TURNING STONES
During the three years the home was under construction, Al took up residence at the Eikrems’ older cottage in Lincoln City while he worked on the extensive stonework at the new house. Dave would come down on weekends to help out, and the two became close friends.
“We got into a little routine,” Dave says. “I’d drive down on Thursday night after work and go right to bed. When I’d get up in the morning, Al would be downstairs playing his guitar, we’d have breakfast, I’d pack us some lunch and we’d go off to work.”
The stones used in the construction of the house came from a glacial moraine near Flathead Lake outside of Polson, Montana.
“Some of those stones are enormous, well over 1,000 pounds,” Dave says. “We had to figure out how to get them from the driveway down to the house, so we built an impromptu sled. We figured out that to transport them, we could run a rope from the sled over to a pulley on the foundation, then back around to the bumper of my old Ford Explorer. On a good day we could maybe get two of those bigger stones moved to the base of the chimney. Lifting them into place required an additional pulley apparatus and at times even more ingenuity. It was exhausting work, but the end result is quite spectacular.”
Taking cues from some of the stonework on Greene & Greene–designed homes like the Mary E. Cole House and the Edgar W. Camp House, both in Pasadena, Tom and Al flared out the bases of the foundation walls and columns to appear as though they arose out of the earth itself, while also acting as a foundation for the massive weight they support.
Tom detailed the basic look and proportions of the fireplace and chimney, but Al was given creative license to design how it all came together.
“Al chose the stones, put in the orders, and specified how many of each type of rock he wanted,” Dave says. “Then once they were on site, he had them laid out all over the driveway, separated by size, color and shape. He would then handpick where each stone would go and make sure its face was speaking in harmony with the others.”
The home’s signature stonework is the lifeblood of the home. “Al is the most honest craftsman I’ve ever known or worked with,” Dave says. “He loves his craft and he’s proud of what he’s accomplished, and when he’s done, the money he’s made from it is secondary to the satisfaction he gets from the work itself.”
WORTH THE WAIT
Now that the years of planning and building are over, the Eikrems spend as much time as they can at their home on the coast, and they routinely welcome friends and family to enjoy the house as well.
“One of the things our friends always tell us is that they immediately feel comfortable here and find it to be very peaceful and relaxing, almost therapeutic,” Dave says. “It’s a real sanctuary because there’s no television, no Internet, no phone and none of the other things that normally distract us. There are just the waves, the wind, the trees and a warm fire.
“There’s an expression that goes something like, ‘you can’t build an old house,’ but you can build a house the way the old houses were built and furnish it with things that are old. Seeking out antiques and artifacts, and using salvaged hardware and repurposed architectural elements, we’ve tried to disguise the fact that it’s new construction. Gradually, it has become an old house.
“We’ll continue to share this home with our kids and grandkids—and maybe even their kids—for generations to come. There’s something very satisfying about that. If we had bought and built on this property when we first saw it, it might have turned out to be completely different. We anticipated that everything was going to take a long time. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been worth waiting for.”
David Kramer is a Portland-based freelance writer and curator of the website TheCraftsmanBungalow.com. He is grateful to David and Pamela Eikrem, Tom Shaw, Alan Bauch, and Craig and Reisha Bryan for helping to make this article possible.
Resources:
ARCHITECT
Tom Shaw
Portland, Ore.
503 286-3414
STONEMASON
Alan Bauch
Troutdale and Lincoln City, Ore.
503 762-6634
STONE SUPPLIER
Mutual Materials
Portland, Ore.
503 650-2939
mutualmaterials.com
CABINET MAKER
John Fisher
Skyline Fine Cabinets &
Furniture
211 Grimes St.
Eugene, OR 97402
541 342-2196
BLACKSMITH/CUSTOM LIGHTING
Darryl Nelson
Eatonvile, Wash.
360 832-6280
darrylnelsonblacksmith.com
TILE
Pratt & Larson
Portland, Ore.
503 231-9464
prattandlarson.com
Tile Restoration Center
3511 Interlake Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103
tilerestorationcenter.com
206 633-4866
SALVAGED WOOD
CraftMark
Denny Elmer
McMinnville, Ore.
503 883-4100
craftmarkinc.com
PLASTERER
Gerald Buchko
Construction
South Beach, Ore.
541 867-6994
FINISH CARPENTRY
Terry Bolin
Construction
541 740-4300
HARDWARE
Aurora Mills
Architectural Salvage
14971 First St. NE
Aurora, OR 97002
503 678-6083
auroramills.com
Rejuvenation
1100 SE Grand Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
503 238.1900
rejuvenation.com
I am the contractor who built this home for Dave and Pam. I was surprised that there was not mention of my company in the article. Villa Construction, Inc. worked on building this home for over 3 years. It was a great pleasure and fun.
I am also surprised your company wasn’t mentioned, not too many contractors build this kind of art these days. Nice work!