Builder George Albert Ross was one of Portland’s most prolific eastside homebuilders, working on many multiple houses at a time through building booms spanning 20 years. Over the years, his portfolio included architecture, construction, finance, marketing and all aspects of the real estate business. He did it all. Ross was known and referred to in newspaper articles as the bungalow builder, and one of the most active speculative builders operating in Portland.

Born on March 19, 1877 near Toronto, Canada, Ross appears in Portland by 1893. His early years were spent learning building trades working for others. In 1908 he and wife Erna are listed in the Polk City Directory: he was as a concrete worker, and she a milliner. By 1910 he’s listed as a building contractor.

Ross made his first-known entry into his own homebuilding business in October 1908 with the 1,000-square-foot bungalow at 3810 SE Salmon where he and Erna lived. One month later he built and sold 1630 SE 45th Avenue. During these early years, he focused on this area of southeast Portland.

In just a few years, Ross had established momentum—and evidently sufficient capital—moving on to building contiguous blocks of homes, which became one of his signature strategies. Here’s a story from March 1910:

Oregon Journal, March 6, 1910

By 1912, he was scaling up to even larger projects:

From the Oregon Journal May 12, 1912

Ross was referred to as architect and builder in news stories—as well as one of the largest house building operators in Portland—but he was also building some homes from kits. An article in the September 29, 1912 Oregon Journal reported Ross built a number of “ready-built” homes, which could be bought as kits with pre-cut numbered materials from companies like Sears and Aladdin. Fenner Manufacturing, based in Portland, sold thousands of factory-cut home packages that were assembled by professional home builders like Ross and by skilled individuals wanting to do it themselves.

In August 1920, George, Erna and business partner Lytel William Matthews incorporated as the Ross Building Company, but in early 1921, he and Erna divorced. On August 21, 1921, Ross married again: Portlander Clara Coakley, a well-known local soprano and pianist who performed in venues all over the city. In August 1921, she was 28 and Ross was 38 when they traveled to Wallace, Idaho to be married at the Shoshone County Courthouse. In early 1922, he began a vigorous building campaign in the North Tabor area:

From The Oregonian, January 31, 1922

George and Clara had two daughters in the mid 1920s and his business was booming. But the Great Depression was devastating to Portland’s homebuilding sector, idling thousands of workers and ending careers and businesses. According to The Oregonian, the last house Ross built was 3000 NE 31st, built in 1931.

Ross used whatever capital he had amassed during the busy years to reset his life: by the early 1930s, George and Clara had moved to property at a rural route address east of Gresham and launched into the berry business. Based on his operating strategy—buying many multiple properties and developing them on speculation—he was likely heavily leveraged and hit hard by the collapsing economy.

After Clara died in 1941, George moved to a small house in southeast Portland near Kelly Butte where he died at age 81 on August 22, 1958.

A partial list homes built by George A. Ross includes:

3810 SE Salmon          1908

1630 SE 45th               1908

1124 SE 47th               1911

1130 SE 47th               1911

1134 SE 47th               1911

1825 SE 49th               1912

1839 SE 49th               1912

4805 SE Harrison        1912

4809 SE Harrison        1912

4816 SE Sherman        1921

4832 SE Sherman        1921

4726 SE Lincoln           1921

4722 NE Flanders        1922

4730 NE Flanders        1922

4738 NE Flanders        1922

4746 NE Flanders        1922

4754 NE Flanders        1922

3204 SE Grant             1922

3211 NE 32^nd               1922

536 SE 47th                 1922 (demolished)

338 SE 47^th                  1922

3561 NE Mathison Pl. 1924

3565 NE Mathison Pl. 1924

3571 NE Mathison Pl. 1924

3575 NE Mathison Pl. 1924

2504 NE 32nd Ave.     1925

2558 NE 32nd Ave.     1925

2546 NE 32nd Ave.     1925

1926 NE Tillamook      1925 (demolished)

2224 NE 40th  (462)   1925

3522 NE 8th 754         1926 (demolished)

3518 NE Cesar Chavez Blvd.               1926

3528 NE Cesar Chavez Blvd.               1926

3536 NE Cesar Chavez Blvd.               1926

3544NE Cesar Chavez Blvd.                1926

3604 NE Cesar Chavez Blvd.               1926

3000 NE 31^st                1926

2524 NE 32nd Place    1926

2533 NE 32nd Place    1926

2551 NE 32nd Place    1926

2614 NE 32nd Place    1926

3801 NE Fremont        1926

3916 NE 71^st Ave.        1926

2518 NE 32nd Ave.     1928

2538 NE 32nd Ave      1928

2547 NE 32nd Ave      1928

2546 NE 32nd Ave      1928

2570 NE 32nd Ave      1928

2610 NE 32nd Court   1928

2600 NE 32nd Court   1928

2943 NE 31^st Ave.        1929

3001NE 31^st Ave.        1929

3003 NE 31st Ave.       1929

4015 NE Bryce            1930

4023 NE Bryce            1930

4033 NE Bryce            1930

4041 NE Bryce            1930

4051 NE Bryce            1930

4109 NE Bryce            1930

4119 NE Beech            1930

3000 NE 31st Ave.       1931 (the last house reported in The Oregonian)