Cooley House Holiday Celebration Finds Lewis & Clark College Supporters All Aglow

Portland, December 8th. Lewis and Clark President, Barry Glassner  and his wife, Betsy Amster welcomed friends and neighbors into their home: the historic Cooley House in Dunthorpe. Jim Richardson (Board chair) with Gerry Frank & Ron Ragen (former Board of Trustees chair) enjoyed the evening. Guests were treated to the music of the UpperLeft Trio and had the chance to soak in the lavishly decorated home.

The Cooley House became the home for Lewis & Clark Presidents in 2002. Sue D. Cooley, widow of Edward H. Cooley, the founder and longtime head of Precision Castparts Corporation, donated the Cooley family home to Lewis & Clark College for use as a presidential residence. Her gift included funds sufficient to operate and maintain the home and its gardens.

Ellis F. Lawrence, founding dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts at the University of Oregon, designed the house in 1920 for Cameron Squires. Architectural historian Michael Shellenbarger describes the Squires home in Harmony in Diversity: The Architecture and Teaching of Ellis F. Lawrence as “quintessential English Tudor, with its many prominent fluted chimneys, intricate brick patterning, extensive half-timbering, Tudor arches, and rambling floor plan.

The Olmstead Brothers designed the landscaping for the eight-acre property. It is the largest estate in the Dunthorpe area and includes gracious common rooms, seven bedrooms, and a carefully tended garden.

 

From Lewis and Clark :

We’re a private institution with a public conscience, a residential campus with global reach. Students and faculty throughout all three of Lewis & Clark’s schools—the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, and the Law School—pursue new ways of knowing by combining classic liberal learning with pioneering collaboration.                

Our students represent the next generation of global thinkers and leaders, unafraid to discard conventional thinking, civic complacency, and outmoded preconceptions. Yet they value what Lewis & Clark offers: an education built from the time-tested elements of careful study, original research, and spirited debate.               

So what makes the experience of our students unique? How about the inspiring beauty of our natural setting, on 137 wooded acres in Portland’s southwest hills. Or our rich history and our diverse, multicultural present. Or our commitment to interdisciplinary academic learning, as well as community engagement here in Portland and around the world.               

Add to this our well-stocked libraries, award-winning green buildings, and outstanding athletic facilities; our implementation of technology and the innovative research it allows; and above all our committed and engaged students, teachers, mentors, staff, alumni, donors, and friends. It all adds up to Lewis & Clark, a place where agile minds come to learn, to explore, and to work together.