Gentle Stewards For A 1908 House

American Arts & Crafts architecture includes many examples that go “beyond the bungalow.” This one in Portland, Oregon, is a classic.

- Donna Pizzi

Taking a drive through the Nob Hill Terrace neighborhood one afternoon in 1993, Allen Tooke and Marcia Truman came upon an un-known dead-end street. They were delighted to discover a stately brick house with a bold mix of English and American Arts & Crafts, Colonial Revival, and Japanesque elements. Their excitement grew when they spied a collapsed for sale sign in the driveway. Allen called the number . . . it turned out the house next door was on the market, not this one.The owner, however, was recuperating from back surgery and had begun to consider selling. “John Wentland told us that he could sell the historic Harmon–Neils home only to a preservation-minded buyer,” Allen recalls.

The house was designed in 1908 by renowned architect A.E. Doyle. (His work includes Portland's Benson Hotel,Reed College, the Meier & Frank Building, and the Multnomah County Public Library.) Working with Doyle’s grandson, preservation notable George McMath, Wentworth had gotten the house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.