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Whidden–Kerr House and Garden

place in Oregon listed on National Register of Historic Places

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ7993578
Source-derived summary

The Whidden–Kerr House and Garden, also known as High Hatch Estate, is a historic property located in the unincorporated communities of Riverwood and Dunthorpe in Multnomah County, Oregon, south of Portland and north of Lake Oswego, Oregon. William M. Whidden of Whidden & Lewis designed the house in 1901, to be his own residence, and it was built the same year. Whidden and his family lived in the house until 1911, when he sold it to businessman Thomas Kerr Sr. (1896–1925). It later passed to Kerr's son, Thomas Kerr Jr., and ultimately remained with the Kerr family until 1987.

The house is the "best expression" of Prairie School architecture by Whidden & Lewis, one of Portland's most prominent architectural firms of the period. A separate carriage house, now in use as a garage, is included as a contributing feature in the historic designation. The property includes a formal garden, which was "further developed by Kerr and his wife, the former Mabel Macleay", after Kerr acquired the estate in 1911. The site overlooks the Willamette River.

The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Whidden–Kerr House and Garden” is place in Oregon listed on National Register of Historic Places. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Whidden, Kerr and House, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1901, 1911, 1896, 1925—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Whidden, Kerr and House is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “place in Oregon listed on National Register of Historic Places” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7993578. Authority coordinates are 45.442, -122.652. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1911, 1896 and 1925.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Whidden–Kerr House and Garden”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Whidden–Kerr House and Garden primary sources, Whidden–Kerr House and Garden archive and Whidden research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Whidden–Kerr House and Garden”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Whidden–Kerr House and Garden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.