Ward Family House Diary w/added pictures

Sections of original diary with titles intact

• Header
• What
• When
• How Much
• Original House Size
• What Did The House Look Like Originally?
• Property Contours
• Trees
• First Major Addition
• The Master Bedroom Wing Was The Second Major Addition
• Front Family Room & Hallway
• Basement Barnboard
• Conclusion

George D. Ward & Associates

4941 S.W. 26th Dr., Portland, Oregon 97201

(503) 293-6075

Environmental Consulting Services

Prompted by podding by members of the Ward family and friends, the following memories were summarized for those who might have some interest in various things that have taken place in this old place during the past 49 years while the Ward family lived there.

George D. Ward.

May 6, 2003

The house and property were purchased by the Ward family in early 1954. It was previously owned by Mr. & Mrs. Steston. At the time of purchase the entire house inside and out was painted blue.

The original septic tank was discovered during excavation for the master bedroom. The city building inspector insisted that it be removed but the family refused by convincing him that we intended to convert it into a wine cellar. It is still there! Just waiting.

Our front entrance was once located the same as the grey house's present entrance.

The Ward's love to dig.

Every square foot of the original 15,000 has been changed with the exception of the driveway and about a two foot patch of soil between the two surviving fir trees next to the log cabin window.

Prior to the development of the Campbell estate property there were no fences leaving the backyard open to a large wooded area planted many years ago by Col. Dosch. Many spcimen (what/sp?) trees were there and the Campbell house was the only house on the estate property.

In the early 60's a 600 lb. Elk came onto the Ward property from the creek and left giant footprints and "muffins" all over the place. Local authorities thought the beast might be dangerous and had it shot at about where the steps are now for the pool deck. Bummer - the Ward kids wanted to keep him as a pet - all 600 pounds.

• 1) Before the new living room was carpeted the Ward kids and neighborhood kids used it as a skating rink on special occasions.

• 2) The new living room roof was used for solar heat experiments as a means of heating the swimming pool. At one time as many as 20 solar test areas were occupied by a variety of solar demonstration zones. One zone is recognized as having the first solar meltdown anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. (This is the truth)

• 3) A toned down solar heater is still in service over the living room. It still works.

• 4) The living room roof also served as a jump-off point for the teenagers from all over the neighborhood who wanted to enter the pool from the sky. All made it!

• 5) The Living Room Fireplace

  

  Isn't your ordinary fireplace. The basalt rock backwall is made from Columbia River basalt known to be several million years old. It was hand picked by George Ward and then stolen by him from an abandoned tock quarry along the Columbia Highway a few miles east of Corbet.

  The copper hood above the fireplace was hand sculptured using a cadillac with snow tires and running over copper flashing material that was laid out on the gravel driveway. The badly abused copper was then thrown in the fireplace and burned in order to get the tarpaper off the backside of the rolled copper sheeting. The dark color on the copper hood is the result of the fire. As such, no two sheets are the same and yet the pattern of color between each panel matches the pattern of both adjacent side sheets. Remarkable but true!

  Behind the hood is a large metal box that hold about half a ton of cobblestones scrounged from an old street car line on north Albina ave. The cobblestones serve as a giant "heat sink" that continues to give off heat for many hours after the fire is out. The purpose of the overhead paddle fan is to distribute the residual heat.

  Below the concrete floor of the fireplace there is about a 2 ft. high crawlspace formed between the wood floor support system of the living room and the original concrete garage floor that is about 6" thick - solid concrete! There is the remains of a secret tunnel below dug by the Ward kids and neighborhood kinds by hand many years ago. The construction of the tunnel was the kids' idea and it was done secretly by the kids who had watched the movie The Great Escape in which Steve McQueen and others escaped from a German prisoner of war camp during WW II. We even found an old suitcase at the tunnel's entrance as was done during numerous WW II real escapes. The entrance to the tunnel which heads westward toward the swimming pool was sealed with concrete about 40 years later. Portions of the tunnel which was dug through the hard clay still remain and include treasure items tossed in for future kids to wonder about. The tunnel is very cramped but structurally safe. The treature items remaining in the tunnel are also safe but will remain secret for some other family's kids. It's a good way to keep your kids off the street!

Practically none of the above was included in the original plans. As construction proceeded we kept finding all sorts of unique doors and windows, old wood trim, tin ceiling material and especially the huge floor beams that Jeff Ward recovered from an old abandoned railroad bridge in Milwaukie. The beams were too long for the plans but they were too unique to shorten so we kept the full lengths and redesigned the whole addition in order to accomodate the full length of the beams. All the plans had to be changed and the permit required that we file an appeal - just to save some old railroad beams. We still think it was the right thing to do even though it ran the cost of the project substantially over budget.

Included in the south wing addition are the following items that are not usually found in today's modern homes. This is because we wanted it that way. Included are:

• Sauna Door: Thick wood sauna door was found hanging in the rafters of an old second hand store in S.E. Portland. It was originally used on a refrigerated storage room as indicated on the metal name plate.

• The Solid Brass Frame around the sauna heater came from England. It was used originally as part of a coal burning fireplace. It was found in a junk store - it's solid brass.

• Cobblestone Sunroom Floor: The cobblestones used in the floor (and in the living room fireplace) were salvaged from the south bank of the Columbia slough. They were dumped there illegally by a Portland contractor who was hired to remove an old streetcar roadbed on north Albina. He allowed me to "recover" the cobblestones in exchange for my getting him out of trouble with the authorities. The cobblestones are set in a bed of sand contained in a heavy duty membrane liner. Copper heating coils were buried in the sand but were never hooked up to either the roof solar heater or the wood stove.

  

• Porcelin Room Numbers: These were scrounged from a second hand store in north Portland. They reportedly came from an old Portland hotel. They code $0.25 each including the "solid gold" lettering.

  

• Large Sunroom Doors: These were found in an old warehouse near the waterfront in east Portland between union ave. and the railroad tracks. They reportedly came from an old office building. Note that none of them match but who cares! The brass hardware was found as pieces and parts from several junk stores.

  

• Small Sunroom Doors: These were also found in an old warehouse in the same are described above. They reportedly were imported from England or France.

• Oak Bedroom Closet Door: It is from an old church in N.E. Portland according to the hippie I bought it from for $65.

• Fixed Pane Master Bedroom Entrance Door: This door is identical to others in the house. I found a whole stack of them in a barn in north Portland and bought the whole bunch for $8 each. They are believed to be from an old apartment building built in the 1920's.

• Master Bedroom Bathroom Door: Thsi door was imported from England. Note that the wood grain especially on the lower panel is authentically fake! It is painted on over what may only be pine or other species that is very light in weight. Note that one side of the lower panel looks like expensive quarter sawn oak while the opposite side looks like black walnut. Both sides are true fakes. So is the rest of the door except for the stained glass. It's not fake!

  

• Master Bathroom Mirror: Also imported from England and reportedly is quite old as well as very valuable.

• Master Bathroom Wash Basin Cabinet: The top is new but the cabinet is from an old sideboard reportedly imported from Europe.

• Pull Chain Toilet: This is the real thing and definitely is not a replicatin. However, the water tank support brackets did not come with the original tank fixture. They originally were used support old concrete washtubs many years ago - before "plastic" was invented. I had them brass plated because they used to be real ugly.

• Bathroom Tin Ceiling: Definitely Authentic! The pattern and the stamps and dies used to press the pattern into tin sheets date back to the 1800's. I grew up in a Kansas farm home that had the same type ceiling. I loved it! It also had an identical pull chain toilet, claw foot tub and stained wood wainscotting. The problem with today's toilets is that they don't roar, rumble and shake the house when you flush them, without that unique sound you've got nothing to remember.

• Wood Ceiling Beams: These came from an old farm building along the Columbia river highway toward troutdale. They are necessary and help hold the ceiling up because years ago I took some walls out that divided the kitchen and small dining room from the living room. At one time this same area was turned into a bedroom when all the kids lived at home and before the basement bedroom was completed.

  

• Front Living Room Fireplace: This is the original fireplace but it is not the original face treatment. I took a sledgehammer to the polished black marble facing because it looked too modern. The remains are buried behind the used brick facing. The wood beam mantle was salvaged from an 1800's era waterfront warehouse downriver from the present freemont bridge. It was there when only large sailing ships and steam sternwheelers was all there was! Other old wood beams used in the basement shop and log cabin floor and door frame came from the same 100 yr. old structure. Photos of it during the days of steam and sail are in my collection or available from the Oregon Historical Society.

• Upstairs Hallway Molding And Pantry Door: These were removed by me from an old abandoned homestead high in the hills north of the Dalles, OR. But on the Washington side of the river. The homestead was located on the old stagecoach road from Dallesport to Goldendale. The ruins are still there.

  

Early history says George Ward was killed in the old Shaniko hotel in the early 1920's. I'm pretty sure he was somebody else or possibly an imposter.

George D. Ward

and the rest of this great family.

It has been fun!