Friday, August 29, 2014

Historic Homes in Oregon City

It's been quite a while since I've been able to join you on a Saturday. I've so enjoyed seeing the posts of your work, though. Thought I would share a couple of things I've been doing, even though I haven't been with you all.

These are two of the historic houses in Oregon City, Dr. John McLoughlin's house on the bottom, and the Dr. Forbes Barclay house above. Both are managed by the Park Service now, as part of the Fort Vancouver interpretive site, and are open for tours:





These are Micron pen and colored pencil, with some white Signo pigment ink.

Being on a toot for historical houses, I stopped outside the Ermatinger House one afternoon. I was short on time and didn't have a sketchbook with me, but did have a Micron, so did these loose ones on a piece of manila envelope. Ermatinger is undergoing restoration, and is presently up in the air awaiting installation of a new foundation.






At its original location near the waterfront in Oregon City, this is the house where, in 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove tossed the fabled coin that decided the name of Portland, Oregon. Several moves over the generations have left the house unstable, hence its current surgeries. When it's put back together, I imagine it will have its flat-roofed front porch, columns and railings restored.

SusanLayne



2 comments:

  1. Love your use of color and white ink above, and charmed by your back-of-envelope sketches as well. Such interesting history too! Thanks for posting and hope we do get to cross paths again soon.

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    1. Today I took the tour of the McL. House with a friend and learned, among many other things, that the entrance facing the street, the one I drew, was actually the rear entrance of the house. It had been built with its face to the river and, when it was moved to its present location, that orientation was preserved even though the street passes the rear door. Having taken a look at the other side I can say that the only real difference is that the front door is flanked by sidelights (windows) and has a wider transom. There is presently a stair to that entrance because of the lay of the property. Originally the main entry had been only a couple of steps up from the street. Once you are inside the house, it's obvious which was the intended "front" because the interior stair rises in line with the more elaborate door. Interesting tour at no cost.

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