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The Gov. George Chamberlain House

A Grand Shingle Style Victorian from 1891
1927 NE Tillamook

This house is known not for its original owner, a wealthy stock broker and first president of the Irvington Club, but for its most illustrious owner, George W. Chamberlain, who acquired the house in 1904. George Chamberlain became Governor of the State of Oregon in 1902 on a Democratic ticket -- an impressive accomplishment in Republican dominated Oregon of that day.  He proved to be extremely popular, introducing much important legislation, leading to his re-election in 1906.  His popularity then carried him to the U.S. Senate, where he was elected in 1909 (having run against his neighbor on Hancock Street, Harry Cake, who lived a block away), serving two terms.  His most notable accomplishment in the Senate was the passage of the Chamberlain-Ferris Bill which reclaimed land-grant land from the Southern Pacific Railroad on the grounds that the railroad had refused to develop its property as agreed to in the original grants.  This land became known as the "Oregon and California Railroad Lands" which to this day provide a large proportion of the timber production in the state and, through a special agreement between and Federal Government and the State of Oregon, a significant proportion of local government tax revenues in the surrounding communities.  In 1916, Chamberlain turned down the offer of a Vice Presidential nomination to run with Woodrow Wilson, bringing his political career to a close.

When built, this house represented one of the modern styles, new to Portland, but well known in New York and Boston where the young architects Whidden and Lewis originated.  The house cost the substantial sum of $10,000, and sat on six lots on the north side of Tillamook between 19th and 20th Avenues.  Its original owner lost possession of the house in the bank panic of 1893, and foreclosure proceedings were completed in 1896, when the house was placed back on the market by trustee Charles Prescott.  Recently discovered advertisements in the Oregonian show that the house was still on the market as late as 1899.

After the Chamberlain's sold the house in 1928, a life insurance company bought the house and operated it as a boarding house through the Depression years.  In 1932, Wesley Todd purchased the house on a rent-to-own program and established the Todd School.  Mr. Todd taught woodshop in the basement and Mrs. Todd conducted piano lessions and taught kindergarten.  The Todds retained ownership until 1975, from which point it passed through a number of hands, narrowly avoiding the mass demolitions that destroyed so much of Irvington between Tillamook and Broadway in the 1960's and 1970's.  Finally, in 1991, new owners who appreciated the home's historic and architectural importance began a 6-year restoration project and placed the house on the National Register of Historic Places.

George Chamberlain built a still- surviving house for his daughter around the corner on 19th Avenue, adjacent to his own home, in the 1910's.