August Claeson Malmquist was born in Svängsta, in southern Sweden, on November 28, 1882. In September 1884, he emigrated to the US with his parents and older brother and sister, traveling through Ellis Island and eventually settling in the Iron Range of Red Lake, Minnesota. He naturalized as a US Citizen at age 21 in 1903, four years before arriving in the Portland area as a journeyman carpenter. He started his building career here working at Foundation Company Shipyards as a ship builder.

On June 21, 1916 in Portland, he married Andrea Peterson, who was born January 24, 1886 in Egersund, Norway and naturalized as a US Citizen in 1905. Their daughter Marjorie Ann was born September 14, 1924. From 1921 untll the 1960s, August and Andrea lived in the third home he ever built—in 1921—at 2515 NE Knott.

Malmquist’s first homebuilding project was the spring of 1920 at 2814 NE 25^th Avenue. He proudly advertised his accomplishment in the June 19, 1920 edition of The Oregonian:

Malmquist stuck with this simple bungalow style, which was popular in the early 1920s as Portland’s homebuilding market expanded in a strong post-war economy, using plans provided by the Universal Plan Service. By the mid 1920s, English cottage designs were becoming popular and Malmquist made the shift, experimenting with brick cladding and clinker brick type decoration on chimneys. Each of these houses appeared in a classified ad in The Oregonian and/or the Oregon Journal. Recurrent phrases in Malmquist’s ads included built to endure and finest of materials and workmanship.

Some of Portland’s well-known residential contractors of the era operated at a large scale, responsible for hundreds of houses across Portland’s growing eastside, more like project executives and salesmen than craftsmen. Malmquist, however, was a builders’ builder who actually did much of the work himself, constructing 5-8 houses each year. He also operated almost exclusively on speculation, meaning that with a few exceptions, he built and sold the houses himself, neither working through real estate agents nor for specific clients who had hired him to build their plans. This gave Malmquist the freedom to concentrate on neighborhoods, specific lots, and particular house designs he thought were highly marketable, often building several houses on the same street and even on adjacent lots.

Ship and immigration records show that August, Andrea and four-year-old Marjorie traveled to Sweden and Norway in the summer of 1928, which aligns with one of Malmquist’s own classified advertisements, from the Oregon Journal, May 13, 1928 just two weeks before the family departed for Norway. Malmquist wanted to wrap things up before leaving town and priced his latest project accordingly:

The Great Depression stalled homebuilding and home buying throughout Portland, and Malmquist resorted to repairs and remodels to survive, returning to new construction in 1931 but never regaining the pace of the pre-Depression market. His most complex homebuilding projects were 3222 NE US Grant Place and two adjacent homes at 1811 NE Knott and 2714 NE 18^th Avenue, all Colonial style designs from the Universal Plan Service.

The Malmquist family was closely involved with Immanuel Lutheran Church in Northwest Portland, where he served as vice-chairman of the board of trustees. In 1941, he was hired to take on a complete remodel of the parsonage.

Daughter Marjorie married John Albert McLeod on November 14, 1944 and John began to take the reins of the homebuilding business. The homes Malmquist built in the 1940s included a Cape Cod style and then small post-war “modernistic” houses, all designed by Universal Plan Service. The last house he built before retirement was 6125 NE 10^th Avenue in May 1948. Andrea died in the Knott Street House on November 13, 1963 and August lived on until January 29, 1977.

A list of known August Malmquist-built homes includes the following:

2814 NE 25^th                            July 1920                

2746 NE 25^th                            August 1920

2826 NE 26^th                            June 1921

2515 Knott                                October 1921 (where he and Andrea lived)

2525 Knott                                October 1921

6014 NE Rodney                     July 1922

2516 SE Harrison                    August 1922

3924 NE Laddington              May 1923

3627 NE 21^st                             August 1923

3927 SE Stark                           September 1923

3934 NE Laddington              November 1923

2727 NE 10^th                            February 1924 (first English style)

2716 NE 12^th                            February 1924

1209 NE Knott                         February 1924

2946 NE 11^th                            June 1924

3006 NE 11^th                            July 1924

2712 NE 13^th                            January 1925

2904 NE 37^th                            September 1925

2944 NE 37^th                            February 1925

2945 NE 37^th                            February 1925

2914 NE 37^th                            February 1925

3034 NE 44^th                            June 1925

2904 NE 37^th                            September 1925

2634 NE Cesar Chavez         1926

3700 NE Wistaria                   October 1925

4432 NE Wistaria                   February 1926

3144 NE 40^th                            February 1926

3204 NE 40^th                            February 1926

2326 NE 40^th                            March 1926

3604 NE US Grant                  August 1926

2510 NE Knott                         January 1927

3001 NE 39^th                            February 1927

2727 NE 30^th                            June 1927

2737 NE 30^th                            October 1927

3510 NE Knott                         February 1928

2806 NE 30^th                            March 1929

2828 NE 30^th                            May 1929

2806 NE 30th       May 1929

7538 SE 28^th                             May 1931

3204 NE 27^th                            June 1932

2780 SE Tolman                      April 1936

1612 NE Klickitat                    October 1936

3222 NE US Grant                  November 1938

1811 NE Knott                         June 1939

2714 NE 18^th                            July 1939

2946 NE 46^th                            April 1941 (Cape Cod style)

626 NE 19^th                               June 1941 Remodeled the Immanuel Luther Church parsonage

4907 NE 57^th                            May 1942

4615 NE 40^th                            October 1943

4625 NE 40^th                            October 1943

6125 NE 10^th                            May 1948