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| Majestically situated above Vista Avenue, the prominent MacMaster residence is a visual
landmark for all who pass through the neighborhood. Constructed in the 1880's in
the Queen Anne style, it underwent a major facelift in 1905 when the noted
architects, Whidden and Lewis, enlarged and incorporated Colonial Revival
elements: colossal portico, Doric columns, Palladian window with lead glass!
The MacMaster House was one of the first homes to be
built in the prestigious King's Hill neighborhood. In fact by 1885 there was
only a handful of palatial homes in the area. It wasn't until the 1890's, with
the arrival of the streetcar and the city's general economic expansion in the
period 1887-1893, that the neighborhood began to be significantly developed. By
1900 it was firmly established as an enclave of the rich. William MacMaster was
a prominent Portland financier and businessman. Scottish by birth he came to
Oregon to promote the building of railroads. An avid golfer, he was a founder of
the exclusive Waverly Golf Club.
(Right - The MacMaster's
Pictured during holiday in Switzerland)
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John Reed,
is perhaps one of the neighborhood's most famous residents. Reed was born in a
Washington Park mansion and became a journalist and a Bolshevik revolutionary.
He is honored as a Soviet hero and is the only American buried in the Kremlin
Wall. John Reed's parents' home was located just two and one-half blocks from
the MacMaster House where Park Place joins Lewis and Clark Road. Unfortunately
the home has since been demolished.
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Today King's Hill is one of Portland's most
fashionable districts and is virtually unmatched as Portland's noteworthy
collection of architecturally and historically significant homes. Many
residences were designed by architects of renown such as Whidden and Lewis, A.E.
Doyle, and Pietro Belluschi. From the fanciful Queen Anne to the stately
Colonial Revival, from elegant Italianate to picturesque Arts and Crafts, an
incredibly wide variety of architectural styles is represented. The neighborhood
boasts fourteen Portland Historic Landmarks, and eight are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
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Family Notes:
One of the MacMaster daughters
attended private school in New York with the Duchess of Windsor. All the
daughters went on to be debutantes in Portland's society. The room now known as
the Artist's Suite was once the MacMaster girls' playroom, tucked up under the
3rd floor dormers. |
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