Seaview History and Historic Homes
Named and platted in 1881 by Jonathon L. Stout, the 154 acres known as Seaview has a year-round population of about 750 residents. The town is sandwiched between Ilwaco and Long Beach but has a character very distinct from its two neighbors. Walking around Seaview, traditional summer retreat for the Portland elite, it’s easy to feel yourself transported back to a simpler time when neighbors visited on porches and shared campfires on the beach. A walking tour of Seaview’s side streets offers visitors a glimpse into the past. This is one of the best preserved of any of the summer resorts in the Pacific Northwest.
The original 50′ x 100’ lots were sold for $100 each. Seaview began as a summer community whose vacationers first arrived by steamer, wagon and on horseback. Time brought visitors by stagecoach and train and, finally, by horseless carriage. It was common to see families and friends spending their summers in tents; cottages quickly sprang up and tents became a memory of summers past.
The homes on this self-guided tour are an interesting assortment constructed over the years. Don’t pass up equally intriguing structures not mentioned on here; Seaview is full of architecture worthy of study.
3812 ‘J’ Pl. Begin your tour just a half block north of the intersection of 38th and ‘J’ Pl at the Historic Hewitt House. This home was built by Portland Stationer, J. K. Gill, in 1887. The property has been known as Fisher’s Ocean View Cottages and is currently called Hewitt House and is a vacation rental. This home was much closer to the ocean prior to the jetty being constructed.
3728 ‘J’ Pl. Head south on ‘J’ Pl and you will find the building currently known as the Sou’Wester Lodge. This large home was built in 1892 by U.S. Senator Henry Winslow Corbett from Oregon as a summer house. Corbett had sailed around the Horn from Massachusetts to settle in Portland during the 1850s and fancied Seaview for his family’s summer getaways. The building has been a resort since the 1940s, with a variety of owners and names, including ‘The Grandview’.
1015 37th Pl. The Collie Shulderman House is a Gothic Victorian built by Peter H. Schulderman in1888 as a summer home. The property was purchased from the grounds of the Stout Hotel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1107 37th Pl. Built by the O’Shay family in 1925.
3409 ‘K’ Pl. ‘Yeo-Ho’, built in 1895, was nicknamed after its first owner, Lillian Yeo.
3308 ‘K’ Pl. ‘Harmony Lodge’ was built in 1895.
3001 ‘K’ Pl. This beach home was built by Conrad and Desiree Marton in 1884. Originally, Desiree’s sister had a home to the north of the one seen today. The house brings with it an interesting story of bygone days. As the story goes, quite by chance, a kerosene lamp was left burning after all had retired for the night. This was before the jetty was built and the home was much closer to the water. In the middle of the night a seaman stumbled to the back door after having swum ashore following the lamplight. It is speculated that the ship was the American steamship, ‘The Frank Howe’ that went aground off of Holman Road on February 22nd, 1904.
3511 ‘L’ Pl. This home was built in 1905 by the Klosterman family of Portland. Originally, it had board and bat exterior.
38th & ‘L’ Pl. ‘The Depot’ was built in 1900 by the Union Pacific as a train depot to replace the shed-like waiting platform that had been in use for more than a decade. After prohibition in 1934, the building became a tavern. Having had several owners thoughout the years, it is open today as ‘The Depot Restaurant’.
4414 45th Pl. The Strand family of Aberdeen built ‘The Sandcastle’ in 1898. They were in Real Estate and Banking and enjoyed the Clamshell Railroad passing daily in front of their house on its route.
4415 Pacific Way The Shelburne Hotel is the last hotel of this vintage operating on the Peninsula. The inn was built across the street from its current location in 1896 by Charles and Inez Beaver who took its name from an inn in Dublin, Ireland. In 1911, it was moved across the street (to its present location) and connected to two existing houses, one of which has since been removed. The Shelburne Hotel is the longest continuously operating hotel in Washington State.
46th Pl. & ‘L’ This home is the former gallery and studio for watercolorist Charles Mulvey, this piece of Seaview history was originally built in 1895 by the Frenches of The Dalles as a summer place. The main house, which has since burned down, was to the west. The house you see here was the governess’ house. The family would arrive for the summer complete with Chinese cook and stableman.
4916 ‘K’ Pl. Built in 1902, the Thorsen family of the Thorsen Paint Company of Portland were the original owners of this small farm, complete with a windmill across the road. The home has a full basement, a feature that is very unusual in an area with such a high water table.
4918 ‘K’ Pl. This lovely cottage was built in 1886 as a spec. home. The shutters were painted with the lobster motif some years ago.
4712 ‘K’ Pl. ‘The Dolphin’, built in 1890, had shutters at one time and still has two cabins in back, ‘The Sardine’ and ‘The Lutefish’. The brick fireplace was removed several years ago when the mortar crumbled away. This is a common problem with old beach residences as mortar made with beach sand is composed of round particles. Masons today reject it as it is unstable.
1105 47th This 1885 home was known as ‘the only place you could sit on the john and see the ocean’ until the trees grew up to obstruct the view. A number of years ago this home was moved from the lot west of its present location and lifted to make it a two-story structure. The home was an antique shop for many years..
4608 ‘K’ Pl. This 1885 home was a part of the French Family property.
4416 ‘K’ Pl. ‘ Jeri Lou’ is just one of the nicknames by which this property has been known. Nicknames are common for Seaview homes because street addresses were not assigned for many years.
4315 ‘K’ Pl. This 1886 home was built by W.H. Grenfill.
4216 ‘K’ Pl. Built by a wealthy lumberman from Portland in 1890.
1004 41st Pl. Senator Tom Bloomer had a marble quarry in Alaska. When he had ‘The Bloomer Mansion’ built in 1890, marble from the Alaskan quarry was used in the upstairs bath and fireplace. Other nicknames for this home are ‘King of the Ridge’ and ‘The Enchanted Blue Wave’.
We hope you enjoy the many turn-of-the-century homes here in Seaview!
Here are some links to fun places to visit!
Port of Ilwaco, Washington Cape Disappointment State Park
Fort Columbia State Park Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center
Willapa Bay Wildlife Refuge Astoria Column