More than 200 people climbed aboard boats on Oswego Lake on Sunday, Sept. 13, to tour the hidden architectural history lining the 405-acre waterway.
The Lake Oswego Preservation Society's annual Architectural Boat Tour sent passengers on 90-minute guided rides past lakeside landmarks.
Tour guide Jen Wiley and boat captain Ellie Wiley, her daughter, led one of the groups departing Sundeleaf Plaza at 9:30 a.m.
It rained. Umbrellas were banned in case of heavy winds, but the weather did not thin the crowd.
Lake Oswego Review reporter Mac Larsen, who covered the tour firsthand, wrote that the ride opened his eyes to a lake he had covered for three years but never explored. "I didn't know how big the lake is (405 acres)!" Larsen wrote.
The route wound through Lakewood Bay, Half Moon Bay, the main lake and the east arm, passing properties tied to figures from Lake Oswego's past.
Bogart, boathouses and a blue-tiled roof
One stop on the narrated tour was the "Casablanca" house on North Shore Drive. Golden Age actress Mayo Methot, Humphrey Bogart's third wife, owned the cottage. According to a City of Lake Oswego centennial history, the couple honeymooned there. After their divorce in 1945, Bogart continued to send flowers to Methot's crypt in Portland's Sellwood neighborhood until his own death in 1957, according to the Review.
The tour also highlighted the Jantzen Estate island, built by Jantzen Knitting Mills co-founder Carl Jantzen. The estate's boathouse, designed by architect Richard Sundeleaf, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sundeleaf, who lived in Lake Oswego from 1940 until his death in 1987, also designed the Lake Theater & Cafe and his own home on Phantom Bluff Court.
The city named Sundeleaf Plaza at 120 State St. in his honor in 2013.
Another highlight was the home at 1900 Twin Points Road, originally built more than a century ago by heiress Mary S. Young.
It features reflective blue Japanese roof tiling and a teardrop-shaped waterfront studio designed by architect Robert Oshatz.
A record crowd
City councilors and school board members were among the attendees. The tour is the Preservation Society's largest annual fundraiser.
The organization advocates for historic buildings in Lake Oswego and operates the Iron Workers Cottage Museum at 40 Wilbur St.
Lake Oswego Preservation Society President Kevin Kutcher described the boat tour as the most popular event in town in a statement ahead of the September ride, according to the Lake Oswego Review's July preview.
Pre-event estimates projected about 18 boats carrying 175 guests. The actual turnout exceeded 200 across 24 boats.
On the lakeshore, one of four original Ladd real estate offices from the 1920s still stands, a small blue-roofed building flanked by newer construction.
