of the century on both the east and west coasts. Lazarus later evolved into a civic architect, his work influenced by the Arts & Crafts, Richardsonian, and Jugendstil styles. The Goldsmith House, completed in 1892 for businessman and Portland's first Jewish mayor Bernard Goldsmith and his family, is the best example known from the peak of Lazarus's 1890s Shingle Style residences. The house has been restored, and the exterior character-defining features retain a high degree of historic integrity. The period of significance is the year of construction – 1892.
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:State University of New York, Oregon State
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society, Portland Jewish Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Bates, Philip S. Residential Portland 1911. Portland: The Newspaper Syndicate, 1911. City of Portland. Historic Resources Inventory, City of Portland, Oregon: Identified Properties. Portland, 1984. Clark, Rosalind L. Oregon Style: Architecture from 1840 to 1950. Portland: Professional Book Center, 1983. DeMarco, Gordon. A Short History of Portland. San Francisco: Lexikos, 1990. Gaston, Joseph. Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders: In Connection with the Antecedent Explorations. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1911. Gaston, Joseph. Discoveries, and Movements of the Pioneers that Selected the Site for the Great City of the Pacific. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1911. Gelernter, Mark. A History of American Architecture: Buildings in Their Cultural and Technological Context. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1999. Gohs, Carl. “Mr. Lazarus Lives.” Northwest Magazine. December 28, 1969. Harrison, Michael, Cielo Lutino, Liza Mickle, Peter Mye, Bill Cunningham, and Stephanie Gauthier. National Register Nomination for the Alphabet Historic District. Portland, 2000. Hawkins, William J. and William F. Willingham. Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950. Portland: Timber Press, 2005. Hawthorne, Julian. The Story of Oregon. New York: American Historical Publishing Co., 1892. Hines, H.K. An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon. Chicago: Lewis Publishing,1893. King, Bart. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2007. Lansing, Jewel. Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851-2001. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2003. Lowenstein, Steven. The Jews of Oregon: 1850-1950. Portland: Jewish Historical Society of Oregon, 1987. Frederick C. Luebke, European Immigrants in the American West: Community Histories, Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1998. Marlitt, Richard. Nineteenth Street. Portland: The Oregon Historical Society Press, 1968. MacColl, E. Kimbark and Harry H. Stein. Merchants, Money, and Power: The Portland Establishment, 1843-1913. Portland: The Georgian Press, 1988. McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. McInnis, Maurie Dee. In Pursuit of Refinement: Charlestonians Abroad, 1740-1860. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. Norman, James B. Oregon’s Architectural Heritage: National Register Properties of the Portland Area. Salem: The Solo Press, 1986. Normand, Eugene. “Edgar M. Lazarus, Jr. – Early Jewish Architect of Portland, Oregon.” Western States Jewish History. Vol. XLVIII, No. 1 (Fall 2015), pp. 59-66. Oregon Journal. Portland, Oregon. March 7, 1904; March 13, 1906; October 4, 1939 The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. March 26,1875; September 1, 1880; August 25, 1882; November 4, 1892; April 23, 1893; November 25, 1894; July 23, 1901; July 28, 1901; September 1, 1908; December 17, 1917; November 15, 1921; November 13, 1926; July 6, 1928 Polk, R.L. & Co. Portland City Directories. 1892-1910. Ritz, Richard. Architects of Oregon: A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased – 19th and 20th Centuries. Portland: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002. Rochlin, Harriet and Fred. Pioneers Jews: A New Life in the Far West. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Rosen, Robert N. The Jewish Confederates. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2000. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: Portland, OR, Vol. 1. 1901, 1908, 1950. Scott, H.W. History of Portland with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., 1890. Spencer, Aaron. “Unknown work by late Portland architect Lazarus to be unveiled.” Daily Journal of Commerce. April 5, 2011. Sullivan, Ann. “Landmarks Panel Backs Taft Hotel Nomination.” The Willamette Week. June 6, 1985. Teague, Edward H. “Edgar M. Lazarus, Architect: Life and Legacy.” University of Oregon, 2011. http://pages.uoregon.edu/ehteague/lazarus/ Toll, William. Making of an Ethnic Middle Class: Portland Jewry over Four Generations. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1982. Toll, William. The Female Life Cycle and the Measure of Jewish Social Change: Portland, OR, 1880-1930. United States. Census Bureau. 1860-1930. Vaughan, Thomas and Virginia Guest Ferriday. Space, Style, and Structure: Building in Northwest America. Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1974. West, R.H. and John M. Tess. National Register Nomination for the George F. Heusner House. Portland, 1978.