When we moved into our house, our neighbor Alice told us that our house used to be a church. I finally started doing some research with the help of the Oregon Historical Society and they confirmed that our house was a church. I tracked down some current members of that church and two days ago I received some photos of our house from a gentleman who used to attend services here.Apparently, our home was once the worship hall for the Beran Christadelphian Ecclesiastic Church. I have posted the old photos that were provided to me along with current photos of what the house looks like today.
According to the Oregon Historical Society, our home was a church when it was built in 1922 until about 1975. It apparently sat vacant for a few years before being modified and sold as a home. When we bought the house in 2005, it had just gone through an extensive remodel. My contact at OHS said that judging by the outfits of the people in the photos, they were probably taken soon after the house was built.
The OHS also told us that Portland redid all of the addresses in the early 1930’s. Our street used to be 29th instead of 24th Avenue.
The gentleman who provided the photos for us said that the congregation left our house because the neighborhood had become unsavory and that vandalism was a problem.
We have been calling our house "Casa Mimosa" because of the big Mimosa Tree (also called a Silk Tree) in the front yard. Perhaps we should call it "Iglesia Mimosa" instead...
To learn more about Christadelphians, check out this Wikipedia entry.
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