Bates-Seller House
2381 NW Flanders Street, Portland
Enlisted on the NRHP: 29 Aug 1979
Classified a Colonial Revival, this home was designed by Widden & Lewis and built in 1908.
Zillow site: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2381-NW-Flanders-St-Portland-OR-97210/53895450_zpid/
Further images can be found HERE
Comments from the NRHP application, found HERE
The Bates-Seller Housewas designed by the leading Portland architectural firm of Whidden and Lewis in the Colonial Revival Style and completed in 1908 for about $23,500. The house is situated on a combined site (190x100') with the Charles Francis Adams House (1904-05), also designed by Whidden and Lewis in a similar style. The Bates-Seller House is in very good condition and presently occupied by "Antiques for Interiors." The Adams House was formerly the Love Convalescent Home and has been altered substantially by the removal of the roof. The important site characteristic is that both houses are neighbors to another Whidden and Lewis house, Trevett-Nunn, and one other restored house of the same period. The four houses form a turn-of-the-century streetscape in a mature landscaped setting. Being situated at the end of Flanders Street in an area of Northwest Portland known as Nob Hill, the group of houses represents a rare opportunity to preserve a part of Portland's distinguished architectural past.
The Bates-Seller House is a 2^-story Colonial Revival structure sitting on a random ashlar foundation. The main block of the house is about 60x35', with the rear wing about 20x25'. The front entrance steps are off-center to the verandah columns, two bays to three. The east and west flanks of the verandah are supported on Tuscan columns, the twostory portico has superimposed columns of Ionic and Corinthian orders. The second story verandah deck is missing its original balustrade, which makes the front elevation appear more vertical than originally intended. In the main facade, ground story window and door placements are not strictly symmetrical on the west end, but the full 70' verandah masks this subtle irregularity. Second story openings and pedimented dormers are formally organized.
The house is a wood frame construction with clapboard siding and corner pilasters. The classical entablature is detailed with modi 11 ions. Side and rear elevations are not strictly symmetrical in organization, but essentially formal. The original garage with servant rooms above has been removed.
The windows are wood sash, except for the leaded panels of the front door side lights and the large stained glass window over the grand stairway. The remaining windows are of various proportions with clear lights in upper and lower sashes and no shutters. Two main brick chimneys break the main roofline at either end, and a third chimney rises from the rear wing roof. Together they vent five interior fireplaces, the furnace and the original gas kitchen range. The original cedar roof is now covered with composition shingles.
The essential characteristics of the two main floors are spaciousness and high quality finish materials and craftsmanship. The central entrance hall leads directly to the grand stairway with its large stained glass window skylight drawing the eyes upward. To the right of the central hall are the living room and library; to the left are the dining room, kitchen and service spaces. Upstairs there are two major front bedrooms with fire places, a breakfast room, a rear bedroom and three bathrooms (one since removed). The third contains the servants' living quarters. The total square footage of all three floor;
is 6,543.
The first floor rooms have 13' ceilings the second floor rooms have 10V clear. Floors throughout are oak parquet or tile in kitchen and bath areas. Eight foot oak doorways compliment the generous proportions of each room.
A full basement of 220 sq. ft. contains several daylight storage rooms and a furnace room for radiant heat. The house is piped for gas lighting and cooking as well as electricity. Five fireplaces provide supplementary heating. The current owners intend to replace the missing porch balustrade and paint the exterior, and they have under consideration a plan to subdivide the second story bedrooms along original wall lines.
The Bates-Seller House is significant to Portland as a well-preserved example of the domestic work in the Colonial Revival Style by Whidden and Lewis, Portland's most influential architects of the turn-of-the-century. George W. Bates was a self-made businessman banker who began his career as a bridge builder for the railroads. He was born on November 21, 1851 in Lee County, Iowa. His father, Nicholas Bates, had immigrated from Germany; his mother, Matilda Harris Bates, was born in Illinois. After his mother's death in 1868, George went West to San Francisco to work as a railroad bridge carpenter. In 1879, while working for San Francisco Bridge Co., he was sent north to work on a Portland bridge project and decided to stay. After a few more years of working for others, he started the Hoffman-Bates Bridge Co. and built the first bridge over the Willamette at Morrison Street and the first bridge over the Columbia at Pasco, Washington.
Sensing the many business opportunities of a rapidly growing urban area, he formed wit others the Albina Light and Water Co. in 1891. A year later, he sold his share of the electrie company to PGE for $200,000. During the crash of 1893-94, he used this critical mass of capital to buy out two failing banks--the Albina Bank and the Albina Savings Bank—and then formed the George W. Bates & Company Bank. This bank was the keystone of his future business ventures which included the Union Laundry Co., the Diamond Vitrified Brick Co. of Vancouver, the Columbia Digger Co. and several others.
During the late 1880s, he married Miss L.M. Menzies of Oregon, the daughter of a Scottish shipping captain. They had three sons--Lloyd (1887-1927), George W, Jr. (1889- 1961), and Bruce Adler Bates. As young adults, Lloyd and George Jr. were made vice-presidents at the bank.
The Bates Bank in Albina (Northeast Portland) continued to prosper and in 1908 opened a west side branch in Portland. Lumberman's National Bank bought out this branch in 1913 and made George Sr. a vice-president and two months later, president. The Bates Bank in Albina continued under the sons until 1929 when it became affiliated with First National Bank. Four years later, it was completely absorbed by First National to become one of Oregon's first newly-organized branch banks. The civic accomplishments of George Bates included serving as: fire and police commissioner under Mayor Joseph Simon; founding member of the Portland Arts Association; and in 1896, senator in the Oregon State Legislature. In 1915, he was elected president by his fellow bankers of the Portland Clearing House.
George W. Bates, Sr. died on March 22, 1916, of complications arising from a gall stor operation. This relatively simple operation was delayed over a year because he didn't wanl to frighten his sickly wife. The funeral was held at the house and was officiated by Dr. J.H. Boyd of the First Presbyterian Church. A year before his death, he transferred a majority of his assets to the George W. Bates Real Estate and Investment Co. to be managed by his son, Lloyd. His estate was conservatively estimated at $500,000. In 1920, his widow sold the house to Frederick M. Seller.
The next owner, Frederick M. Seller, was born in 1865, six years after his father, M. Seller, came to Portland from Germany and founded a retail store. By 1920, the M. Seller & Co. was a well-established downtown store specializing in porcelains, housewares and toys.
Frederick and Helen Seller had four daughters—Oane, Katherine, Suzanne and Fredericka--who grew up in the house. There old school books are still in the attic. Mr. Seller died in 1925, but his widow remained in the house until 1952. She was
very active as a member of the Portland Symphony Board until her death on March 30, 1957 The store was sold in 1953 to a Seattle businessman named Michael G. Hersh and operated until 1961 when it was sold to Morton Phillips of Los Angeles, husband of Abigail Van Buren of "Dear Abby" fame.
In 1952 the Arts and Crafts Society moved into the house and made a few alterations. The second floor bathroom between the two main bedrooms was removed to create a large weaving room. The house was vacant between 1963 and 1964 until a boutique moved in for a few years. From 1968 until the present, Antiques for Interiors has rented the house.
The architects, William Marcy Whidden and Ion Lewis, were boyhood friends in Boston and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1877. Whidden, born on February 10, 1857, continued his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris for four years and then began working for McKim, Meade and White in New York. Lewis, born on March 26, 1858, stayed in Boston to work for Peabody and Stearns. Whidden came to Portland in 1883 for McKim, Meade & White to work on the Portland Hotel project. He met Alice McLoughlin Wygant, granddaughter of Dr. John McLoughlin; and they were married on September 24, 1884. The hotel project fell through for financial reasons, and the couple went back to New York. In 1887 the hotel project under new owners revived, and Whidden returned to Portland to finish the project. In 1889, Ion Lewis came to visit Whidden; they decided to form their own firm. Whidden and Lewis designed many important Portland buildings including the City Hall (1892-1895), the W.B. Ayer House (1905), the Arlington Club and the Multnomah County Courthouse. Lewis was Director of Architecture for the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905, and in 1930 established the Ion Lewis Traveling Fellowship at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Their firm nurtured the profession of architecture in Portland. One of their most famous employees was A.E. Doyle, who later designed the Multnomah County Library. Doyle's firm once employed Pietro Belluschi, who later joined with Skidmore Owings and Merrill to create one of Portland's largest offices. In 1920 Whidden retired and later died on July 27, 1929. Lewis continued the firm until his death on August 29, 1933. Whidden was survived by his wife and two sons-Austin Chamber!in and Thomas Marvin; Lewis was a bachelor
Classified a Colonial Revival, this home was designed by Widden & Lewis and built in 1908.
Zillow site: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2381-NW-Flanders-St-Portland-OR-97210/53895450_zpid/
Further images can be found HERE
Comments from the NRHP application, found HERE
The Bates-Seller Housewas designed by the leading Portland architectural firm of Whidden and Lewis in the Colonial Revival Style and completed in 1908 for about $23,500. The house is situated on a combined site (190x100') with the Charles Francis Adams House (1904-05), also designed by Whidden and Lewis in a similar style. The Bates-Seller House is in very good condition and presently occupied by "Antiques for Interiors." The Adams House was formerly the Love Convalescent Home and has been altered substantially by the removal of the roof. The important site characteristic is that both houses are neighbors to another Whidden and Lewis house, Trevett-Nunn, and one other restored house of the same period. The four houses form a turn-of-the-century streetscape in a mature landscaped setting. Being situated at the end of Flanders Street in an area of Northwest Portland known as Nob Hill, the group of houses represents a rare opportunity to preserve a part of Portland's distinguished architectural past.
The Bates-Seller House is a 2^-story Colonial Revival structure sitting on a random ashlar foundation. The main block of the house is about 60x35', with the rear wing about 20x25'. The front entrance steps are off-center to the verandah columns, two bays to three. The east and west flanks of the verandah are supported on Tuscan columns, the twostory portico has superimposed columns of Ionic and Corinthian orders. The second story verandah deck is missing its original balustrade, which makes the front elevation appear more vertical than originally intended. In the main facade, ground story window and door placements are not strictly symmetrical on the west end, but the full 70' verandah masks this subtle irregularity. Second story openings and pedimented dormers are formally organized.
The house is a wood frame construction with clapboard siding and corner pilasters. The classical entablature is detailed with modi 11 ions. Side and rear elevations are not strictly symmetrical in organization, but essentially formal. The original garage with servant rooms above has been removed.
The windows are wood sash, except for the leaded panels of the front door side lights and the large stained glass window over the grand stairway. The remaining windows are of various proportions with clear lights in upper and lower sashes and no shutters. Two main brick chimneys break the main roofline at either end, and a third chimney rises from the rear wing roof. Together they vent five interior fireplaces, the furnace and the original gas kitchen range. The original cedar roof is now covered with composition shingles.
The essential characteristics of the two main floors are spaciousness and high quality finish materials and craftsmanship. The central entrance hall leads directly to the grand stairway with its large stained glass window skylight drawing the eyes upward. To the right of the central hall are the living room and library; to the left are the dining room, kitchen and service spaces. Upstairs there are two major front bedrooms with fire places, a breakfast room, a rear bedroom and three bathrooms (one since removed). The third contains the servants' living quarters. The total square footage of all three floor;
is 6,543.
The first floor rooms have 13' ceilings the second floor rooms have 10V clear. Floors throughout are oak parquet or tile in kitchen and bath areas. Eight foot oak doorways compliment the generous proportions of each room.
A full basement of 220 sq. ft. contains several daylight storage rooms and a furnace room for radiant heat. The house is piped for gas lighting and cooking as well as electricity. Five fireplaces provide supplementary heating. The current owners intend to replace the missing porch balustrade and paint the exterior, and they have under consideration a plan to subdivide the second story bedrooms along original wall lines.
The Bates-Seller House is significant to Portland as a well-preserved example of the domestic work in the Colonial Revival Style by Whidden and Lewis, Portland's most influential architects of the turn-of-the-century. George W. Bates was a self-made businessman banker who began his career as a bridge builder for the railroads. He was born on November 21, 1851 in Lee County, Iowa. His father, Nicholas Bates, had immigrated from Germany; his mother, Matilda Harris Bates, was born in Illinois. After his mother's death in 1868, George went West to San Francisco to work as a railroad bridge carpenter. In 1879, while working for San Francisco Bridge Co., he was sent north to work on a Portland bridge project and decided to stay. After a few more years of working for others, he started the Hoffman-Bates Bridge Co. and built the first bridge over the Willamette at Morrison Street and the first bridge over the Columbia at Pasco, Washington.
Sensing the many business opportunities of a rapidly growing urban area, he formed wit others the Albina Light and Water Co. in 1891. A year later, he sold his share of the electrie company to PGE for $200,000. During the crash of 1893-94, he used this critical mass of capital to buy out two failing banks--the Albina Bank and the Albina Savings Bank—and then formed the George W. Bates & Company Bank. This bank was the keystone of his future business ventures which included the Union Laundry Co., the Diamond Vitrified Brick Co. of Vancouver, the Columbia Digger Co. and several others.
During the late 1880s, he married Miss L.M. Menzies of Oregon, the daughter of a Scottish shipping captain. They had three sons--Lloyd (1887-1927), George W, Jr. (1889- 1961), and Bruce Adler Bates. As young adults, Lloyd and George Jr. were made vice-presidents at the bank.
The Bates Bank in Albina (Northeast Portland) continued to prosper and in 1908 opened a west side branch in Portland. Lumberman's National Bank bought out this branch in 1913 and made George Sr. a vice-president and two months later, president. The Bates Bank in Albina continued under the sons until 1929 when it became affiliated with First National Bank. Four years later, it was completely absorbed by First National to become one of Oregon's first newly-organized branch banks. The civic accomplishments of George Bates included serving as: fire and police commissioner under Mayor Joseph Simon; founding member of the Portland Arts Association; and in 1896, senator in the Oregon State Legislature. In 1915, he was elected president by his fellow bankers of the Portland Clearing House.
George W. Bates, Sr. died on March 22, 1916, of complications arising from a gall stor operation. This relatively simple operation was delayed over a year because he didn't wanl to frighten his sickly wife. The funeral was held at the house and was officiated by Dr. J.H. Boyd of the First Presbyterian Church. A year before his death, he transferred a majority of his assets to the George W. Bates Real Estate and Investment Co. to be managed by his son, Lloyd. His estate was conservatively estimated at $500,000. In 1920, his widow sold the house to Frederick M. Seller.
The next owner, Frederick M. Seller, was born in 1865, six years after his father, M. Seller, came to Portland from Germany and founded a retail store. By 1920, the M. Seller & Co. was a well-established downtown store specializing in porcelains, housewares and toys.
Frederick and Helen Seller had four daughters—Oane, Katherine, Suzanne and Fredericka--who grew up in the house. There old school books are still in the attic. Mr. Seller died in 1925, but his widow remained in the house until 1952. She was
very active as a member of the Portland Symphony Board until her death on March 30, 1957 The store was sold in 1953 to a Seattle businessman named Michael G. Hersh and operated until 1961 when it was sold to Morton Phillips of Los Angeles, husband of Abigail Van Buren of "Dear Abby" fame.
In 1952 the Arts and Crafts Society moved into the house and made a few alterations. The second floor bathroom between the two main bedrooms was removed to create a large weaving room. The house was vacant between 1963 and 1964 until a boutique moved in for a few years. From 1968 until the present, Antiques for Interiors has rented the house.
The architects, William Marcy Whidden and Ion Lewis, were boyhood friends in Boston and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1877. Whidden, born on February 10, 1857, continued his education at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris for four years and then began working for McKim, Meade and White in New York. Lewis, born on March 26, 1858, stayed in Boston to work for Peabody and Stearns. Whidden came to Portland in 1883 for McKim, Meade & White to work on the Portland Hotel project. He met Alice McLoughlin Wygant, granddaughter of Dr. John McLoughlin; and they were married on September 24, 1884. The hotel project fell through for financial reasons, and the couple went back to New York. In 1887 the hotel project under new owners revived, and Whidden returned to Portland to finish the project. In 1889, Ion Lewis came to visit Whidden; they decided to form their own firm. Whidden and Lewis designed many important Portland buildings including the City Hall (1892-1895), the W.B. Ayer House (1905), the Arlington Club and the Multnomah County Courthouse. Lewis was Director of Architecture for the Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905, and in 1930 established the Ion Lewis Traveling Fellowship at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Their firm nurtured the profession of architecture in Portland. One of their most famous employees was A.E. Doyle, who later designed the Multnomah County Library. Doyle's firm once employed Pietro Belluschi, who later joined with Skidmore Owings and Merrill to create one of Portland's largest offices. In 1920 Whidden retired and later died on July 27, 1929. Lewis continued the firm until his death on August 29, 1933. Whidden was survived by his wife and two sons-Austin Chamber!in and Thomas Marvin; Lewis was a bachelor