Did You Know?
Anecdotes, Factoids & Tidbits About Our Neighborhood
Second of two parts; refer to the July-August newsletter for part one.
The Barnes Mansion, built between 1910 and 1914, was a palace in its time and place. The 12,000-square-foot home boasted 32 rooms and “Honduran mahogany throughout, which was brought to Portland to be planed; sent to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to be kiln-dried; and then returned to Portland to be carved by German craftsmen,” according to “The Beaumont Profiles,” journalist Philip Mulkey Hunt’s history of the neighborhood and its residents.
And that’s not all. “Italian craftsmen laid the kitchen and bathroom tiles and cut the marble for the six-foot fireplace in the drawing room,” Hunt noted, quoting a 1982 article in The Oregonian by Janet Goetze. The hearth marble was deep purple, and the fireplace’s facing was dappled purple and white, “with tiny veins of blue and yellow.” Stained, beveled, and leaded glass was found throughout the house, Goetze reported, “with a magnificent flowered window at the top of the central staircase.”
Along with the central mansion, Frank and Isabella built homes for several family members nearby, including 3425 NE 35th Pl. (since demolished), 3601 NE Maltby St., 3414 NE 36th Ave., 3460 NE 36th Ave., 3526 NE Fremont St., and 3603 NE Klickitat St.
By 1931, both parents had died, ending the Barnes Mansion’s era as the hub of a family compound.