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Inventory Form
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:1020 SW Cheltenham Ct historic name:Kiernan House
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Curry, George L., House
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1S 1E 16
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):1.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:c.1865 second date: date indiv listed:03/18/2019
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Italianate prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: Central Passage architect:N/A
builder:N/A
comments/notes:
Major rear addition dates to 1880. Property moved from original location in 1880 and from downtown Portland to current location in 1964 and basement added. Some Italianate detailing and restoration added after 1980 (per inventory form of c. 1980). Historic link to Governor Curry is alleged.
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns & Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley, Oregon Survey & Inventory Project 2013
   Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns and Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley MPD MPS 02/24/2015
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 03/18/2019
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 12/19/2012
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The circa 1865 Kiernan House is located at 1020 S.W. Cheltenham Court in the Terwilliger Heights neighborhood of southwest Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. The Italian Villa style house was moved to this location from downtown Portland in 1964, and today comprises 2,167 square feet with a 1,365-square-foot finished basement. This one-story, wood-framed building retains many of its original Italian Villa/Italianate features, including flush tongue-and-groove board siding, four-over-four segmental-arched windows, door and window trim, and porch and eave details, and as a result it readily reflects its historic appearance as a rare example of the Italian Villa style. Due to the sloping topography of the lot, the building now has a full-height basement, and was also expanded with a rear addition to the east of the original portion of the dwelling soon after the relocation. Included within the nominated area, which consists of the entirety of the .31-acre tax lot, are three newer non-contributing features (a gazebo, small garden shed, and greenhouse). Although the building has been relocated and shows several alterations, including historic (circa 1885) and non-historic (1964-66 and 2000) additions, and some interior changes, it retains nearly all of the character-defining elements of its circa 1865 to circa 1885 period of significance. Because the Kiernan House was moved in 1964, its integrity of location and setting has been compromised, but the change of venue does not negatively affect the building’s ability to convey its architectural period and style, or its historic appearance, and thus its architectural significance remains clearly evident.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The circa 1865 Kiernan House is being nominated to the National Register under Criteria A and C, utilizing the Multiple Property Document “Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns, and Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley, Oregon (1841-circa 1865) (MPD). The period of significance spans the period of its nineteenth century construction, circa 1865-circa 1885. The house is locally significant in Portland, Multnomah County, as well as within the broader context of the nine Willamette Valley counties addressed in the MPD. The house meets National Register Criterion A at the local level of significance in the area of Exploration/Settlement as a rare survivor of Portland’s pioneer past. The circa 1865 construction date places the house at the end of the settlement era as outlined in the MPD, and its physical characteristics provide an excellent illustration of the early use of the Italian Villa/Italianate style on residential architecture in Oregon. Houses from this period and style are rare: this building is one of only three Italianate single-family houses built before 1870, and one of nine single-family dwellings of any style built before 1870 that are known to remain in Portland from the early period of development. The property is also locally significant under National Register Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an excellent example of the Italian Villa style in Portland. The diminutive, boxy form is embellished with relatively simple but finely articulated Italianate detailing, including the flush exterior wood siding, segmental arched windows, paneled frieze, paired brackets, and sawn porch details. The house was listed as a Portland City Landmark in 1970, and was included in the City of Portland Historic Resource Inventory of the mid-1980s. Initially constructed circa 1865 with additions circa 1885 and in 1964-1966, this pioneer-era house continues to clearly and effectively convey its historic style and function through the many remaining original materials and architectural elements. Because the house was moved, Criteria Consideration B applies, and in spite of (or perhaps as a result of) the relocation, it retains a high degree of historical integrity in the areas of materials, design, workmanship, feeling, and association. All integrity of location and setting has been lost, but stylistically the house clearly reflects the characteristics of the Italian Villa style, and it is well-suited to its current location, which complements and highlights the spirit of the Italian Villa mode promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing in the mid-nineteenth century. Retaining most of the qualities that characterize its style and period of construction, the Kiernan House stands as a rare, mid-nineteenth century example of the style in Portland, a city that retains very few dwellings from its early years of development.
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:
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
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Samuel and the ‘West Shore’: Images of a Changing Pacific Northwest,” Oregon Historical Quarterly 94, No. 2-3 (Summer-Fall 1993), pp. 166-224. Crawford, J.G. “Portland Oregon from Robison’s Hill.” Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon: J.G. Crawford’s Oregon Scenery [c. 1885]. Retrieved December 2017. Dotterrer, Steven. “Cities and Towns - Portland,” in Space, Style and Structure: Building in Northwest America, Volume 1, Thomas Vaughan and Virginia Guest Ferriday, editors. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1974. Downing, Andrew Jackson. Cottage Residences; or A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Cottage-Villas... New York and London: Wiley and Putnam, 1842. -----. The Architecture of Country Houses. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1850. Find A Grave. Information retrieved January 2018. Curry, George Law Sr. Kiernan, Helen A. Kiernan, Matthew P. Marquam, Philip Augustus. Thessing, Amanda Malvina Hardison. Thessing, John Henry, Dr. Gaston, Joseph. 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A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013. McMath, George A. and Joan Sullivan. “Portland Oregon Historical Landmarks Commission Inventory Form - Governor Curry Residence.” April 1970. Multnomah County Assessor. “Multnomah County, Oregon Property Records.” Multnomah County Surveyor. “Survey and Assessor Image Locator [SAIL] Website.” Oregon Historical Society Photograph Collection. Portland, Oregon. Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. “Historic Sites Database.” Orloff, Chet. “Francis Pettygrove.” Oregon Encyclopedia entry. Portland, Oregon: Portland State University and Oregon Historical Society, October 4, 2017. Retrieved January 2018. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, Italianate Villa/Italianate Style 1840-1885.” Retrieved January 2018. Portland City Directories, 1863-1964. 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Portland Sunday Oregonian “View Tract To Be Opened,” April 16, 1922. “Permit for Arch Given,” September 5, 1922. “Ainsworth Home Now Memorial To Colorful Old Salt,” September 5, 1965. Portland Morning Oregonian “Notice to Creditors...” [W.C. Wetmore bankruptcy], April 13, 1869, p. 4. “Deeds Filed For Record - C.M. Carter to Mary Wetmore...,” May 19, 1871, p. 3. “Deeds Filed For Record - Eugene Semple...to W.C. Wetmore,” May 25, 1871, p. 3. “Explanation,” [Wetmore divorce] March 26, 1875, p. 3. “Growth of Portland...,” January 1, 1879. “Portland’s Growth,” [Wetmore building projects], January 1, 1880. “Notice of Dissolution,” [Ladd & Tilton], April 1, 1880. “Steady march of Improvements,” [Wetmore building projects], March 25, 1890. “View Tract To Be Opened - Terwilliger Heights Subdivision,” April 16, 1922. “Water Mains Are Completed - Terwilliger Heights...,” May 14, 1922. “Genealogy of Gov. Curry,” June 6, 1927, p. 16. “Matthew P. 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