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O wnere is rr? Southwest Clay Street and 11th Avenue ■ WHY SHOULD I CARE? The massive Queen Anne style house was once home to Simon Benson, among Portland ’s early lead ­ ing citizens. ■ HOW OLD ms? Built in 1900, it won ’t last much longer without major help. ■ WHArS HAPPENING NOW? Changes in city policy might make it easier for the own ­ ers to restore it and use it. ■ JOHN MARANOAS: “People point fingers and blame without really knowing what the problems are." The old Queen Anne-style Simon Ben ­ son house sits on the edge of Port ­ land ’s downtown. It Is an aging, ne­ glected, reminder of the cost of preserving the past. r f \ MARV BONDAROWICZn^he Oregonian LADY Owner insists he ’s trying to save the old Simon Benson house, but historians have their doubts By JAMES SINKS of The Oregonian staff T he invitations are 11 years old, and counting. Sometimes John Marandas lifts them out of their box, slowly thumbing through a decade of disappointment, of bad memories. Printed in 1983, the invitations announced a grand open­ ing party at the restored Simon Benson House, a historical landmark the Marandas family owns near the Portland State University campus. But the grand opening never happened; the house was never restored. The invitations, he explains, are now but a memento of his once naive enthusiasm. Years ago, when he ordered them, he hadn ’t anticipated how difficult it would be to ressurrect the historic Benson House. Time and again, zoning and finan cial problems blocked his efforts. Over the years, the 94-year-old house, an architectural pm that was once home to one of Portland ’s best known businessmen and philanthropists, has steadily slid into decay.But now, 15 years after he initiated restoration efforts, Marpdas is cautiously excited. A proposed change to Port- Ipd ’s zoning code, he says, could make it possible to halt the deterioration at the dying house and restore it to its original grandeim. Dilapdated and deserted, the once stately mansion slumps on the comer of Southwest Clay Street and 11th Avenue out of place in this neighborhood of new, tall, brick apart ­ ments.

The house ’s doors and windows hide behind plywood; its green paint is mildewy and peeling; exposed wooden edges are tattered and worn. 'The decline has not gone unnoticed. Citizens and historic preservation advocates, distressed about the worsening con- mhons, cWde Marandas for mismanagement and accuse him of letting the house rot.

But Marandas insists such comments are unfair, unedu- j wasn ’t supposed to turn out this way, ’’ he says, i wants to prove the skeptics wrong and revive the house — for Benson, Portland, and most important, for his family. Please turn to BENSON, Page 4 N Ì t