Alfred Webb Investment Properties facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Alfred Webb Investment Properties
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The three Webb Investment Properties along Belmont Street in 2011
Location	822 SE 15th Avenue 1503–1517 SE Belmont Street Portland, Oregon
Built	1891
Architectural style	Queen Anne
MPS	Portland Eastside
NRHP reference No.	89000100
Added to NRHP	March 8, 1989

The Alfred Webb Investment Properties are four special houses in southeast Portland, Oregon. They are built in the Queen Anne style. These houses are so important that they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is a special list of buildings, sites, and objects that are important in American history. The houses were built in 1891 and added to the list in 1989.

What Do These Houses Look Like?

The four houses look almost exactly alike. They are single-family homes, meaning one family lives in each.

Outside the Houses

• Each house has a strong brick foundation.
• They have full basements underneath.
• You can see many pointed roofs, called gables.
• The roofs also have special overlapping shingles. These look like fish scales.
• There is fancy wooden decoration called spindlework. This was popular on houses in the late 1800s.
• These houses show what small, working-class homes looked like back then.

Inside the Houses

• Each house has a small entry area, called a foyer.
• There is a living room, dining room, and a bedroom.
• They also have a kitchen and a bathroom.
• Some rooms have pocket doors. These doors slide into the wall to save space.
• The houses are built on narrow pieces of land.
• They all share a small backyard area.

Who Was Alfred Webb?

Alfred Webb was a businessman in Portland. He owned a company called Webb Safe and Lock Company. He also built many homes in southeast Portland.

The Webb Family and Their Houses

• Alfred Webb and his wife, Martha, owned these four houses from 1891 to 1928.
• They did not live in these houses themselves.
• Instead, they rented them out to other families.
• This means the houses were used as rental properties for many years.
• Even after the Webbs, new owners continued to rent out the houses. This continued at least until 1989.