But its wraparound porch is a bow toward the Arts and Crafts style that dominated the early 20th Century. They chose Queen Anne instead, and Edna Laughter said that they have furnished the main living area with furniture from the 1870s to 1890s. The Laughters aren't the only ones to find Portland a good place for a Queen Anne home. Local real estate agents say the style is popular here, despite the fact that few of the original Queen Annes survive. The style lives on thanks to the dedication of preservationists and the occasional home-builder willing to make the extra effort to build a new one.
People love detail and they love style.
In Portland, the style is almost as scarce as cable cars. Clumps of two or three homes may be found in some of the older sections of town, but no neighborhood is dominated by them. Prices vary The tall chimneys, turrets and vertical windows found in Queen Anne homes remind many buyers of castles or magic kingdoms, sparking their imagination and spurring them to open their pocketbooks a little wider. How much extra they'll have to pay depends on the area they buy in. The house sits on what was originally part of the donation land claim owned by John H. Couch, a pioneer sea merchant who was the first to navigate the Columbia and Willamette rivers as far as Oregon City.