Willis Chandler 1881-1962
Willis Monroe Chandler and wife Malissa arrived in Portland in 1915 from Texas; he was born in 1881 in Leesville, Louisiana. During his first years in Portland, Chandler managed a local building supply business called Pacific Fireproof Paint and Waterproofing Co. In July 1921, he incorporated with partners J.A. Hiller and John Olsen as the Chandler Construction Company to take advantage of the improving housing market, specifically focusing on Beaumont and Laurelhurst.
In a period of just a few years, Chandler proceeded to build, own and sell dozens of homes in Northeast Portland. In the mid- and late-1920s, he built a cluster of a dozen homes in Beaumont near NE Alameda and 40th, many have a strong family resemblance.

Advertisements for three of the homes he built along the Alameda Ridge appeared in the August 29, 1926 edition of The Oregonian. Note that addresses for these three homes are in the pre-1930 address change format: 1130 The Alameda (3800 NE Alameda); 1134 Alameda (3818 NE Alameda); and 1138 Alameda (3828 NE Alameda)
Here’s a partial list of homes built by Chandler during the busy years of the late 1920s.
Address | Date | Comment |
3800 NE Alameda | March 1924 | Chandler reported that this new but vacant house was robbed of all window shades, electrical fixtures and 40 light bulbs in February 1927 |
3810 NE Alameda | October 1928 | |
3818 NE Alameda | January 1926 | Cost $18,000 |
3828 NE Alameda | February 1926 | |
3838 NE Alameda | September 1926 | Cost $19,000, for F.H. Lyons |
3844 NE Alameda | September 1928 | |
3860 NE Alameda | July 1930 | Chandler family home Cost $22,000 Design by Carl L. Linde |
4111 NE Alameda | December 1927 | |
4121 NE Alameda | February 1928 | |
4131 NE Alameda | September 1926 | Cost $16,000, for N. Norton |
4140 NE Alameda | September 1926 | Cost $12,000, for Fred Marx |
4431 NE Alameda | March 1926 | Cost $18,500, for Ben Rybke |
2804 NE 38th | March 1924 | Design by Hubert Williams |
2824 NE Cesar Chavez | August 1923 | Design by Universal Plans Service |
In their later years, the Chandlers moved to the home at the southwest corner of 24th and Hancock, where Malissa died in 1958. Willis moved to Astoria in 1960, where he died on December 11, 1962.