Property Watch: A Queen Anne Victorian Full of Povey Glass

When this Queen Anne Victorian was built in 1893, it was quite the status symbol to have Povey glass on display. “People who put in that kind of glass were kind of showing off,” said art-glass historian Mike McCary in a 2006 Oregonian story. The Povey Brothers Studio opened its doors in 1888 and was the premier purveyor of art glass in the West until 1928, its output coinciding with Portland’s growing economic affluence. Quiet luxury this was not, and for this exquisite home in Northwest Portland, it all starts at the Povey-bedecked front door.

Of course, this being a Queen Anne—built, as it happens, the same year as the famed Queen Anne once home to the Pied Cow—we should also take a moment to appreciate the feast of flourishes on the exterior. (The historic nomination form refers to it as an “extravaganza,” and they weren’t wrong.) There’s scrollwork in the tympanums, sunbursts in the spandrels, and a very cool repeated circular motif, seen in an arched bay window on the main floor and on the second floor with a decorative circular sunburst surrounding a double-hung window. And that’s in addition to the spindlework, scalloped shingles, and dentil molding—you know, the stuff we usually appreciate on a Victorian.

But back to the rainbow of florals and color that is the double front door, which is topped with an equally lovely transom set with the old house number 170. “There’s a sensitivity and fluidity to their designs that a lot of people can’t pull off these days,” said McCary about the Povey Brothers, and we get why people were so eager to fill their houses with it. The art glass here, though not all Povey, appears in quite a few places, including the living room sidelights, the upstairs stair hall, and the exterior door to the second-floor porch. (If you, too, are into glass of this sort, check out the current exhibit at the Architectural Heritage Center.)

Between the 1940s and 1977, the house was converted to a rooming house, so some of its original interior detail was lost, although ensuing restorations have done much to make it hard to tell what’s new and what’s not. We especially like the restoration of the ornamental wood frame between the living room and family room, deduced from a single 1895 photo and one remaining column. Original features, such as the windows’ wavy glass and the green floral tile around the fireplace, mix with expert recreation, like the dining room wainscot and parquet floors in the entry.

Kitchens and bathrooms are much more recently updated, and Neil Kelly was tapped for the former. It now includes custom cabinets, granite counters, tin and steel stamped tiles on the backsplash and ceiling, and a six-burner Viking range, because no one wants to cook Thanksgiving dinner on a stove from 1893.

With 5,712 square feet, seven bedrooms, and five bathrooms across three floors and a basement, there’s a lot of nooks and crannies to discover, from a skylit bedroom tucked under a sloped ceiling to a secret garden in the backyard. There’s even a garage that can, very specifically, fit two SUVs and a smart car, and has a 220V electric car charging station for Portland’s modern-day status symbol.

• Address: 726 NW 22nd Ave, Portland, OR 97210
• Size: 5,712 square feet/7 bedroom/5 bath
• List Date: 5/16/2024 
• List Price: $1,500,000
• Listing Agents: Ann Thompson and Muffie Scanlan, Windermere Realty Trust

Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer who has focused on Pacific Northwest design and lifestyle since 2008. She is based in Portland, Oregon. Contact Dalton here. 

Editor’s Note: Portland Monthly’s “Property Watch” column takes a weekly look at an interesting home in Portland’s real estate market (with periodic ventures to the burbs and points beyond, for good measure). Got a home you think would work for this column? Get in touch at [email protected].