Feature by Emily Kurtz The well-stocked library is complete with a Christmas tree.

Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Features | Send mail to The Voice Local mansion celebrates the holidays Downtown Portland is reflected in the windows from the northeast side of the mansion. -Emily Kurtz, photo One step into Pittock Mansion begins a journey into a time when people filled their homes with beauty and elegance. This four-floor 16,000-square-foot house in Portland's west hills boasts a number of living spaces decorated in a French Renaissance style, which was popular during the early 1900s. For the holiday season, wreaths, garlands, poinsettias, ribbons and bows blend with a collection of toys fitting this year's theme, "Timeless Toys and Trains." Built between 1909 and 1914, the mansion was first home to Henry Pittock, former publisher of The Oregonian, and his wife, Georgiana. Henry was 26 when he married 15-year-old Georgiana. Fifty-four years later they moved into the mansion, but neither lived in the house for long. Four years after the house was completed Georgiana died, and Henry died a year later. Their home will be decorated for the Christmas season until Dec. 31 and is open noon to 4 p.m. Visitors are invited to take a self-guided tour. Admission is $5.25 for adults, $4.50 for seniors and $2.50 for youth. From the main floor, an elegant marble staircase wearing green garlands, small toy trains and red bows spirals up to the second floor and down to the basement. The bronze chandelier hanging in the center of the staircase is estimated to weigh between 250 and 300 pounds. The well-stocked library is complete with a Christmas tree. Lockwood Hebard, one of Henry and Georgiana's sons-in-law, once served apples to the family here. A hand-carved oak mantel lines one wall. Fred Baker, once the premier light fixture designer in Oregon, designed the chandelier and sconces in this room and throughout the house. A train bought just before the Great Depression sits on the floor in the library along with a collection of airplanes made between the 1920s and 1950. Toys from France, Germany and Japan are also scattered about the library. The music room's large windows provide a picturesque view of Portland. Two glittering, glass chandeliers light the oval-shaped room, which contains a harp and grand piano. Lucy Pittock, one of Henry and Georgiana's daughters, received the rosewood Steinway piano made in 1887 from Henry. Toy trains from the 1930s chug throughout the room. Beautiful beams of Honduran mahogany run along the ceiling of the extravagant dining room. A cupboard also made of Honduran mahogany includes velvet-lined drawers for the family silver and a large mirror reflecting Mount Hood. Small Lionel trains line its carved wooden shelves. Near a window stands a walnut Italian chest from the 17th century that the Pittocks once kept their tennis racquets in. The small, round Turkish smoking room has a domed, plaster ceiling with an embossed design. Polish woodworker Bruno Dombrowski created the smoking room's wooden floor and other floors throughout the house. Christmas decorations in this room include a 1953 toy delivery truck from Meier and Frank. Poinsettias and pedal cars garnish the kitchen. A section of the original rubber floor is on display, and the current floor is an exact replica made of more than 7,000 pieces. Henry and Georgiana had separate bedrooms, a common practice at the time. The master suite was Henry's room. In his bathroom is a shower with pipes that run horizontally and vertically inside the shower and spray water from the top, bottom and all sides. One of the shower's many levers allows a bather to test the water by wetting his or her toe first before turning on the shower. The north bedroom, along with an adjacent sewing room, belonged to Georgiana. She was a member of Ladies Sewing Society and worked with the Ladies Relief Society and in a hotel for working women. Two of Henry and Georgiana's orphaned nieces lived with them. One niece recalled Georgiana giving her $10 every Christmas and on her birthday. Henry always had tickets to the various concerts in Portland. In the 1930s, many families assembled small toy villages under their Christmas trees. The nieces' room has one such village filled with American Flyer toys. Thirty-five different people and organizations contributed the toys for the village as well as the other Christmas decorations in the house. The holiday exhibit was sponsored by The Train Collectors Association, The Toy Train Operating Society and the Pittock Mansion Society. Left: Small trees and poinsettias decorate the bathroom with holiday cheer. Right: Small, child-sized furniture fills a child's room. -Emily Kurtz, photos Back to Table of Contents | Back to Main Index Previous Features | Top Of Page Send mail to The Voice| Journalism department website © 2002 The Voice. No part of this publication may be reproduced in written or electronic form without prior written consent from the journalism adviser of Multnomah Bible College. All rights reserved.