Pittock Mansion
Pittock Mansion was built high on top of the city in regal Heights in the hills of West Portland. Built by Henry and Georgiana Pittock between 1909 and 1914, the mansion’s bright red-tiled roof can be seen from most of the points in the metropolitan spot and is “the most popular … of all the great Portlands” according to the Classic Houses of Portland. Homes represent the success of 19th century American entrepreneurship.
The Pittock was among the most influential, respected, and wealthy people of Portland when Henry Pittock owned the Oregonian, and Georgiana Burton Pittock was involved in and was many communities projects Founder of the Portland Rose Festival. In 1909, when he was 73 and she was 64, Oregon-born architect Edward T. Foulkes of San Francisco was hired to design a 16,000-square-foot home on the 46-acre wooded estate, 1,000 feet above sea level Pittocks moved to their new home in 1914, just a few years before they both died, she is 1918 and he a year ago Or later.
The mansion dates from the French Renaissance, but the interior is a collection of styles, from the oak-paneled Jacobean carved library with an ornate stucco ceiling to the French-style oval drawing room with oak floors, friezes and cornice finished in the ceiling. Adjoining is a surrounding Turkish smoking room with a tinted ceiling and Tiffany glazes shaped by artist Harry Wentz and an Edwardian proper dining room with rich built-in mahogany-paneled cabinetry. A mirror on the west wall is placed to show a reflection of the Mountains, which sat everyone’s view of the table a view of the mountain. In the basement, there is an oval billiard room with adjoining round game rooms, a vault, a wine cellar, a laundry room, and storage rooms. The carefully placed windows allow maximum natural light.
The technical innovations include an elevator, indirect lighting, intercom systems, a walk-in refrigerator, central heating, a dining elevator, and a central vacuum cleaner system. The property has a four-story porter’s cabin and a three-car garage with a chauffeur’s apartment upstairs. The Renaissance-style gardens include a terraced flower garden, tennis court, and links to Portland parks
Family members lived in the villa until 1958, the last grandson was Peter Gantenbein, who was born there. The house stood empty for six years, suffering severe damage from squatters and the 1962 Columbus Day storm that erupted 225,000, saving 46 acres. Some of the artisans who had worked on the original house, such as Fred Baker who designed the lighting, and Bruno Dombrowski who installed the parquet floors, retired and helped with the original farm. 15 months of restoration.
The mansion is now a public museum that is visited by 60,000 to 70,000 people yearly, 18,000 of them in December 2009 alone.
International Rose Test Garden