Pittcock Mansion

For some of you who live in the Portland area, you are fortunate to live in the "back yard" or "front yard" of one of Portland's finest homes, the Pittcock Mansion. I took the opportunity to take my kids to see the magnificent home. At first Jacob thought it might be pretty dumb, but by the time we were done he thought it would be pretty cool to live in a house like this. Who wouldn't?!

Here you see the kids at the front or entrance of the mansion. You actually enter at the side of the house. But when the family lived in the home this is where any guests of the family would enter. If you were bringing a deliver, or visiting one of the servants of the home, you would go to the servants door, which is also located on the side of the house.

The Pittcock Mansion was built between 1909 to 1914. The Pittcock family moved in the home in 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Pittcock lived in the home for five years. The relative who lived in the home the longest was Peter, the Pittcocks grandson. He was actually born in the home in 1914, and lived there until 1958 when he moved out and tried to make it into a museum to make money for the upkeep of the home. The home was then put up for sale in 1962 after the storm of 1960 which did a great amount of damage to the home. The city of Portland decided to by the home in 1962 before a land developer purchased the home and destroy the property. The city of Portland felt the home warrented saving and making into a museum because of the long standing history the home holds. It does have some interesting little additives.

The staircase that Grace and Jacob are sitting on is located in the enterance hall of the home. It is made with Italian marble that was imported for the home. On the opposite side of the staircase, which you can't see, is the elevator. This was one of the first homes with an elevator located in the home, and it still in operation today.

This is a picture of Mr. Pittcocks desk located in the library. This is probably where he did most of his work when he was home. He was the ran the Oregonian, owned a paper and pulp mill, a sheep ranch, steam boat interests, and quite a few more. The man was busy! He had 6 children all together, and two of his daughters lived with him in his home.

In fact, the Steinway grand piano you see here was purchased for his daughter Lucy. It is now located in what people think was the music when the family was in residence.

After leaving the music room you pass the smoking room, yes a smoking room. At this time, the afluent would have a special room for people to go to, to smoke. It is a small round room, not big enough to fit more then maybe three people. From there you go to the dinning room pictured below. The room special attraction is the hidden cabinets for the crystalware. The cabinets are to the far left, and right. I am not sure if you can see them in the picture below.

The dinning room has an bulter's pantry just to the right of it. A wonderful room any of us would like to have. It is place that holds all the china, a small stove for keeping food warm, and an area to finish any final preporations for food before going into the dinning room. As you walk throught there you enter the kitchen.

The kitchen is interesting because there are no cabinets. The only things that were in the kitchen were the stove, the sink, and the two long tables to work at. It was very simple, and basic. Easily kept clean and no clutter. To the cooks at this time pots, pan, and other things need to cook with were considered unattractive to the eye. These items were to be kept in pantry, which was located across the hall from the kitchen to make easy excess. Next to the pantry was a room, that was WAY before it's time, and would be great for any cook today.

The room was called the cooler room. As seen in the picture to the right, the room had tiled floor, a three paned window, and a door similiar to a vault door to keep the cold in. Located on one wall was your "ice box" to keep certain things even colder then what was in the room. Here they could keep fresh foods, things to be kept very cold, and other items that we would put in our refrigerator today. The difference between the two, this is a room, not a "small" appliciance. Personally I will take the room!

Next we went upstairs to see the bedrooms. You had rooms for two of Mr. Pittcocks daughters and their husbands, a sectary's room for one daughter who ran the household needs, the childrens' room for the three granddaughters and one grandson, a sewing room, bedroom for Mr. Pittcock, bedroom for Mrs. Pittcock, and sun rooms used to sleep in during the hot months. What the kids and I found the most intreging was the shower located in Mr. Pittcocks bathroom. As you see in the picture to your left the shower had lots of plumbing. You can't see the very small spicket at the bottom, but that was used as a toe tester. You could test your water before it made it al the way through the pipes to the top shower head. Then there were two "kidney" shower heads if you need more " bang for your buck" kind of thing. And they say some of our showers of today are elaborate!!

We also got a chance to see the room where Peter, Mr. Pittcocks grandson, was born. The room is pictured below.

Peter was the only grandchild to be born in the house in 1914. He lived in the home until 1958 when he moved, and thought to make the home into a museum to try and help balance the cost of the home.

The Pittcock Mansion was a home of elegance, and before it's time. It has amenities that people did not even dream of at that time. They had a dumbwaiter system that was electrical, just like their elevator system. No need to use a pulley to take things up. They had brought in things from far and wide to build this home, Italian marble, different woods, and sandstone for the outer surface of the home.

The phone you see here was located in many places in the home. The home had it's own internal phone system, and intercom system. In the mornings when Mrs. Pittcock was ready for the day she would phone the chauffer, who lived above the garage, to tell him of the events or places they would need to go to. A corner of the garage is picture here below.

The home was very much self contained. There were numerous greenhouse, and located near this garage was a 500 gallon tank of gasoline.

The Pittcock Mansion is one of Portland's greatest treasures. If you have had the chance to see this gem I would encourage you to go. There is so much history and beauty that people of all ages will enjoy the time spent there. We as a family enjoyed our visit and plan to go back. There are three different hiking trails that Mr. Pittcock had established when he lived in the home. Our family did not get a chance to see those trails. So we will be going back this summer. I hope you family will beable to go too. For more about the Pittcock Mansion, please visit www.pittcockmansion.org.