Interior Features
of the Historic Home
By Jack Bookwalter
The Portland Metro
area is fortunate to have so many fine of examples of pre-WW II housing
in such good condition. Today, more than ever, there is a renewed
interest in restoring our architectural heritage, both outside and
inside the home.
The interiors
of houses have always been especially vulnerable to the pressures
of modernization. The one room in your historic house that is most
likely to have undergone alteration is the kitchen. These functional
rooms for the preparation of food were usually not the showcases of
style they are today.
The Victorian
kitchen was kept simple: spare, functional, and easy-to-clean. Wall
and base cabinets as we know them were still many years away. Functional
cupboards, drawers, and tilt-out bins could be found in individual,
movable pieces of furniture (such as a “hoosier”). Much
of the food preparation occurred at the kitchen table. Most middle-class
homes had separate pantries. The largest homes had butler’s pantries
(the source of many latter-day powder room conversions).
The first elements
of style started creeping into the kitchen at the beginning of the
20th century. Wall tile started appearing at about this time. Its
stylishness was perhaps incidental to its being functional and, yes,
hygienic. Its color was, of course, white — furthering the appearance
of the kitchen to that of a medical laboratory. Hanging cabinets began
making their appearance. Base cabinets started their life as infill
under the lateral counter extensions of the large porcelain sink.
The new base cabinet was promoted as being more hygienic than the
open, dust-catching area it replaced. The first counter spaces were
often made of oiled fir. These are beautiful but difficult to maintain
properly. By the 1920s colored ceramic tile was the material of choice
for counters, backsplash, and walls.
Today there is
a revival of interest in creating historic kitchens. There are many
local sources to purchase appropriate restoration materials. There
are even design consultants and contractors who specialize in historic
kitchens. However, going authentic with kitchen appliances can be
a bit tricky. Not everyone is willing to live with a smallish, coil-top
refrigerator. And no one wants to depend on an icebox for refrigeration
(good ice is so hard to find these days). But you will find that older
stoves and ranges do just about everything a modern stove does. And
for the faint of heart, modern appliances can usually be installed
so they are disguised in some way. Or, they can be placed just off-stage
in the old pantry.
Most people opt
for some degree of compromise and settle for a historically appropriate,
period-inspired kitchen renovation. A good way to see the different
approaches is to attend the annual Bosco-Milligan Foundation kitchen
tour (every August). For information on next years event call 503-231-7264.
You will see the whole range of authenticity from period-inspired
restoration to painstakingly authentic re-creation; and in every type
of house from West Hills mansion to modest Eastside bungalow.
The second room
likely to have been altered is the bathroom. If your house was built
before 1900 it may not even have had a bathroom! As late as the 1890s,
Victorian pattern books were still showing many house plans for large,
commodious suburban villas, sans indoor plumbing. Victorian houses
that did have bathrooms usually contained a wonderfully round clawfoot
tub and a simple sink. The “water closet” could be inside
the bathroom or separate from it. Vertical beadboard walls were common.
By the mid-1920s
built-in bathtubs had replaced clawfoots in popularity. Hygienics
again — clawfoots allow dust and germs to gather underneath.
Anyone who has ever taken a soak in a clawfoot, though, can attest
to the unmatched comfort of its deep, rounded shape. Clawfoots and
early built-in tubs can be purchased at salvage yards today. Reproduction
models are also readily available.
The color of early
plumbing fixtures was, of course, hygienic white. But in the 1920s
colors of bathroom fixtures and wall tile sometimes took a turn to
the wild side. If your bathroom has orchid fixtures and two-tone green
tile, you most likely have an original bathroom that was the cutting
edge fashion of the day.
Bathroom floors
were often tiled in unglazed porcelain hexagonal mosaics. These were
usually white, but colorful inset patterns could be found in the center
of the floor or around the border. These floors were stylish and durable.
There seldom has ever been a good reason to replace them. Many original
examples still exist. Most have held up better than the sheet vinyl
flooring installed five to ten years ago. Mosaic sheets of reproduction
tiles can still be purchased at most tile stores.
Here in the forest
country of the Northwest, wood decoration was especially lavish. The
rooms containing the most wood were luckily the least likely to have
been remodeled. Oftentimes though, natural stained wood has been painted
over in misguided attempts at “modernization.” Many renovators
today opt to strip the paint (often many layers) from the wood. This
can be a very tedious and complicated, although ultimately a rewarding
process. Owners of painted wood should take note however: painted
woodwork is not historically inappropriate. Then, as now, the choice
to go with stained versus painted wood was simply a matter of preference.
Wood built-ins
became popular after 1900. These often took the form of twin bookcases
surrounding the fireplace, or built-in buffet cabinets in the dining
room. Some Arts and Crafts bungalows had benchseating perpendicular
to the fireplace, creating what were known as inglenooks.
The Victorian
houses built before 1900 are considerably fewer in Oregon than the
historic houses built after the turn-of-the-century. Consider yourself
indeed fortunate if you own one of these treasures. In addition to
the fine woodwork shared with most pre-WWII houses, Victorian houses
were especially known for their high ceilings, formal parlors, rosette
ceiling medallions, and marble fireplace mantels. Often, embossed
wall covering known as anglypta or lincrusta was used as frequently
as wainscotting.
The new century
brought more open, informal floor plans, lower ceilings, simpler ornament,
and a renewed emphasis on craftsmanship. Portland saw a huge building
boom as a result of the Lewis and Clark Fair of 1908. Another boom
followed in the wake of the national economic expansion of the 1920s.
Although the first 40 years of the 20th century included many different
exterior house styles, the interiors varied far less. There was much
borrowing and overlapping of interior styles. This perhaps makes the
task easier for the home renovator concerned with authenticity. Home
renovation is a rewarding and valuable experience. Not only do you
increase the value and beauty of your home, but you get to connect
with ideas and works of all the early Portlanders who laid the foundation
of this most charming and livable city.
The photos
of the home featured in the article is owned by Cathy Hitchcock and
Steve Austin. Historic consultants, they can be reached by calling
Austin & Hitchcock Restorations 503-235-9691 or emailed at saustin@aracnet.com. |
