Wow. Not one. Not two. Not three. Not four. Yes: Five beautiful time capsule bathrooms in this 1942 house — just listed for sale — in Portland, Oregon. I received a call from real estate agent Susan Cassidy this evening, and on hearing the story, we rushed these photos on to the blog. It seems very unusual, to me, to see so many bathrooms in a house from 1942 — deep in the midst of the war years. And they are like a veritable catalog of the colors in vogue. Which color bathroom would you choose? Let’s look at more of the photos from this house — and you can take our quiz to see if we have a favorite. Oh, yes, and there’s more to this house than the bathrooms, of course: A beautiful, charming exterior… lovely moldings… and a knotty pine basement with built-in bar. 13 photos in all — and a large-size slide show at the end –>
We are rushing this story to press (so to speak) tonight … and it’s late … so we’ll keep the commentary short (for now) and let the (fabulous) photos tell the story… Let’s start with the charming exterior, I guess I’d call this a Tudor (?)… I want to say Dutch Colonial, but the roof line is wrong… anyway, kind of Tudor, kind of Colonial:
Above: Yikes, the brickwork around the entry way is phenomenal. Here’s the listing information:
This home was designed by Richard Sundeleaf and is full or rich detail. Spacious and inviting. The original features include gorgeous 1940’s baths, large master suite with sitting area, 2nd master on the main, classic “mad men” style rec room, hardwoods throughout, built ins, and lots of light. Storage everywhere, 2 car attached garage and sun room.
- Price: $859,000
- Year built: 1942
- Traditional 2 story, Lap siding, wood, attached garage, full basement – partially finished, corner lot.
- Sq. Ft.: 6,458
- Bedrooms: 5
- Full Bathrooms: 5
- Interior Features: Dumbwaiter, Garage Door Opener, Hardwood Floors, Laundry, Wood Floors, Solar TubeExterior Features:Fenced, Garden, Patio, Storm Window
- Kitchen Appliances:Down Draft, Built-in Dishwasher, Disposal, Pantry, Free-Standing Range
- Fireplace Description:Wood
- Number of Fireplaces: 3
Bathroom #1 is pink and pink… Update: Listing agent tells me that, not visible in the photo above, there is a “dental sink” — see my story about dental sinks here.
Bathroom #2 is pink and black…
Bathroom #3 is white and black…
Bathroom #4, pink and blue…Hey, remember Nora’s pink and blue bathroom — original owner in her original bathroom!?
Bathroom #5 is yellow and black….
Which vintage bathroom is your favorite?
Oh… and we’re not done yet. Keep going:
Many thanks to real estate agent Susan Cassidy for calling with this spectacular listing — and for giving us permission to feature these gorgeous photos for our forever-archive. Let’s find this house a buyer!
Links:
- Listing – this house for sale
- Susan Cassidy, Keller Williams. Note, if you are interested in this house, you can call Susan direct at 503-545-4950.
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Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
gsciencechick says
Wow, just spectacular in every way. I cannot even imagine these incredible bathrooms, but the B&W is my favorite. I don’t mind the kitchen remodel either.
carolynapplebee says
right when i’m feeling poor and creepy at tax time, i see this post. that yellow bathroom is like mine looked before it was “improved” by some crackpot before i moved here. i looked under the drywall. i have got to start saving for my restored bathroom.
laurie says
I walked by this house tonight on my evening stroll in my neighborhood. I had seen this post the other day and was excited to see what the interior of the house looked like, it has greater street appeal in person too!. I love the bathrooms with all the original tile..a total gem of a house. I hope, hope the new owner keeps those vintage details…perhaps that should be part of the contract when those papers are signed!
Rick says
So many admirable features, but is it wrong to like the outside in the first photo most of all?
James says
Whole house is just fabulous and I hope the next owner knows it. Pam’s comment about the kitchen being “easy” to take back is right on. With the right hardware, those cabinets could easily take on the look of vintage St. Charles.
GregM says
I saw this story linked on another site. Maybe there’s hope that these bathrooms will be saved.
http://blog.estately.com/2013/02/vintage-pink-bathrooms-make-a-comeback/
Zoe says
If it was anywhere but Portland you’d be right to be skeptical, but I don’t think anyone in Portland would spend 900K on a house, only to gut it. I feel pretty confident that this house will find a sympathetic owner.
Sarah says
I’m SO upset… All this talk of time-capsule houses made me curious, I had to look up the house I grew up in and they totally RUINED IT… It had 3 wonderful bathrooms, lavender and black, coral and black, and yellow and black and now it looks like and add in an Ikea catalog! At least they left the stained glass window and the amazing fireplace…
http://www.southerncaliforniahomes.com/san-fernando-valley/glendale/home/1517-Highland-Avenue,-Glendale,-CA-91202/12147029
Zoe says
Sarah, although I am hyperventilating at the thought of a lavender/black and coral/black bathroom (how gorgeous!), don’t be too distraught. It appears the new owners did a tasteful remodel. Give the current owners the benefit of the doubt; perhaps the original tile got cracked; maybe the original plumbing needed to be replaced; maybe it was too hard to find replacement tiles. The replacement fixtures they chose are tasteful, and look reasonably appropriate to the house, and the kitchen is lovely. (Is the kitchen original?) Really, it could have been much, much worse!
At least the kitchen wasn’t replaced with granite counters and “contemporary” cabinets! I have seen sooooo many beautiful mid-century modern bathrooms and kitchens replaced with hideous contractor-quality vanities and granite counters. Being a sentimental sap, I can totally appreciate how you feel — but have heart, it could have been much, much worse. At least they were sensitive to the era the house was built in, and didn’t “update” the house to 2013.
Sarah says
Well I know that my parents had to redo all the plumbing and electrical before we moved in (when they bought it it was a real dump, there weren’t even any grounded outlets in the house and the wiring was so old that it was bare wire in ceramic tubing and a lot of the tubing had broken causing potential fire hazards. The kitchen isn’t the original, when we moved in tye kitchen was so damaged and full of black mold, lead paint and asbestos that it wasn’t saveable, we don’t even think it was original since it was knotty pine and looked like a remodel may have been done in the 50s. They may be the cabinets that my family put in, they look like the same
Sarah says
As the ones we put in (although they were natural wood and these are painted, but the new owners could have painted them). They did change the counters though, the old counters were white.
Rebecca | MidcenturyModernRemodel says
Most excellent listing. That is a ton of bathrooms for 1942. Three would have been a lot.
Joe Felice says
You mean this house has never been touched? OMG! The pink & turquoise bathroom is to die for!
Maude says
It really looks as though everything was very well maintained by great owners. I have to wonder if new owners will immediately rip it apart and put travertine with those awful vessel sinks:( It really should stay as it is.
Maude
Sarah says
I totally agree with you that the new owner shouldn’t change the bathrooms, they’re perfect as is! But I have to disagree about bowl sinks (I mean they definitely do not belong in this house), but I have a friend who’s a potter and their studio makes phenomenal handmade bowl sinks that I could see fitting in very well in a very modern mid-century modern. I also agree with you wholeheartedly about the travertine! It’s all I can do to keep my boyfriend from covering the whole house in it… he thinks its so cool and here I am arguing to back date our bathrooms to a style that slightly pre-dates our house (think the blue and white bathroom in this house, but with a light minty green instead of blue). But what can you do, I think he has no flair for design and he swears that I’m colorblind… lol… but maybe I’m biased against travertine, my favorite vacations as a kid were to the old tiki/Hawaiian themed hotels in San Diego, and a few years ago I went to stay in one of my favs for the first time as an adult and I was SSSOOO disappointed, my Hawaiian paradise had been turned into a no-Mediterranian, travertine-tiled wasteland…
Sarah says
It was a traumatic experience… lol