A house for Karen

This large stucco house sits at the corner of 4th Street and Franklin Avenue. I took the photos on the same overcast and misty day as I took the picture of the "Ships on cotton" from a vantage point just down the street.

Here's the house from the side and back. About this house, Karen wrote: "Can't wait to see the picture of the old house. When we had it, it was covered with ivy, and I mean covered. Dad loved the ivy, so we could never paint the house. The people who bought it from mom took it all down. Last time I looked at the house, it seemed to me it had been turned into 2 apartments. Lord knows it was big enough. Dad built a deck out over the garage that could be accessed from the big bedroom upstairs that we used as a party room. We had a great view from it."

I see now that the deck must be on the other side. Karen also sent an interesting story about one of the other houses in the neighborhood, so when I go back to take its photo and post the story, I'll see if I can get a picture of the deck on this house. Each house in Astoria has its own style and history. One of the unusual things about the house in today's post is that it's made of stucco. In Astoria, that's the exception, as most houses are made of wood.

The design on the on the pillar looks somewhat Italianate to me, although I'm not an expert. I believe the Italian trend in the U.S. was prominent in the Victorian era, when many of our local houses were built. However, whether the trim on the column is new or old, I can't say.

Karen sent e-mail with more about this house:

January 9, 2010

It looks so much better than it used to. . . . I mentioned the house was a dirt-brown color when we lived there. The ivy on that side was so thick that Mom and I would have to get on Dad to trim it away from the windows every so often so we could get some light. My room was the one upstairs on the chimney side and the ivy went all the way up there. Every Christmas Dad would thread lights through the leafless ivy branches. It took him an entire weekend usually. It became tradition that when the lights started going up, Fritz would concoct the first of many of that year's batches of glogg and he and Art Sandstrom would come over and straw-boss the whole operation. It is amazing that between the usually stormy weather and the glogg, Dad never fell off the ladder.

A couple other interesting things is that the house has an 8-x-8-inch sold oak beam that runs in one piece the entire length of the house. It is there to stay. Another is that this year will my graduating class at Star of the Sea will be celebrating our 50th reunion. The class voted to have our all-night graduation party at my house because of the big bedroom upstairs that we used as a party room. The deck is over the garage on the other side of the house from your picture. Dad was something of a character too. I have some old news clippings and pictures that I will dig out and send you one of these days. I think you will get a kick out of them.

House on a hill

I've always loved this little house at the corner of 10th Street and Harrison Avenue. The picture suggests the name, "House on a hill," but in fact how many houses in Astoria are not perched in some manner on a hillside? Not many. It would be harder to find a residential building that was not on a hill. It's always interesting to see how foundations, stairways, garages, and all manner of other parts of the houses are built to adapt to the slopes.

I come to this neighborhood often, and on October 13th, I especially liked the way the light brightened the house and the dark clouds beyond added some drama. That little bit of blue hill to the left of the house is on the Washington side of the Columbia River. You can barely see a few fall colors in the branches. The leaves are changing, and I'll take some pix of them this coming week.

Does anyone know a name for the style of this house? The words that comes to mind are "bungalow" and "cottage," but I don't know how technical these terms are. It was probably built in the 1920s or '30s. I was inside the house one time, and it has some elements of Arts and Crafts or Craftsman Style, but it also has a lot of elements you don't usually see in traditional Craftsman Style houses. The exterior of the house is made of stucco, which is unusual here, as most Astoria houses are sided with wood. Anyway, it's always looked cozy, and it has a glorious view unobscured by wires.