An Amazing 'Save' in Alameda

Sept. 29, 2024
By: Fred Leeson

von Homeyer residence, facing west

When death and old age finally extracted the eccentric von Homeyer brothers from their lifetime home in Northeast Portland’s Alameda neighborhood, they left behind a daunting mess.

Seven junked cars sat in the back yard.  Years of hoarding left the interior of the 11/2-story home so packed with stuff there was barely room for passage.  Years of deferred maintenance took a toll from attic to basement.

In short, demolition seemed the obvious outcome.  Given city planners’ apparent lust for multifamily buildings, developers would salivate over the unusual trapezoidal lot at NE 24th Ave between Mason and Dunckley Streets. 

Alas, the developers never got the chance.  Nearby neighbors Jaylen and Michael Schmitt bought the property for $500,000, according to city property records, and spent months cleaning up the mess.  Then they worked on plans with MkM Architecture to restore and upgrade the house, built by the von Homeyer brother’s father in 1926.  It was the only home Hans and Karl von Homeyer ever had.

Schmitt said he and his wife had experience making renovations at their own home.  They also were concerned about what a new development would look like.  "We didn't want some monstrous mansion built across the street," he said. 

Alameda neighborhood historian Doug Decker, who has a marvelous grasp of researching city building and property records, found an original drawing of the house and its floorplan, designed by a Swedish immigrant architect, Ragnar Lambert Arnesen.  Decker’s investigations also uncovered many historic photographs and details of the von Homer family history.  You can read details as he uncovered them on Decker’s blog at www.alamedahistory.org

South and east (rear) facades

Decker also found a building permit for 1959 which led to enclosure of columns on the front porch.  The added interior floor space provided more room for piano instruction offered to many students by Frances von Homeyer, mother of the two sons.  She died in 1990. 

As contemporary construction photographs show, the porch is being returned to its original open-air design.

Schmitt said he hopes to offer the house for sale when renovations are done, but he is not sure he will be able to recapture the investment at once.  If property values suggest he is risking a loss, he might offer the house as a rental until a sale makes financial sense. 

Neighbors taking action to save an interesting vintage home and to prevent construction of an imposing new building that wouldn’t relate to the context its neighborhood could prove to be a valuable, albeit rare, strategy for preservationists.

Fred Leeson is a former president of the Bosco-Milligan Foundation and a member of the foundation's Board of Advisors.