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Inventory Document
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:701-709 SE 16th Ave historic name:Sigglin, Charles. O., Flats
Portland, Multnomah County (97214) current/other names:
assoc addresses:121-123 E 16TH ST
block/lot/tax lot:324 / E 69.67' OF N 50' OF BLOCK 324 / 1S1E02AB 11200
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1S 1E 02
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
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:1908 second date: date indiv listed:03/07/2019
primary orig use: Multiple Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Late 19th/20th Amer. Mvmts: Other prim style comments:4-plex
secondary style: Craftsman sec style comments:4-plex, split entry
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:lap siding with shingles at 3rd floor
secondary siding: Shingle
plan type: Other Apt./Hotel Plan architect:Emil Schacht
builder:
comments/notes:
5-18-2017 - HRR responded to. Owner will have to make the case for the building, likely under Criterion C, but has recently found that it was designed by prominent Portland architect Emil Schacht, which elevates the importance of the building. Will be hiring someone to write the nomination. DJP
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Buckman Neighborhood RLS 2010 Survey & Inventory Project 2010
   North Buckman Historic District Potential Historic District 07/10/2013 2013
   Portland Oregon's Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources, 1850-1938 MPD MPS 01/27/1989 1988
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 03/07/2019
ILS survey date: 05/01/2010
RLS survey date: 05/01/2010
Special Assessment
Status Term End Yr
Complete 1st  2027
Federal Tax Program
Status Start Compl
Complete 01/04/2017  2019
106 Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
Constructed in 1908 , the Charles O. Sigglin Flats is a fourplex located at the corner of SE 16th Avenue and Alder Street in Portland’s Buckman Neighborhood. The surrounding buildings are single-family homes, duplexes, and fourplexes of a similar scale and character. The building is designed in a hybrid style that blends the Craftsman, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles. At two-and-one-half stories tall, the wood-frame building sits on a concrete foundation, filling almost the entirety of its 50’ by 70’ lot. It is 7,790 square feet including the basement and attic. The building features a hipped roof with double front-facing gables. The body of the building is clad in lap siding while the gables are clad in shingles. It features a variety of wood window types. The character-defining features of the exterior of the resource include the double gable roof extensions and dormer, the deep front porch and a second-story balcony with Colonial Revival details, the use of lap siding and shingles, the oak front doors, and the wood windows. On the interior, the character-defining features include the floor plan with a longitudinally-oriented living room, dining room, and kitchen with bedrooms at the rear of the use; wood floors, trim, and doors; bannisters with turned pickets and square newel posts; radiators; and a center lightwell. While several alterations have occurred, including in 2013 when the interior was gutted, leaving stud walls as well as piles of trim, some doors, fireplace mantels, and radiators, recent rehabilitation of the building restored and maintained the character-defining features and thus, the building retains a high level of integrity.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Sigglin Flats is nominated at the local level under Criterion C, as a work of master architect Emil Schacht. The period of significance is 1908, the date of construction. With 25 properties in the National Register and robust documentation of his portfolio of buildings in Oregon, it is well established that Schacht made a significant contribution to Portland’s built environment after the turn on the 20th Century. The Sigglin Flats is the only small-scale, wood-frame fourplex building in Schacht’s portfolio and it is representative of his ability to successfully design a wide variety of building types in an equally wide range of styles. His experience working as a draftsman in New York prior to relocating to Portland exposed him to American architectural styles at the beginning of their popularity and his body of work demonstrates his design style fluency here in the Pacific Northwest. Schacht is further considered one of the most influential local architects whose designs introduced Portland to the emerging Craftsman style. The Sigglin Flats is a particularly strong example of Schacht’s interest in adding other styles to an otherwise Craftsman building and using signature design elements—in this case, the cap-like gable roof forms—that make his buildings unique and identifiable as Schacht designs. Locally significant, the building also meets the registration requirements for the Portland Oregon's Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources MPD as one of the best examples of a fourplex building within the MPD area. Constructed in 1908, the Sigglin Flats became a part of the fabric of the Buckman neighborhood at the height of Portland’s post-Lewis & Clark Exposition residential development. Located one block from the City & Suburban Railway Company’s East Morrison streetcar line, the building is a prime example of a multifamily development designed to blend with the residential character of the neighborhood while featuring a high-style design that married the Craftsman, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
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:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:Internet searches
Bibliography:
Abbott, Carl. Portland: planning, politics, and growth in a twentieth-century city. Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. Askin, Timothy and Ernestina Fuenmayor. "National Register Nomination for the North Buckman Historic District." No. 13000481. 2013. Askin, Timothy and Ernestina Fuenmayor. "Portland Oregon's Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources 1850-1938 MPD Amendments." No. 64500514. 2012. "Charles O. Sigglin." Swedish Roots in Oregon. Accessed August 1, 2017. http://www.swedishrootsinoregon.org/Publications/Biographies/sigglin_charles_o.html. Hawkins, William J. and William F. Willingham. Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon: 1850-1950. Portland: Timber Press, 1999. Hayes, Matthew. "National Register Nomination for the Louis Pfunder House." No. 05000574. 2004. Heuer, Jim, and Roy Roos. “Working Draft - The Emil Schacht Houses in Willamette Heights: The Cradle of Arts and Crafts Architecture in Portland.” December 2, 2002. Accessed July 13, 2018. https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/HCD/OHC/docs/multnomah_portland_willametteheights_emilschachthouses_historiccontext_inventory.pdf. Horner, Howard. “National Register Nomination for Sea Lyft.” No. 01000496. 2001. Kiser, Fred H. Gearhart Hotel. c.1910. Photograph. 5x7 inches. Oregon Historic Society Digital Collection, Portland. https://digitalcollections.ohs.org/grand-hotel-at-gearhart-oregon. Accessed August 1, 2017. "Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition." Wikipedia. July 07, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Centennial_Exposition. Oregon Daily Journal. "Advertisement for the Sigglin Flats." August 30, 1910: 16. Oregon Daily Journal. "Building Permits." October 8, 1919: 18. Oregon Daily Journal. "Many Candidates are Bobbing Up." April 15, 1913: 19. Oregon Daily Journal. "Records of 28 Candidates for Council Are Given." May 1, 1913: 14. Oregon Daily Journal. "Sigglin Building Sold to Claussen." June 6, 1920: 25. Oregonian. "Addition to Iron Works, Many Improvements Throughout the Eastside." March 31, 1908: 10. Oregonian. "East Side Sites in Good Demand." April 5, 1908: 9. “Oriental Exhibits Palace.” Oregon History Project. Accessed July 13, 2018. https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/oriental-exhibits-palace-1905/#.W0juxlVKiUk. Ritz, Richard Ellison. Architects of Oregon. Portland, Lair Hill Publishing, 2002. Sackett, Patricia. A partial inventory of the work of Emil Schacht: Architect in Portland from 1885-1926. Eugene: University of Oregon, 1990. Schacht, Emil. Original Plans for the Charles O. Sigglin Flats. Cachot Therkelsen Collection, University of Oregon, Eugene. 1908.