Every house has a story, especially really old dwellings. Imagine how many souls have swept through a 1903 Neoclassical-style mansion or a 1914 English Jacobethan? What lingers behind beyond the spirit of residents’ past? Their taste in wallpaper and other fixtures that stayed once the occupants vanished.
In this week’s real estate gallery, we look at historic Portland-area homes for sale and tease out the facts and the rumors.
The Portland mansion Beverly Cleary called haunted is for sale at $4,995,000: Frank C. Barnes, who was a leader in the Pacific Northwest salmon packing industry, carved out about three blocks from his land holdings to create a compound in 1914 for his large family.
The 9,830-square-foot mansion, an eclectic mix of English Jacobethan with a grand Colonial Revival portico and Arts and Crafts details, has since earned notoriety as a landmark in literary icon