Located in Northwest Portland, Oregon, The Sarah Friendly is on the National Historic Registry as the only fully intact example of one of the earliest apartment house types represented in Northwest Portland.
The two-story, six unit apartment building was built for investor Sarah F. Lauer in 1905 for the influx of people following the boosterism of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.
The City of Portland Historic Resource Inventory, shows that of the 16 apartment buildings dating from the 1900-1909, half are multi-level. The Sarah Friendly is the best preserved of these.
The Sarah Friendly Apartments feature the original floorplans, six identical apartments, three on each floor. The east façade is organized into six bays, each containing a recessed entrance and polygonal bay window on the second level.
Ornament on the façade is limited to stylized corner quoins, the crown molding and belt course of the bays and Classically embellished portals. The six entrances are framed with twin pilasters and engaged piers of the Tuscan Order that carry a full entablature as well as an abbreviated flat porch roof. The subtlety of the façade, with its restrained Classical ornament and projecting bay windows, is characteristic of the more sedate Federal style buildings of the Colonial Revival.
Each recessed entrance is paneled throughout and has the original glass and panel door with transom. The doors retain their brass mail slots. Each doorway is approached by a short wooden staircase and protected by iron gates.
The North elevation is confined to a mid-level belt course, cornice on the bay window and stylized quoins at each corner.
The West elevation has two light wells and three original paneled entry doors which lead to service stairways that connect the two main floors with the basement. This elevation has stylized quoin on the corners.
The interior of the building is organized into six apartments, three on the first floor and three on the upper level. Each unit has a central hallway that gives access to a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath. Each kitchen has a walk-in pantry, and four of the units have small breakfast room off the kitchen. There are three service stairways in the rear of the apartments leading to the basement.
The interior walls are lath and plaster trimmed with picture rails, wide baseboards and corner moldings in the hallway. The kitchen, pantry, bath and stairways have tongue and groove wainscoting.
The ceilings are 9’-6” high and the flooring throughout the building is tongue and groove doug fir. A majority of the original paneled doors are present including pocket doors which divide the living and dining rooms in each apartment. The hardware of the windows and doors are intact throughout the building.
Additional original elements that remain in each apartment include built-in china cupboards, closet-sized pantries, built-in ironing board storage, claw foot bathtubs, and dumb waiters that were used to transport wood from the basement.