Ottawa Park

Ottawa Park was originally home to the Cliff House, an oceanfront summer hotel built in 1860 along the electric trolley line from Portland, about five miles away. In 1899 the land was sold, and Portland civil engineer Harry Taylor Harmon created a subdivision plan for 56 cottage lots surrounding the hotel. The hotel’s popularity with Canadian tourists most likely prompted the subdivision’s name of Ottawa Park. The plan included roads following existing contours, lots sited for the best views, and one lot to access a rocky beach below the bluff. Cottage lots ranged from ¼ to ¾ acres. All of the roads were built as designed, and house construction occurred in stages. About half the homes were built on the highest ground with the best views; today these historic homes vary in design but create a cohesive neighborhood with their shingle siding, and gables, turrets, dormers, and large porches overlooking the ocean. Lots below were developed later and feature smaller homes with water views filtered through mature trees. One loop road is privatized and is no longer a through way, but the rest remain unchanged. Access to the rocky beach remains. Following a fire that destroyed the second Cliff House in 1914, the hotel lot was subdivided into five cottage lots. Ottawa Park is across the street from Mountain View Park, one of several subdivisions in the vicinity built along the street railway line.