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Five vintage pastel bathrooms in this lovely 1942 capsule house — Portland, Oregon — 13 photos

pam kueber - Updated: August 12, 2017

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Portland-time-capsule-with-five-pastel-bathsTour-a-Time-CapsuleWow. 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:

1943-brick-colonial-house-exterior1940s-brick-colonial-house-ext brick-doorway-entrance-1940s-cape-codAbove: 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

1940s-pink-ceramic-tile-bathroom-and-dressing-area 1940s-pink-ceramic-tile-bathroomdental sinkBathroom #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. 
pink-and-black-vintage-bathroom-1940s-ceramic-tileBathroom #2 is pink and black…

vintage-black-and-white-ceramic-tile-bath-1940sBathroom #3 is white and black…

vintage-pink-and-blue-bathroom-ceramic-tile

Bathroom #4, pink and blue…Hey, remember Nora’s pink and blue bathroom — original owner in her original bathroom!?

yellow-and-black-ceramic-tile-vintage-bathroomBathroom #5 is yellow and black….

Which vintage bathroom is your favorite?

 

 

 

Oh… and we’re not done yet. Keep going:

Knotty-pine-den-with-fireplace knotty-pine-office-with-parquet-floors knotty-pine-paneling-in-rec-room-basement knotty-pine-rec-room-with-sputnik-light-and-fireplace

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:

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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:


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Comments

  1. Scott says

    Please, please, please let this house go to someone who appreciates the interior just the way it is. Bonus points for a very handsome and dare-to-be-different exterior color.

    I voted for Bathroom #4 (pink and blue) but both this bathroom and #3 (white and black) include a very clever trick that I don’t think I would have ever thought of, changing out the toidy seat to another color for instant and very affordable two-toning. What a great idea!

    The Think Pink sink in Bathroom #1 (pink and pink) is also a show stopper. I want 🙂

  4. Gail says

    My dream house!!! Unfortunately, chances are that someone will buy it and immediately feel the need to destroy all the ‘old stuff’ and replace it with cheesy new crap. There should be a law against selling gems like this to people who can’t appreciate them!

    • pam kueber says

      Portland is a market full of lots of people who seem pretty sensitive to historical properties — let’s all keep our fingers crossed!

  5. Sherri says

    Insane in the membrane!! I love this house,,ours was built in 47 with a lot of brick work too and one of the things i like is moss on some of it,,but my hubby not so much,so seeing it on the patio made me smile 🙂

  6. Karen says

    I would buy this house in a heartbeat if I could and not change one single thing!! I absolutely love it. Thanks so much for sharing.

  7. JanH says

    I love them all – the pink and black looks like pink and navy but I’ll take it either way.

    Pam, could be that it was EARLY 1942 and the shortages hadn’t started yet. Remember, war was declared 12’8 and because the economy was going well they probably had plenty of material to build the house. They probably hadn’t started having shortages and rationing.

    At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I can’t wait til tomorrow when I can come back and really examine each room.

    LOVE………………..

  10. MsKittyMuses says

    This makes my heart hurt, I love it so much! And to hope, hope, hope that who ever buys it really appreciates what it already is, rather than going in with a demo mindset. I would kill for ONE of those bathrooms! And that rec room! Be still my beating heart! I can’t even think what the wrong person would do to that house. If I do I may end up rocking and crying in a corner somewhere…