Just Listed! Delightful English Cottage with a History

ORIGINS

This house was once the home of Hollis E. Johnston. Mr. Johnston was a renowned Pacific Northwest architect who designed Lincoln High School, the Town Club, the Watson Eastman house, as well as the town of Gilchrist, Oregon.

The home remained in the Johnston family until designer Benjamin Silver acquired it from Mr. Johnston’s grandson in 2013. Benjamin, a Londoner transplanted to Portland, restored the home with great care and thought, continuing traditional elements with restraint while updating the color palette. Benjamin has executed several other notable
residential renovations in Portland, including home by Roscoe Hemenway, Josef Jacobberger and Herman Brookman. The buyers will become the third family to own the home in 97 years.

In 2015 the home was enrolled in an energy study with EnergyTrust of Oregon. Pursuant to the study, the home was pressure tested and air sealed. Insulation also was upgraded to R-49 in the accessible ceilings, R-21 in the knee walls and R-30 in
the crawl space.

In 2016 a complete property survey was undertaken and recorded.

In 2017 all windows on the second level and on the southern facades on the first level were replaced. The new windows are Marvin Ultimate casement windows, with dual pane, argon-insulated low E3 glazing, aluminum-clad exteriors and, where practical, retracting screens. The 20-year warranties on the glass components and exterior cladding are transferable to new owners.

The current owners carefully selected Classic Sash & Door to perform the window replacement. Mark Bell at Classic was best able to understand and execute a window replacement plan that would preserve the glass exposures and proportions of the original windows.

The landscaping was entirely reconceived in 2017. Several crowded, overgrown or diseased trees were removed, and decades of understory growth were cleared. New plantings were added and the lawns were expanded to provide for highly usable outdoor spaces amid the impressively mature rhododendron, magnolia, camellia and cedar trees.

The new steel fence was designed to maximize both privacy from the street and sight-lines from the home and yard, while the staggering of the panels softens the structure. The garden blooms all year, starting with white bells and camellias in late winter; tulips and daffodils in early spring; lilacs, azaleas, rhododendrons, georgia and lilies throughout the spring; hydrangea, daisies, calla lilies, roses, crepe myrtle, dahlia and lavender all summer through early fall; late hydrangea in the fall; and hellebores all winter.