Green Victorian

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 15, 2013

Astoria has its share of fascinating houses.

It looks more substantial from this angle.

The details are always unique.

Like many, this old house on Irving near 9th Street bears a historic plaque:

1889

Built by J.H. Mansell, notary. La

ter occupied by John Mc Cue, U.S.

Customs Inspector, 1906. Pres-

byterian Parsonage for

W.S. Gilbert

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Drive-by Astoria #3: A Finnish House

Astoria, Oregon ~ September 15, 2012

Bond Street Hill

This recently-painted house on Bond Street is in the Finnish style, lacking the Victorian elements seen in yesterday's post. Pat asked if Astoria was originally a Finnish town. Not entirely, but there were a lot of Scandinavians here working in the fishing industry - catching fish making boats, repairing nets and other equipment, and working in the canneries. Fishing was a huge enterprise here in earlier decades, and much of the tuna you ate as a kid probably came from Astoria.

We're getting higher up on Bond Street now, and the hills in the background are across the Columbia river in Washington. Those wires that are a photographer's nemesis around here are also prominent.

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Stylish

Astoria, Oregon ~ January 23, 2010

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School Entrance

 Astoria, Oregon ~ January 23, 2010

St. Mary, Star of the Sea School (see yesterday's post) also has an unusual doorway. Below is another photo of the facade from a more typical angle. The blue strip on the top of the lintel says, "For God and Country."

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The Old Ice House (Not)

Astoria, Oregon ~ April 5, 2009

I've always loved this old building on the River Walk between 3rd and 4th Streets - behind Burger King and the Employment Department. During our October photo contest, this picture of it was sent in by Jean B, who also identified it for me. I didn't know what it was, although it makes sense. It's on the docks and there are fish totes stored outside. Some of you asked about the ripply texture of the building, and here you can get a close-up look at the stucco. I think it looks more Southwest than Northwest. It stands out as a unique building here.

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An Opera House Stood Here

March 26, 2010

Corner of Commercial and 6th Streets

Built on the site of the Ross Opera House

which burned in October 1892,

These are the only Itailianate style

buildings in Astoria designed as

a multi-family residence.

Sorry about the wires. . . . When the sign says "these," I am sure it refers to the building on the far right as well as to the building with the plaque. I should have checked that building, too, but I was snapping photos rather than thinking.

Here's a close-up of the scrollwork, of which there is quite a bit in Astoria that seems to have been made by the same person.

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Rich in Color and Design

I had no idea that yesterday's comments were going to take such a strange turn when I planned to follow up with these photos of the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of 11th and Franklin. The church is next door to the social hall (yesterday's post), which, it seems, has had many (and varied) uses. I love the colors in this photo especially. They've been painting this church for at least a year, and the results are warm, inviting, and fun to look at.

The church also has interesting architectural features. As with yesterday's building, I would call it Gothic Revival, which I guess in the U.S. is of the Victorian Era.

All four photos are of the side (or is it the back?). It's the opposite side from Franklin Street.

Here is a link to one of the towers and the facade on 11th.

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Gothic Revival on 11th Street?

I've always found this building at the corner of 11th and Harrison to have an interesting and oddly charming facade. My imagination puts it on the English moors in a novel by one of the Brontë sisters. In looking up styles online, it seems to be Gothic Revival, which began in England and became popular in the United States. The sign on the door says, "Astoria Conservatory of Music," but I believe that the building began life as part of the First Presbyterian Church next door, which has more ornate elements of the Gothic Revival style.

Here's the Harrison Street side of the building, which happened to be in sunlight for a few minutes yesterday morning.

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Houses on Hills: Gangplank Style

May 20, 2010

Although this walkway isn't removable the way a real gangplank is, it provides access from the front door of the house to the hillside near street level. There are a few of these arrangements on Bond Street; this house is toward the west end of Bond near the mini mart. The trees on the hill above are very sparse these days. In spring of 2007, there was a major slide caused by heavy rainfall, and then our subsequent big wind storm of December 2007. Even the street hasn't recovered, and the hillside is held up off the road by cement retaining walls, with the street narrowed to one lane at the intersection with Hume.

This portion of the hill has collapsed before and was featured years ago in Life magazine on January 25, 1954. An ad for the issue lists part of the contents as, "massive mud slides (earth movement) in Astoria, Oregon moves houses and more." There are photos in the local history museum.

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Theme Day: Red

Astoria, Oregon ~ March 31, 2010

Two Red Doors

Today is City Daily Photo Theme Day.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

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Big Tree at the Flavel House

March 27, 2010

I've usually been so intent on taking pictures of this lovely old house showing the turrets and the building, that I haven't shown this remarkable tree on the blog until today. It withstood the storm of 2007 that caused its neighboring tree to become so damaged that the remains had to be cut down, and I assume that the remaining tree lost a few branches. I love the upward sweep of the lower limbs. Here is a reference giving some history of these two trees. Unfortunately, we can no longer see them both. I believe the one still standing must be the Port Orford Cedar.

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Curved Fence

I thought the curved fence at this home at 7th Street and Grand Avenue was both ingenius and charming. New blossoms and the relatively warm spring day made me feel almost as if I were in the countryside about a century or so ago.

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Crazy Branches on the Cusp of Spring

I took these photos yesterday in front of the Flavel House. When I left on vacation 11 days ago, the trees were bare; driving around town yesterday, I noticed a few trees filled with white or purple blossoms. It will be a lot of fun taking pix of Spring's arrival. Meanwhile, I wanted to capture this tree with the insane branches while you can still see the zig-zag shapes. Soon it, too, will be filled with leaves and flowers. Does anyone know what kind of tree it is? I don't. Maybe when the flowers bloom, it will help us figure it out. But please comment if you know! It's hard to see it here, but the gigantic limbs are actually a mass of twisted branches, too. They look more like roots. You can see the overall shape of the tree below.

Big thanks to all of you who visited and posted while I was away. I enjoyed reading your comments on my BlackBerry, but I haven't figured out how to comment back with it, if it's even possible on the model I have. Anyway, I'm back now, filled with good memories, folders of photos for my other blogs, and a nasty cold to go along with jet-lag . . . and I have to work (which is fine, except I feel lousy and am sleeping at the wrong hours). I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs and commenting again. I miss my cyber-friends, and once again - it was great to hear from you while I was away!

You can read a little about the trip here on Lee's Amizade Adventure blog. He continued on to Africa when I came home. He's also suffering from a cold and probably trying to get some sleep and find a place to plug into the Internet to make new posts. His adventure will continue to be fascinating, I'm sure.

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Boring No More

April 29, 2009

I usually find this industrial building on the River Walk not threateningly ugly, just boring. But it wasn't boring on the evening of April 29, 2009. A beautiful sunset and the right angle changed everything.

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Sewing Room in the Flavel House

July 30, 2001

That's not a typo in the date. I dug way back into the archives for this one, just because I like it. I haven't been inside the Flavel House since I took the photo, which was about six weeks after I first arrived in Astoria. I had to see the place, which in so many ways reminds me of the way my grandmother's house in California used to be; it was built at almost the same time. The Flavel House is lovely inside, and definitely creates a time warp when you step through the doors.

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The house at 12th and Grand

Maybe it's no surprise that this harmonious and balanced house on the corner with its unusual, but very pleasing colors is one of my favorite buildings in all of Astoria.

The face of the house is on 12th Street; let's turn the corner onto Grand.

Across the street from this house is one of the strangest streets in a town of unique streets. You can see it in this earlier post.

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Can anyone explain this building?

I've been wanting to show you this building for a long time. As interesting as it is, it's hard to photograph. I finally gave up on "good" and just went for "expository." See the very odd angles of the front section? Note the interesting eaves brackets. It's not the only place in Astoria that has this type of ornate eaves bracket, but the other buildings don't have simiar "things" on the front. Is this a cross between a turret and a portico? Maybe someone can help me out. Also note the cement arch behind the power pole. Just for the record, this building is on Exchange near 16th.

This time it's not the angles are not the digital camera doing its thing, it really is a building with strange lines. Is this an odd blend between Victorian and Craftsman? Again, I have not taken time to do the research, but I always enjoy looking at this place and wondering about it. I would also like to rip off the electrical wiring and conduits and plunk it down into an idyllic rural setting. It makes me think of a lodge from around 1910.

This arch also intrigues me. Going with the idea of a turret, maybe the arch is a secret entrance to a fortress camouflaged as an apartment building.

About 10 feet deep in the recess of the arch is a door, apparently locked. The door is for people, not for vehicles, so thisi not one of the built-into-the-hillside garages one sees locally. In any event, I consider this odd place one of Astoria's man-made wonders.

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Trim

Astoria, Oregon ~ June 14, 2009

Here's some more gray-day Astoria architecture - on 14th Street, I believe. Isn't the trim wonderful? I think I could take a photo of every building in town and find something unique and interesting about it. That would be a project, wouldn't it?

Somebody won a lot of trophies. I don't know the story.

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That way, Santa

No, this is not a belated Christmas post. I came across Santa and some helpers yesterday when I was looking for a house that will appear in an upcoming edition of Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo. It was misty out, though warmer than it's been the past couple of weeks. At about 11:30 a.m. on this dark morning, the cheery colors were welcoming, and I had to take these pictures.

Here you also get to see another of Astoria's many, many unusual houses. I never get tired of looking at the unique ways that pieces can be assembled to build the four walls and trimmings. And once again, is there a house in town that hasn't had to adapt to a hillside? It's definitely part of Astoria's charm.

Back to Santa. It seems he may have forgotten to head for home, or else he got lost, but . . .

. . . this sign should help!

Several of you have thought this was a 'gator coming out of the chimney, but do you remember "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"? I'll bet this is Dr. Seuss's grinch.

If Astoria's houses could talk . . .

I've received several lively and informative letters from Karen Schultz, who graduated from Star of the Sea High School in Astoria in 1960. She's given me permission to use her memories on this blog, and I want to thank her very much for that! I hope you'll find them as much fun to read and as informative as I do. They will appear on several posts along with the right photos.

-----------------------------------------

January 6, 2009:

Ohmygawd, Sheryl. I know that house in today's picture so well. It has a history, like so many of them. It was the home of Captain Fritz Elfving, the man who started and owned the ferry system across the river until about 1945. He was one who had both the Tourist I and Tourist II built. The story is a bit sad in that he built up the business in order to turn it over to his only child, a son. But his son was killed in WWII so Fritz sold the whole thing to the State. I knew Fritz well. He and my dad were close friends. He was a real character, and even though he came over from Sweden when fairly young, he had an accent you could cut with a knife right up until he died. We always knew it was Fritz on the phone because when we picked it up, all he ever said, in a very loud voice, was, "Yonson?," asking for Dad [Harold Johnson], of course. After Mrs. Elfving died, he decided to go find some "vimmen." He was in his mid-to-late 70's by then. He started taking cruises. Every so often, one of the "vimmen" he met on a cruise would come and visit him. Just to keep things "proper," he would have me or Barbara Sandstrom, who lived in the house to the east of his, come and stay at night when the "vimmen" were there. We were both in high school. Everyone got a kick out of this, most of all me and Barb. When Fritz died, he left the house to his nephew, Dodi Larson. Dodi still lived there when Mom sold our house after Dad died in 1974. I wonder if it is still in the family.

Oh, I could go on and on. That is what is so wonderful about your pictures; they bring back so many memories. I hadn't thought of Fritz in years. At one time, he also owned most of Svenson Island. Barb went to Star of the Sea too, was younger than I by a couple years. Her dad, Art, managed Safeway for a long time. Barb married a classmate, Jerry Zorich, who was mayor of Long Beach at one time. She died of cancer a couple years ago.

-----------------------------------------

Thank you, Karen! There will be more excerpts as I photograph other places mentioned in your letters.

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Winter shapes and colors

February 26, 2008

I'm going back into the archives for some of my images over this holiday, so (as with the recent snow photos) look for the correct date of the photo under the picture rather than at the top of the post.

I've always liked the stark shapes and the odd colors of this building between Commercial Street and Marine Drive.