For the first time in a long time, there isn’t a movable shed sitting in the church parking lot near my house. That must mean that the Habitat for Humanity homes are finished. Now I wonder what will become of the house that sits between the church and the new homes.
Here’s the end product. The second building built is on the left side of the photo.
The beautiful Atomic Age cinder block midcentury has been torn down and is now becoming three new residences.
I’ve featured this little house on this blog before. It’s tiny and I’ve observed many projects that the homeowners have completed over the years.
Of late, the raised beds haven’t been used to their full capacity, as was the case in the years after they were first installed.
I’m guessing that stroller is the reason. I suspect a child has come into this household. And we know how that shifts the amount of time available for projects.
I’ve always liked this house at the corner of Montana and Liberty Street. But it looks like the days are waning.
Next Portland tells me that there are 18 units coming soon.
PortlandMaps.com isn’t connecting so I have no details about the house at this moment.
And now PortlandMaps is working! It was built in 1948 and the main level is just over 1000 square feet, plus the basement. It was sold in January of this year for $556,675. The previous sale was in March of 2021 for $555,000. Before that it last sold in 2002 for $138,000 (those were the prices when I first moved here! Affordable!) And prior to that, someone bought it in 1996 for $82,000.
No word on who built the concrete planter out front, though.
This is an 807 square foot house built in 1923. The assessor detail tells me that it was sold in 1997 for $63,000. (Oh, to have bought property in North Portland in the 90s!) It sold to a builder in November 2021 for $445,000.
I like small houses that are set back from the property. There is ample room for a beautiful garden out front. I also like that little gable on the house. I’m not sure if it came about due to a remodel, but it’s very nice.
Zoning means the builder could build two skinny houses on this lot. It might be that, or a one big house.
Godspeed, little house on a big lot. I hope you have a lot of happy memories.
This pretty house has the chain link fence of death around it.
This is at 6305 N. Montana Ave. It’s 1622 square feet, built in 1928. It was last sold in December of 2019 for $599,036 and is owned (strangely) by a person giving that very address. However, NextPortland says that a permit has been issued:
A project at 6307 N Montana Ave has been submitted for building permit review by Fosler Portland Architecture: Construct new 3 story 19 unit apartment building with associated site work
https://www.nextportland.com/category/6307-n-montana-ave/
So it’s coming down for sure.
This little guy is at 6820 N. Montana Ave. I really love this stretch of houses bordered by the Fred Meyer, Rosa Parks Way, Interstate Ave, and I-5. There’s a bunch of small houses on big lots that are just cute. And I’m guessing in 20 years, they will all be gone.
This is an 881 square foot house built in 1927 that was last sold in October of 2021 for $320,000. It’s owned by a developer in Vancouver.
Reporting from the future, I can say that it appears they have been fixing this house up, rather than tearing it down. And there’s nothing in NextPortland. But a developer in Vancouver owns it, so my guess is that this doesn’t have much time left. It’s also got empty lots on both sides, so I wonder if they are just biding their time waiting for another property.
This one hurts. Even more than usual.
From this angle, you can’t see much, except the above sign. But we will get closer.
I love a good midcentury house. But I have a particular weakness for midcentury houses that use cinderblocks for their construction. Something about the modern living aesthetic combined with the utilitarian nature of the cinderblock really gets me. There aren’t a ton of these houses, which is why I’ve always liked this one.
Look at those long prairie-style lines! Look at how the garage is almost as big as the house part!
And oh my goodness that chimney. Plus the window and the built-in planter box.
And even, yes! Deco glass blocks?
The house sits on the corner and takes up half of the block, so it had a pretty big backyard too.
Also, there was this bit of interest.
Here are some stats from Portland Maps.
I can’t find previous sale data anymore. Very sad to not have that information.
I will miss seeing this midcentury marvel in my rambles around the neighborhood.
Let’s play a fun game. How much is a house down the street from my house for sale for? It’s 700 square feet and its eastern neighbor is the wall the separates I-5 from the neighborhood.
It’s got some bright orange counters in the kitchen.
Are you ready to guess? Place your bets now. Once you scroll past this picture, you will find the answer.
Did you guess $300,000? If so, you are a winner! As will be the person who buys this house. I haven’t seen a $300,000 house in this neighborhood for a long time.
From the future, I can tell you that this sold for $302,000 on 7/8/21 to someone who lives in Honolulu.
PortlandMaps doesn’t say the last time it was sold, so we can’t have any appreciation fun.
Since I moved to the Kenton neighborhood, I’ve always liked the swath of houses between I-5, Interstate, Lombard, and Rosa Parks Way. Like my little section of Kenton, this stretch of blocks used to be mostly cute bungalow-style housing with good amounts of yard.
In the past five years it’s become cute bungalow-style housing interspersed with large multi-unit spaces, only one of which has parking. This area is a good spot for multi-unit construction as it’s right on the Yellow Line and a very walkable neighborhood. But without neighborhood regulation of parking, it’s not the most ideal. And I miss the little houses when they go.
This house is holding fast. It’s on a corner, so it won’t be hemmed in on all sides by multi-unit housing. It will stay for now, but that fence indicates that the lot next door is changing.
Its neighbor is not long for this world. This is a 1926 861-square foot house with a 600-foot unfinished basement that last sold in 1997 for $88,500. It sold in March, 2020, for $540,000.
This was part of the lot. It had a big, shady yard due to those trees.
Next door to the little house above was an empty lot. I’m not sure, but I think it might have been the garage for this little house, which is also for sale. You’ll note that the empty lot has become a multi-unit structure. The yellow house was built in 1926 and it looks like the owner recently died. If Zillow is to be believed, the house has sold for $372,500. This has a chance of not being torn down, but I’m not holding my breath.
Next to that little house, is one that I’ve got my eye on. This one is owner occupied, but I’d guess the owners are getting up there in years. This house has a garage on its lot that looks to be bigger than the house.
Here is another one of my favorites, a few blocks down. It’s a 1941 Ranch house (so compact and cute.) It was last sold in 1987 for $38,000. Zillow tells me it’s off market. I thought I had seen that it sold, but who knows. I love the siding. I’m guessing this lot will be subdivided and the house torn down.
One street over, is this little gem, slated to become a multi-unit corner of the block like you can see in the right side of the photo. It was built in 1925, is 932 square feet, and has at 440 square foot unfinished basement. The previous owners bought it in 2009 for $234,000 and it sold in June of 2018 for $650,000. Next Portland reported in 2019: Construct 3 story (18) unit apartment building with associated site work, but that might be those ones across the street. Read on to hear about that project.
Across the street from the 1925 house were two houses that will become the Norway I and II. That will be two three-story buildings with five units on each floor. That’s 30 units total. But not in one building. In two buildings. Why? Perhaps it has something to do with a new law that requires all buildings with 20 or more units to provide low-income housing.
This street, at least on its south side, doesn’t have cars parked on the street.
I think this has to do with every house having a driveway, and every house being a single-family dwelling. Once multi-family dwellings appear, street parking picks up, since builders aren’t required to include parking.
This is a pretty wide street, but a lot of Portland side streets (this is especially true in a lot of southeast neighborhoods) feel unsafe to drive on when cars are parked bumper to bumper on both sides. It’s not unusual for a car driving down the street to pull over to let an oncoming car pass them.
I’d like to see the Portland City Council get on top of this, but they aren’t likely to. Fixing things would be a pain, and the fact that we have city-wide representation, rather than districts means that people can’t really band together in an area with unsafe parking situation and demand their representative do stuff about it.
Someday we’re going to revamp our city’s governing system. And then we can actually start being the city that works.
