Preservationists and developers. An age-old feud. One guards provenance, while the other chases possibility. But what happens when a house straddles both worlds—too wounded to survive untouched, too important to raze? Can these two disparate camps salvage the story together?
In Lake Oswego, Oregon, that unlikely détente unfolded at 4101 South Shore Boulevard. The low-slung lakefront residence—once known as the John M. and Elizabeth Bates House No. 4—was the penultimate commission of Wade Hampton Pipes, a pivotal voice in Oregon’s Arts and Crafts movement. Pipes designed everything. Structure, landscape, furnishings, finishes. A total work of art completed in 1954.
The home would eventually be added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Honor, however, could not stop entropy. By 2018 the custom furniture and built-ins Pipes had crafted were missing. Wood trim warped. Windows were cracked. What remained was a shadow of its former significance and a pressing dilemma: let it crumble in the name of purity, or resuscitate it at the risk of surrendering its historic badge?
Enter the current owner, Ralph Martinez, who opted for restoration. Although not a developer by trade, Martinez is seasoned in ambitious renovations and saw possibilities where others saw liabilities, says Terry Sprague, founder and CEO of the Lake Oswego brokerage, LUXE. “Ralph always has a strong vision for his restorations. For 4101 South Shore, he developed that vision from the question: how would Pipes repair his own masterpiece if he were alive today?”
To chase that answer, he enlisted architect Curt Olson and invited scrutiny from the National Register. Rather than argue, the trio collaborated. Martinez and Olson had preservation officials identify Pipes’ hallmarks to tap into the new design—warm wood finishes, a deliberate procession of rooms and the signature bay window beneath a peaked roof. In turn, the historians then surprised everyone by encouraging some changes. They recommended that additional structures adopt their own posture so the original footprint could remain. Only a single wall dissolved inside the historic shell, widening the kitchen enough for modern circulation.
From that restrained framework, however, major upgrades followed. Floors became rift-sawn white oak, their grain a subtle compass guiding the eye. A linear fireplace now slices through a Vermont black granite feature wall. At the center, a quartzite island—Crystal Pearl with a waterfall edge and velvet finish—anchors the kitchen.
Glass sliders open the living area and release it to a discreet gallery walkway leading the new wing. There, the primary bedroom is warmed by another linear fireplace, this one wrapped in vein-cut marble. Three towering windows frame the lake like a triptych. In the bath, heated large-format tile floors lead to an Oceana soaking tub poised before a Pietra gray marble backdrop.
One floor down, a pavilion for entertaining opens to a hardscape patio and pool. Step beyond and nearly 280 feet of private shoreline embraces a modern boathouse fitted with heat, coated concrete and a fresh lift for the family runabout on mirror-still waters. It is, after all, the lake that serves as the constant refrain. The shared muse that first guided Pipes’s hand and later steered Martinez’s revival.
After four years of work, the 6,140-square-foot home is now being offered for sale at $10.4 million. All told, the project is both resurrection and evolution. “The house is a great example of how artful the result can be when preservationists and visionaries get on the same page,” says Sprague, who holds the listing. “History and progress can work together.”
LUXE is a founding partner of Forbes Global Properties, an invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
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