Street of Eames Primer

This month the gallery at the American Institute of Architects/Portland is featuring the six homes that will be included in the Street of Eames homes tour on April 8. The tour benefits Project Return at Chapman Elementary School, an after-school program for homeless children.

The tour features four single family residences: Pietro Belluschi's Joss House, Van Evera Bailey's Dixon House, Herman Brookman's Powers House, and Robert Rummer's Miller/Cho House. There are also two units from multifamily housing projects: Holst Architecture's Belmont Street Lofts and Allied Works' 2281 Glisan Street.

Below are text descriptions of two of the homes, the Joss and Dixon, written by students in the University of Oregon's School of Architecture/Portland Center and edited by Street of Eames co-organizer Becca Cavell of Thomas Hacker Architects, who also received the Van Evera Bailey fellowship late last year from the Architecture Foundation of Oregon to study Portland's midcentury modern residential homes.

Dixon House (Van Evera Bailey)
The Dixon House, originally commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. Dixon perches daringly on the side of a steep hill. Built on stilts to accommodate the steep terrain, the house is an excellent example of the bold and creative designs of residential architect Van Evera Bailey.

From the street the semi-circular driveway directs visitors to a modest, welcoming entrance sheltered by an overhanging butterfly roof. Inside, public areas are located to the west and private to the east. Large, south-facing windows throughout the house take advantage of views and let in light during long rainy months.

The living and dining areas share the same larger space, and the kitchen is open to those areas, making it a central part of the activity. The informal relationship between public areas reflects the fact that the house was designed as a place to entertain, where guests and hosts could easily mingle and talk. This “open plan” blurs the distinction between spaces and enhances the perception of volume and light.

Bailey used wood extensively throughout the house. The structural fir ceiling gives texture and warmth. The driveway is also composed of laminated wood boards laid on edge, and topped with a 2-inch layer of asphalt. The arch of the driveway connects the house to the curb retaining wall to resist lateral (earthquake) loads. Much of the house is supported on by 10” x 16” wood beams, which rest on 3-1/2” pipe columns. The west hills of Portland were a testing ground for building houses on stilts, and the Dixon house is no exception.

Joss House (Pietro Belluschi)
The Josses acquired a hilltop property from their family. The site enjoyed expansive views to Mt. Hood and down the Tualatin Valley. The young couple commissioned Belluschi, who a year earlier had published drawings for a theoretical $4,500 home, to build a small house for $5,300.

Ultimately L-shaped in plan, the house is placed below the hillcrest. Like Wentz Cottage and perhaps showing influences from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian model as well, clapboard of rough spruce horizontally hung reinforces the home’s horizontal wings. Guests enter the house from the east, protected by a deep eave. Following the low entrance hall north, the short stretch of the L expands to another Wentz Cottage attribute: a double-height living space encased in knotty cedar siding held painstakingly flush. Exposed trusses and almost floor-to-ceiling windows frame a concrete fireplace included to suit the Norwegian character Mrs. Joss sought. According to the current owner, a niece of the Josses, Mrs. Joss greatly admired a small Norwegian pavilion at the Treasure Island Exposition visited while on honeymoon in San Francisco. Belluschi also acquired Antonin Raymond’s book Architectural Details shortly before designing the Joss Residence. The book includes a image with a distinct resemblance to the fireplace. Lying opposite the living room’s fireplace, a multi-tier bookshelf built against the stairs divides the served from the service programmatic elements, a characteristic of both Yeon and Belluschi’s regional modernism.

Belluschi prepared the Josses well for expansion when money allowed. Where once stood the carport, at the end of the south wing that contains the bedrooms and bath, now rests a den. The second story over the kitchen, the knuckle of the L, also was only roughed in, but again the Josses added a bed and bathroom as the family grew. The west wing’s overextending sloped roof provided an outdoor room that has yet been realized as a shelter for a studio.

The current owner has recently remodeled the kitchen, in a manner sympathetic to the original design. Belluschi penned drawings for another proposed addition opposite the second-story bedroom that would continue the roof slope up to the existing ridge in an effort to preserve the low-lying nature of the house. This simple and elegant home is a typical expression of NW Regional Style and has benefited from Belluschi’s foresight in designing with future expansion in mind.

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