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Inventory Form
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:3321 NW Thurman St historic name:Le Guin, Ursula K., House
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Hutchin House; Ursula K. Le Guin House; Le Guin, Ursula K. and Charles, House; Ursula K. and Charles Le Guin House
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 1E 29
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):2.5 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1899 second date:1986 date indiv listed:06/17/2026
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Queen Anne prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Shingle siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:
builder:
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 06/17/2026
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
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 Ursula K. Le Guin House at 3321 NW Thurman St. in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, occupies an approximately 0.07-acre parcel set amongst the largely residential neighborhood of Willamette Heights in the Northwest District. The ca. 1908 Queen Anne/Shingle Style house is one of several similarly styled houses within the neighborhood.1 The building is two-and-a-half stories tall with a daylight basement, brick foundation, a small addition (1984) to the west and an one-story attached garage (constructed sometime between 1908 and 1960, likely during the height of automobile popularization in the 1920s) to the east.2 A small brick chimney rises from the attic story on a gabled portion of the roof facing north. The building’s style is characterized by its prominent use of wood shingles, its complex, side-gabled roof, and deep overhanging eaves. The façade faces south towards NW Thurman St. At the rear of the house, a prominent deck extends across the north elevation and wraps around to the east and west. The interior consists of a first floor, a second floor, and partially finished basement and attic. Materials in the primary spaces of the house are generally hardwood floors, painted plaster walls, and a mix of painted and unpainted wood trim. Doors are largely original wood paneled units. Character defining features associated with Le Guin’s work include the built-in desks and windows overlooking the mountains within her writing studio, as well as built-in bookshelves across multiple spaces. The vast majority of materials date to ca. 1908 or were updated by Ursula K. Le Guin and Charles Le Guin during their ownership, which began in 1960. Following the 1960–1974 period of significance, the house experienced modest alterations also completed by the Le Guins, including the addition of a laundry room and basement apartment between 1984 and 1986, as well as the installation of interior French doors between the entry and living room. The building remains in its original location and setting and continues to reflect its appearance from the period of Ursula K. Le Guin’s residence and work. It therefore retains the integrity necessary to convey its significant association with her life and literary career.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The property at 3321 NW Thurman Street in Portland, Oregon, is nationally significant under Criterion B in the areas of LITERATURE and SOCIAL HISTORY: WOMEN’S HISTORY for its association with Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018), one of the most influential female literary figures of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, particularly in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Over a career spanning six decades, Le Guin published more than twenty novels, volumes of poetry, critical essays, and children’s books, earning five Nebula Awards, five Hugo Awards, and the National Book Award, among other honors. Her work challenged genre boundaries, addressed complex questions of gender, freedom, power, and identity, and left an enduring mark on American literary history. From 1960 until her death in 2018, the house at 3321 NW Thurman Street served as Le Guin’s primary residence and creative workspace. The house retains physical spaces that are closely associated with her life and career. Within the second-floor writing studio and various secondary workspaces scattered throughout the house, she produced works that transformed speculative fiction into a vehicle for exploring social, political, and philosophical themes, infusing the genre with feminist perspectives during a pivotal period in American literary history. Her groundbreaking novels—The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed (1974), and the Earthsea series (1968–2001)—as well as numerous poems and essays, shaped the course of modernism and New Wave science fiction and fantasy, inspiring her audiences and generations of writers alike. These works embody the evolution of the genre as it intersected with feminism, humanism, and literary modernism, catalyzing and defining the New Wave science fiction. The most important years of Le Guin’s productive life occurred while living and working at this house on Thurman Street, making it the location most directly representative of her creative achievements. The Ursula K. Le Guin House embodies both the broader historical patterns of American literary development in the postwar era and the personal history of a revolutionary figure whose contributions permanently altered the landscape of science fiction and fantasy. The period of significance is 1960, when the Le Guins purchased the house, to 1974, when The Dispossessed was published, marking one of her most important contributions to the genre of science fiction, and encompassing the years during which the Ursula K. Le Guin house attained the associations that convey its significance under Criterion B. The house is the best representative resource associated with Ursula K. Le Guin throughout her productive career.
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: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
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City of Portland Bureau of Planning. “Kenton Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. US Dept of the Interior, 2005. “Clarke, Arthur C.” SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. April 2026. https://sfencyclopedia. com/entry/clarke_arthur_c. Conklin, Emily. “Ursula K. Le Guin’s 19th-Century Home in Portland, Oregon, Is Being Repurposed by Literary Arts to Host a Writer’s Residency.” The Architect’s Newspaper, June 13, 2024. https://www.archpaper.com/2024/06/ursula-k-le-guin-home-repurposed-literary-arts-writers-residency/. Crozzoli, Chiara. “The Feminist Science Fiction of Ursula Kroeber Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed.” Graduate thesis, University of Padua, 2022. https://thesis.unipd.it/retrieve/eae7b654-c108-49bb-86d4-ad3ccecdd9d3/Crozzoli_Chiara.pdf. “Dick, Philip K.” SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. October 2025. https://sfencyclopedia. com/entry/dick_philip_k. Donawerth, Jane. “Lilith Lorraine: Feminist Socialist Writer in the Pulps (Lilith Lorraine: Un Écrivain Socialiste Féministe Du Roman Populaire).” Science Fiction Studies 17, no. 2 (1990): 252–258. Donovan and Associates. “Oregon Inventory of Historic Properties Historic Resource Survey Form: Hutchin House #5722.” Spring 1993. Downes-Le Guin, Theo. A Larger Reality Salon: Ursula K. Le Guin. Exhibition. Oregon Contemporary, October 31, 2025. https://www.oregoncontemporary.org/a-larger-reality. Faulkner, Nika. Interview with staff of Multnomah County Library. May 2025. Fulton, Anne. “Clarke-Mossman House.” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. US Dept of the Interior, October 24, 2002. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2035) Le Guin, Ursula K., House Multnomah Co., OR Name of Property County and State 33 Giraud, Theodore. “An Economy of Distraction: Ray Bradbury’s Vision of Technology in the Modern Age.” The New Ray Bradbury Review, Ray Bradbury Center, Indiana University, no. 7 (August 2023): 35–48. Guynes, Sean. “Rocannon’s World: Where the Hainish Cycle Begins.” Reactor, June 10, 2020. https://reactormag.com/rocannons-world-where-the-hainish-cycle-begins/. Higgins, Dave. “Science Fiction, 1960–2005: Novels and Short Fiction.” In Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 1. Overviews. Greenwood Press, 2009. 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Email interview by Nika Faulkner. April 2026. Le Guin, Ursula K. “Awards & Honors.” Accessed April 13, 2026. https://www.ursulakleguin.com/awardshonors. ------. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. Cosmogenesis, 2024. ------. “The Fisherwoman’s Daughter by Ursula K. LeGuin.” K. Ibura Vol. 39 (January 2004). https://kibura.com/2004/01/01/vol-39-the-fisherwomans-daughter-by-ursula-k-leguin/. ------. The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1974. ------. “Ursula K. Le Guin — The Left Hand of Darkness.” Accessed September 19, 2025. https://www.ursulakleguin.com/left-hand-darkness. ------. “Ursula on Ursula.” Accessed April 13, 2026. https://www.ursulakleguin.com/ursula-on-ursula. “Le Guin, Ursula K.” SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Accessed April 13, 2026. https://sfencyclopedia. com/entry/le_guin_ursula_k. Le Guin, Ursula K., and Roger Dorband. Blue Moon Over Thurman Street. NewSage Press, 1993. Library of America. “Lisa Yaszek on ‘the Watershed Moment’ of 1970s Feminist Science Fiction.” March 16, 2023. https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/2128-lisa-yaszek-on-the-watershed-moment-of-1970sfeminist- science-fiction/. Madison, Nathan Vernon. “Astounding Stories.” The Pulp Magazine Project. Accessed November 12, 2025. https://www.pulpmags.org/content/info/astounding-stories/. McCaffery, Larry, and Sinda Gregory. "An Interview with Ursula Le Guin." The Missouri Review 7, no. 2 (1984): 64–85. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/mis.1984.0004. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2035) Le Guin, Ursula K., House Multnomah Co., OR Name of Property County and State 34 Mestre, Lluis Dalmau. “The Fruit of Fear Is Ripening: Violence in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World Is Forest.” UNIVERSITAT DE VALÈNCIA, 2021. https://www.scribd.com/document/701186975/DFD-The- Word-for-World-is-Forest-Ursula-K-Le-Guin. Nataf, Emmanuel. “Ursula K. Le Guin: A Primer.” LitReactor. Accessed August 11, 2025. https://litreactor.com/columns/ursula-k-le-guin-a-primer. National Endowment for the Humanities. “Ursula K. Le Guin Was a Creator of Worlds.” Accessed August 11, 2025. https://www.neh.gov/article/ursula-k-le-guin-was-creator-worlds. O’Brien, Karen. “Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.” University of Oxford. Accessed August 12, 2025. https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/ten-minute-book-club/shelley-frankenstein. Potter, Bailey. “The Influence of Ursula K. Le Guin.” Book Publishing Final Research Paper, Portland State University, 2021. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/eng_bookpubpaper/62?utm_source=pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu%2Fe ng_bookpubpaper%2F62&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages. Rampton, Martha. “Four Waves of Feminism.” Pacific Magazine, October 25, 2015. https://www.pacificu.edu/magazine/four-waves-feminism. Reinecke, David. From the Pulps to the Stars: The Making of the American Science Fiction Magazine, 1923– 1973. Working Paper #44. Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, 2011. Repino, Robert. “‘With Luck We Shall Make It, and Without Luck We Shall Not’ – The Left Hand of Darkness.” Reactor Magazine. January 12, 2015. https://reactormag.com/with-luck-we-shall-make-it-and-withoutluck- we-shall-not-the-left-hand-of-darkness/. Roberts, Adam. “The Impact of New Wave Science Fiction 1960s–1970s.” In The History of Science Fiction, edited by Adam Roberts. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230554658_11. Roberts, Ted R., and Miriam R. Roberts. Warranty Deed to Charles Alfred Le Guin and Ursula K. Le Guin. Multnomah County, Oregon, January 25, 1960. Book 1994, Page 38. Sanborn Map Company. Portland, Oregon, 1908. New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Co., 1908. Sheets #22, 12 & 21. Stanley, Susan. “‘Real Women’ in Fantasies: Will Science Fiction Ever Be the Same?” Oregon Journal (Portland, Oregon), April 28, 1977. St. Clair, Scott. “The Fear of Things to Come: Science Fiction Before and After World War II.” Western Washington University Honors Program Senior Projects 89. Stableford, Brian. Science Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2006. Digitized online, available from SCRIBD. https://www.scribd.com/document/742488090/STABLEFORD-Brian-Science- Fact-and-Science-Fiction-an-Encyclopedia-Vol-1. Tymn, Marshall B. “Science Fiction: A Brief History and Review of Criticism.” American Studies International 23, no. 1 (1985): 41–66. Uri, John. Arthur C. Clarke – Prophet of the Space Age. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, n.d. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20180006504/downloads/20180006504.pdf. Vetiver St. “Alfred Edelman’s Mid-Century Modern Cedar Sanctuary.” Accessed August 6, 2025. https://vetiverstreet.com. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2035) Le Guin, Ursula K., House Multnomah Co., OR Name of Property County and State 35 Walsh, William, and Ursula Le Guin. “I Am a Woman Writer; I Am a Western Writer: An Interview with Ursula Le Guin.” The Kenyon Review 17, no. 3/4 (1995): 192–205. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4337281. Wills, Matthew. “Pulp Woman: Leslie F. Stone.” JSTOR Daily, February 5, 2025. https://daily.jstor.org/pulpwoman- leslie-f-stone/. Wray, John. “Ursula K. Le Guin, The Art of Fiction No. 221.” Interview in The Paris Review 206 (Fall 2013). https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6253/the-art-of-fiction-no-221-ursula-le-guin. “What Was ‘World Science Fiction’?” Sean Guynes, October 24, 2023. https://seanguynes.com/2023/10/24/what-was-world-science-fiction/. Yaszek, Lisa. “Feminism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction, edited by Rob Latham. Oxford University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199838844.013.0042. Yaszek, Lisa, and Patrick B. Sharp. Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction. Wesleyan University Press, 2016.