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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:2203 SE Pine St historic name:Blakely, Charles O. and Carie C., House
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:
assoc addresses:741 E. Pine; 471 E. 22nd Street; 741 E. 22nd Street
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 1E 35
resource type:Building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c.1893 second date:1895 date indiv listed:03/06/2019
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Queen Anne prim style comments:
secondary style: Stick sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding: Shingle
plan type: architect:
builder:Charles Blakely
comments/notes:
Re-addressed multiple times, see above for associated addresses. RTO HRR responded to 1/22/18 RTO
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Portland Oregon's Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources, 1850-1938 MPD MPS 01/27/1989 1988
NR date listed: 03/06/2019
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
PR Review 1st  2027
106 Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Charles O. and Carie C. Blakely House located at 2203 SE Pine Street is a two-story wood frame Queen Anne-style residence located in the northeast corner of the Buckman neighborhood of inner southeast Portland. The ground area of the Blakely House is 1234 square feet, with approximately 2000 square feet of living area above grade, and 300 square feet of finished basement. The setting is a turn-of-the-twentieth century residential neighborhood with hard surface streets, concrete curb and gutter, and concrete sidewalks. The tree canopy and landscaping with shrubs and flowers are typical of an older Portland neighborhood. The Blakely House was built c.1893 and displays many of the typical massing and decorative elements of the late Victorian-era Queen Anne style, including windows with colored multi-pane borders. There are several vertical and horizontal details that are representative of the Stick style as well, such as the vertical and horizontal trim boards and decorative panels surrounding the windows and doors. However, an outstanding aspect of the Blakely House is the angular “butterfly” design on the prominent façade facing the southwest. (see photos #1 and #2) A butterfly plan is a type of architectural plan in which two or more wings of a house are constructed at an angle to the core, usually at approximately ninety degrees to the wall of the core building. It was used primarily in late Victorian architecture and during the early Arts and Crafts movement. The L-shaped butterfly massing creates a symmetrical appearance that is accentuated by the nearly cubic form of the footprint. The two-story hip roof mass is intersected by three gables oriented to the west, southwest, and south. The placement of the three gables adds to the symmetry of the structure. The butterfly footprint, cubic massing, and symmetrically placed gables all create a distinctive appearance that is unusual for Queen Anne-style houses. These elements clearly distinguish the Blakely House from all other Queen Anne-style houses in the area. Numerous alterations to the interior of the residence were made when the house was converted to a duplex in 1927, a seven-unit apartment in 1984, and a triplex in 1994. Despite these major alterations, the Blakely House retains its character defining features such as the windows with colored multi-pane borders, bargeboard, and the butterfly design and remains an outstanding and unique example of Queen Anne architecture.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Blakely House is locally significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture, as a distinctive and well-preserved example of Queen Anne architecture. In addition to its embodiment as a unique and outstanding example of the Queen Anne style, the Blakely house is configured in an unusual butterfly massing rarely seen in the city or region. Aspects of the Stick style are evident in the façade of the house, as well. The Blakely house was built c. 1893 and is a notable example of the architecture of Portland’s growing streetcar suburbs in the 1890s. The property was purchased by Carie Blakely on November 30, 1891. The first entry for the address of the Blakely House in the Portland City Directory is 1893, with Carie and Charles Blakely listed as owners and Charles Blakely listed as “builder”. The period of significance for the Blakely House is c. 1893, the year of its construction. The Blakely House is located within the boundaries of Portland Oregon’s Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources, 1850-1938, a multiple property document (MPD) revised in 2012. The Blakely House meets the registration requirements of the multiple property document in that the Blakely House was built between 1862 and 1938, retains sufficient integrity to evoke the character of the Queen Anne style, and is one of the best examples of the Queen Anne style in the area. Therefore, the Blakely House is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under the registration requirements of the multiple property document.
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:University of Oregon, University of Nebraska
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Abbott, Carl. Portland: Planning, Politics and Growth in a Twentieth Century City. Lincoln: Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Abbott, Carl. Portland: Gateway to the Northwest. Tarzana, California: American Historical Press, 1997. Abbott, Carl. Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 2011. Clark, Rosalind. Oregon Style: Architecture from 1840 to the 1950s. Portland, OR: Professional Book Center, 1983. Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Buildings and Interiors (1870-1960). New York and London: W W Norton and Company, 2009. Labbe, John. Fares Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1980. MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Shaping of a City; Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1885-1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press, 1976. McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York, New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2014. (National Register of Historic Places Nominations) John Roffler House, National Register Nomination, 1993. Otto and Ida Nelson House, National Register Nomination, 2001. North Buckman Historic District Nomination, National Register of Historic Places eligible, 2013. (Buckman Neigborhood Surveys) McFadden, Nancy Kimball, Ph.D. House and home in Portland, Oregon: A study of ordinary houses in some southeast Portland neighborhoods at the turn of the century. University of Oregon, 1993. Potential Historic Conservation Districts, City of Portland – Historic Landmarks Commission, October 1978. Portland Oregon’s Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources, 1850-1938, National Register Multiple Property Listing, 1988, edited 2012. Historic Resource Record, Carie Blakely House, Wendy Chung, 12/1/2017. Historic Resource Inventory, City of Portland, 1983. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1901 and 1908/1924/1950. Oregon Digital Data Base, University of Oregon. Oregon Cultural Resource Inventory: Central Southeast Portland, State of Oregon, 1988. Oregon Historic Sites Search: Queen Anne Houses, State of Oregon Historic Preservation Office. Oregon Historic Site Record, Carie Blakely House, 2203 SE Pine Street.