"No one will ever move here, it is too idealistic," a quote from the early 1900's, proves that Ladd's Addition was a unique neighborhood even at the time it was developed. Today, a much sought after area, it's streets were designed by William Ladd and a surveyor, and was probably modeled on Versailles, or east coast towns with village greens- where William Ladd hailed from, says speaker Richard Ross, a Ladd's resident and urban planner. Bordered by Hawthorne, Division, 12th and 20th Avenues, Ladd planned the diagonal streets wide enough for shady elms, sidewalks, and narrow deep lots without driveways, choosing the house transportation means in the alleyways behind the homes. One marketing piece at the time, claimed the neighborhood would "appeal to the better class of buyer" with it's central rose garden and four smaller gardens set like jewels in the landscape.
The Ladd Estate Company transformed the Ladd family's farmlands into the "Residence Parks" of Laurelhurst and Eastmoreland, and donated the land that Reed college rests upon. When William Ladd wasn't developing real estate, he served a stint as Portland's mayor, owned a prominent downtown bank, and Oregon Iron Company in Lake Oswego, the primary supplier of iron products in the northwest.
If you love Portland history as I do, visit the AHC on SE Grand one weekend, and attend one of their lectures.