talk about the Wilcox Manor in this interview done by Ginger Danzer and Bev Shaw on March 21, 2003 (with some additions from a visit with Ruth Powell, March 24, 2003).
Wilcox Manor 3707 SW 52nd Place (turn north off Windsor Court). Photo by Victor von Salza.
The Wilcox Manor at 3707 SW 52nd Place is listed on the National Register of Historic Homes. Bridlemile’s only historic building is owned by Ken and Mary Lou Guenther who have been enthusiatic preservationists of the beautiful estate since Ken Guenther purchased it in 1965. Today the Manor presents the elegance of 1917, the year it was completed. The Guenthers have an extensive history of the property and continue to seek information historical information.
The original property was 160 acres. The Manor, a three storey southern colonial style building, had fourteen bedrooms, a 30 x 14 foot living room, a billiard room, a library and servants quarters. A beautiful classical sunken garden the size of a football field was behind the home. The architect was Kirtland K. Cutter of Spokane, WA and the L. M Thielsen designed the garden.
Theodore Burney Wilcox, a wealthy Portland businessman, built Glenwood Farm as a country home for his family. He purchased 160 acres of what was the Peter Smith donation land claim. Wilcox died the year after its completion. His wife, Nellie Stevens Wilcox, preferred to live in the Portland home and the home was given to her son. The son, Theodore B. Wilcox Jr. (Ted), and his wife, Elizabeth Menefee Wilcox, lived in the Manor for 30 years. In 1948 they sold it to the University of Portland and the Holy Cross Fathers who moved their Columbia Preparatory School to the site. The school operated from the Manor until 1955 when a shrinking student population forced it to close. The property was sold to Robert Strahorn.
After Strahorn purchased the Manor he hosted a huge ball in the elegant rooms. The occasion is mentioned in several articles about the Manor. There still could be people in the area who attended the event.
Robert Strahorn was a developer. At the time he purchased the Wilcox property he was associated with John Powell and had built homes in the Bridlemile and Brookford sections of the neighborhood. Reports of Strahorn’s business difficulties appear in several accounts of neighborhood history. In a business separation John and Ruth Powell acquired the Wilcox property. During this time it is said that Strahorn moved to Santa Barbara with his bookkeeper.
The Powell’s continued to develop many lovely homes in the Wilcox area but had difficulty keeping up the Manor. Vandalism was a problem. Mrs. Powell tells stories of high school students sneaking into the house through the coal chute to have club initiations. The Powells sold the Manor and the garden to a Mr. Ballentine.
It was Ballentine who remodeled the Manor into eight apartments. There is no information about the Ballentine years.
By 1965, when Ken Guenther bought it, the Manor needed a great deal of attention and was heavily mortgaged and reduced to six acres. Ken Guenther and neighbors remember the broken windows and peeling paint. Ken Guenther built the duplexes to the north of the garden.
Ken and Mary Lou Guenther have owned the Wilcox Estate longer than anyone else. Because it is on the National Register of Historic Buildings, maintaining the home is a ongoing project.
There are eight apartments in the Manor. Three are on the ground floor, four on the second floor and one on the third floor. A porte-cochere entrance, leads to the main hall which has the lovely original paneling, a handsome chandelier and curved staircase to the second floor. The flooring is also original, striking black and white diamond shaped linoleum. The beautiful medallion wallpaper became water stained. The Guenthers worked to duplicate it but the cost was prohibitive. They removed the paper and painted the walls a muted green very close to the color of the original wallpaper. A door at the back of the hall leads to a guest toilet with the distinctive 1917 small patterned tile floor and to a workroom that now serves as a laundry room and exercise room. Doors open onto the large brick deck and garden. At the west end of the garden is the beautiful pool and pergola.
The Guenther’s spacious two storey apartment is in the north wing. The original dining room is now their large and lovely living room. The breakfast room has become a beautiful diningroom with a garden view. Other first floor rooms in this wing were the kitchen, pantry and Manor service rooms. While visiting in Spokane the Guenther’s found the original sketches of the Manor in a museum featuring the work of the architect, Kirkland Cutter.
Mrs. Powell admired the beautiful German silver chandelier that hung in the formal dining room, now the Guenther’s living room. She believes that it was an antique when it was installed in the dining room in 1917. Mary Lou Guenther is quite fond of the chandelier too, but says that it is challenge to keep it shining. They were lucky to be able to replace some of its missing crystals.
When asked if any of the Wilcox family returned to see the estate. In 1995, Jim Brown, who was married to Towner Wilcox and his son and wife, visited. They had many pictures of the estate and gave copies to the Guenthers. Mary Lou Guenther said that occasionally Columbia Prep students come for a nostalgic visit. The Guenther’s have some of the Columbia Prep Yearbooks and would like to have a complete set. Perhaps some interested alumnus will come to visit and have the missing copies.
See and read more about the Wilcox Manor here.