A few month’s back, I posted the below pic of a home that looks like it was plopped down on the corner of Courtney and Arista. It appears to be in the process of being renovated:
Some Googlin’ revealed the following information about the home:
The Frank A. Heitkamper House, built in 1900.
This visually prominent house built on a large corner lot is a good example of Craftsman-style architecture– typically a four-room over four-room configuration with a low-pitched hip roof. The full-width front porch, in this case with Doric supports and a solid balustrade, was also quite common. The bellcast hip roof has wide overhanging eaves and frieze; windows are double-hung sash with architrave molding, and the exterior is surfaced with double bevel siding with cornerboards and water table.
The listing has it as: 2009 SE Courtney Avenue, Oak Grove Legal Description: 21E02DA05000.
That’s down the street from where it currently sits. So, the mystery continues – was it moved? And what is its fate?
(Here’s a link to a wonderful map of historic homes near the Trolley Trail. Clackamas County just launched its new site so the link might not work.)
Lost Oregon 
13 replies on “‘Mystery’ house on Courtney in Oak Grove”
Some years ago we lived in an almost identical house in Portland. It was built at about the same time and newspapers from that era had been stuffed into holes in walls for, in presume, insulation. My daughter’s cat used to climb straight up the wall to her bedroom window. What fond memories!
I knew that house wasn’t there back when I lived near the Crystal Springs Stop from around 1956-1963. I can’t open up the link. I was always curious about the house we lived in that was right on the trolley line and I can remember riding the trolley. Here is a picture of that house.
Tom, 1956 was when our family moved into our house on Linden Lane. I remember you living in this house that you’ve linked to. I lived in it for several years in the 1980s, rented it from Esther Olsen. The name that you’ve given the jpg says “lindenlanehousewinter.” Was the address of the house Linden Lane when you lived there? It was something a SE Arista address when I was there.
That house you lived in still stands but looks abandoned. I actually walked the Trolley route today and took a picture of it. It is just a shirt walk south of Park Avenue.
Wasn’t that the house that the Terrys lived in during the 50s? Sure does look familiar. I think Molly Terry was in our 8th grade class of 1961. Long time ago.
I had a friend named Susan Terry. Would that be Molly’s sister? If so, it wouldn’t be the houses we’re talking about here. Their house was on the SW corner of Courtney and Arista. It’s been torn down and there are apartments there. I remember they had a sister who wore a football helmet quite often. I don’t know why, never gave it a second thought at the time. Medical condition?
I know the current owner of the house, I will forward this post to them.
Thank you!
Yes, it was the Terry’s house, on the S.W. corner of Courtney, west side of Arista. It’s been there for as long as I can remember, since ’52.
That house was there when i went to the new oak Grove School…in the 60’s
Did a family named Ackerman live here, maybe in the late fifties or early sixties? Melanie Ackerman lived in a house that looked a lot like this and was in this area.
I lived in that house in the late 1970’s. The smaller part of the house at the very back of the photo was originally a separate windmill.
I spoke to the owner today when I was walking past. He said he bought it in the 80’s and it had been vandalized and needed a lot of work. It sounds like he wants to renovate it but it may be too far gone.
I will say it was the only house I ever lived in that gave me the creeps, and it still does.
I lived in that house as a child from 1980 to 1992. Our family had done major work to repair the house and property. It was a blackberry mess and in disrepair. The landlords son moved in when we left. The property went downhill after that.