A storied Craftsman house in Southwest Portland owned by the Rinehart dynasty of doctors was sold late last year for the first time in eight decades and Connor McWilliams of Portland General Contracting went to work renovating it to put it on the market in search of a new owner.
Experts restored the inlaid oak floors, Honduran mahogany pocket doors and leaded-glass windows. They shined the original door handles, hinges and other hardware. Then they broke through a few walls to enhance the flow of some of the rooms and created enticing entertainment areas as well as upgrading the decks on each of the four levels offering views of downtown Portland, Mount Adams and Mount Saint Helens.
The former pharmacy storage on the lowest level that once held a barrel of powered ibuprofen and other apothecary items is now a speakeasy-type lounge in the newly named Cellar.
“When we were demolishing walls we found bags with $5 bills” printed during the Great Depression, said McWilliams, who is also a developer with McWilliams Maes Realty and the licensed broker with RE/MAX Equity Group who listed the property for sale.
The asking price for the Rinehart residence at 1442 S.W. Vista Ave. is $2,248,000.
The tiered, 3,920-square-foot lot in the Goose Hollow neighborhood was one of two remodeled houses among new luxury dwellings on the 2024 NW Natural Street of Dreams.
The exterior was painted the “rich, warm, lively, fun” color of cabernet sauvignon accented with black trim, McWilliams told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Red is also the color of the bathroom tile and sink in the Cellar.
Statement pieces imported to Portland beyond the red marble from Turkey made into two sinks include terra cotta bricks excavated from a French country village road used in a floor, and wood fossilized by a volcano that adorns spaces. “I wanted showcases of world taste,” said McWilliams. “Back in the day, affluent owners would have traveled and appreciated relics from other countries. Hearst Castle on California’s Central Coast is completely built on that idea.”
The primary suite encompasses the top floor. There are four more bedrooms and four more bathrooms among 4,196 square feet of living space. The remade Rinehart House is “more than a residence; it is a testament to timeless beauty and sophisticated living,” said McWilliams.
There is a new roof, plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Paint and stain colors popular when the home was new were added to the custom cabinets, standalone cocktail bar under crown molding and other new pieces to look “period correct,” he said.
The Cellar has a cedar deck off of the kitchen-cocktail area, as McWilliams describes it. There is an outdoor bar and service window plus a space that can support a hot tub. “That’s the party and entertainment floor with a bar, dishwasher, ice machine and exterior exit to the street so guests don’t have to enter the house,” he said. “Gather your friends and family to look at the view.”
The property is “a legacy house unlike any in Portland that has be cared for by one family,” he said, adding that the location is walkable to Washington Park, upscale dining, shopping and cultural attractions and outdoor activities.
Before the remodel
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For 84 years, the property was owned by the Rinehart family after they sold it during the Great Depression then repurchased it.
The story of the 1907 Craftsman house parallels Oregon’s pioneering progress.
In 1882, Oregon Trail pioneer Emily Belle Cooper married Willard Ellis Rinehart, a graduate of the original Willamette Medical School. She then became one of the first woman physicians in the state, specializing in obstetrics and women’s health.
After her first husband died, she married Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Ferguson in 1900 and they later moved into the Vista Avenue house. As a widow for the second time, she sold the property in 1921, but one of her sons, Jackson Carle Rinehart, purchased it back in 1939.
Jackson was a family physician and surgeon in Portland. His brother Harvey Rinehart founded The Rinehart Clinic in Wheeler in 1913 after his arthritis treatments attracted patients from all over the country.
The Vista Avenue property is known as “the Doctors House,” according to research conducted by the Dan Volkmer team at Windermere Realty, but it has another claim. Built in 1907, it is believed to have been designed by architect Emil Schacht, who a few years earlier introduced Portland to the then cutting-edge Craftsman house. The style proliferated during the city’s population boom around the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.
The house “has not been updated for several years,” Volkmer told The Oregonian/OregonLive after listing the property Sept. 29, 2023, for $695,000. It sold Nov. 20, 2023, for $590,000, according to public records.
— Janet Eastman covers design and trends. Reach her at 503-294-4072, [email protected] and follow her on X @janeteastman.
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