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2002 Home Tour

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The James C. & Mary A. Costello House*
2043 NE Tillamook St.

In the early years of the 20th Century Tillamook Street had one of the largest concentrations of fine homes in the city, and this one was a prime example.  Designed by Joseph Jacobberger in 1910, this house displayed the wealth and prominence of its first owners, the Costello family, James C. Costello having been a very successful real estate investor.  Sadly, by the late 1990's, this house had become an eyesore, its facade disfigured by an exterior staircase added during a conversion to apartments -- and exuding an atmosphere of neglect and decay.

What a difference a year has made!  Starting in 2001 an incredible transformation has occurred as the owner/developer turned loose an army of craftspersons to restore every detail of this splendid home to its as-built condition.  Even the magnificent glass canopy over the front door was built to match the original (not to mention the front doors which were custom crafted to reproduce what probably was the original design).  During an early, destructive conversion to 3 apartments, the grand staircase from the entry hall to the second floor had been dismantled by previous owners into thousands of bits of architectural millwork -- and was reassembled in 2001 in a tour-de-force of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle solving.

Miraculously, with all the damage done to the house over the years, many of the fine interior elements survived.  The beautiful carved oak columns defining the entrance to the living room from the entry hall managed even to escape painting.  And the oak panelling of the living room and mahogany of the dining room, while needed lots of care and restoration, are indeed the originals.

As part of the restoration process, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a result of its connection with master architect Joseph Jacobberger.  In conjuction with that listing, the house became part of the Oregon Special Assessment program, in which its assessed value for property tax purposes is frozen for 15 years.

Unlike all the other homes on the home tour, this house was in the final stages of restoration and thus unoccupied by its owner.  As this is written in mid-summer, 2002, the new owners/residents have moved in, and a new life has begun for this grand old lady!