On July 12, the John Sweek House’s first public opening in over 20 years explored Tualatin’s only property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and learned about its rich history with Tualatin Historical Society volunteers.
The Sweek House was erected in the Classical Revival style in 1858 by Oregon pioneers John and Maria Sweek. Hidden back behind the hedges on Boones Ferry Road, the home has two stories, five bedrooms, a spacious “country kitchen,” a living room adorned with two fireplaces and a chandelier, a wide porch that wraps around the southern side of the house and three acres of scenic outdoor space and wetland access.
Sixty-eight specially invited guests made their way through the 19th-century home on July 12. Once inside, the guests were guided by volunteers from the Tualatin Historical Society who were stationed throughout the house dressed in period-appropriate clothing.
The Tualatin Historical Society collaborated with Rebecca Pratt and Melissa Stephens, who grew up in the Sweek House, to showcase the entirety of the historic home and its smorgasbord of old relics.
“It’s really been a team effort, and we’ve been talking for three years with the historical society,” Rebecca told Tualatin Life. “We had it planned for last year, but I had a severely broken shoulder.”
For years, the Pratt family worked towards making the house a museum and in February of this year, the historical society and the family renewed conversations on opening the Sweek House to the public.
The tour began in the large living room, with Tualatin Historical Society Historian Sandra Lafky Carlson reporting facts about the room’s repurposing. Guests were then ushered upstairs and around each of the five bedrooms, with other Tualatin Historical Society volunteers acting as docents and filling folks in on artifacts, like the custom-made rug in the living room or the collection of horseshoes and farm items displayed on the front porch.
“This part of the house, which was built in 1858, was built as two parlors, two distinct rooms on this floor,” Carlson said about the Sweek House living room. “Lillian, who was the last Sweek to live in the house, passed away in 1953 and then it just sat empty and in disrepair for a few years.”
In 1955, after John and Maria Sweek’s daughter Lillian Harding passed away, the home was purchased by Althea and Laurie Pratt. Althea was firmly committed to preserving the historical integrity of the estate and spent years preserving artifacts and locating period antiquities. She married architect Jack Broome in 1980, who contributed his expertise to preservation of the house and property.
“She started her Willowbrook Summer Arts Camp here,” Carlson said about Pratt-Broome. “That was Althea’s dream. To fix it up. To furnish it in this style. And then to include the community, she led many tours through the house…Althea was able to stay in her beloved house for the rest of her life.”
The last time Tualatin residents were permitted to enter the house was during Pratt-Broome’s tours, making the occasion on July 12 many community members’ first opportunity to see the house.
“The sisters, Rebecca and Melissa, what they really want to do is fulfill their mom’s wishes, that this be available to the public on an ongoing basis,” Ross Baker, former president of the Tualatin Historical Society, said.
The house and grounds have also undergone major renovations in recent years, with Rebecca, Melissa and their husbands, Richard Hall and Greg Stephens working for “ the past nine years,” according to Rebecca Pratt, to refurbish, repaint, replant and recreate the look and feel of the original property.
Pratt-Broome’s daughter, Rebecca, worked closely with the historical society to prepare for the tour and drew upon pieces of Althea’s past tours that could be reused.
“We had very old scripts that were written by Althea over the years, and I began editing those; I had to transcribe them,” Rebecca said. “Going through all of her old things, boxes and boxes of papers, finding her old scripts, and she had stacks of some of them in the rooms.”
A majority of the facts shared by the Tualatin Historical Society volunteers stationed around the Sweek House were pulled from the scripts Pratt-Broome used on her tours, which include recounted memories and old letters from extended Sweek family members and former residents of the house, as well as Maria Sweek’s diary, according to Rebecca. Details about important items were added.
“I found a letter in her room that was from a woman who worked here for Lillian Harding when she was 15,” Rebecca said. “I actually have that as one of the handouts for the docents, so that they have some of those stories to tell.”
After the event, historical society staff concurred that the tour was a success.
“It’s been great because people have been very interested,” Carlson said. “Some people knew about the house, but most of them haven’t been in the house; maybe they were in it years ago…I think they enjoyed seeing the house.”
Baker also acknowledged the long hiatus between tours at the Sweek House and said he was glad the historical society could show off something that had been “hidden from the public.”
“People got to see inside of this place for the first time in more than two decades,” Baker said. “This is something that’s sort of been a gem that’s been hidden from the public for a long time, and we had to take baby steps; we had to limit our numbers for the first time.”
While plans to periodically open the Sweek House doors to the public have not been defined, members of the historical society and Rebecca Pratt agreed that the tour was an important step in establishing more routine access to the property.
“It does have to be incremental because we’ve had a lot of work to do,” Rebecca said. “This is a good trial event because it’s been such a long time and it was fun to see everybody enjoying themselves and soaking it up.”
Baker agreed, explaining that while future events were yet to be scheduled, he had already noticed a couple of things about the tour he wanted to modify, like time slots for tours.
“We think we had the coverage right, but we think we need to let them drip drip drip in,” Baker said. “Some people are in and out, and some people are here for two hours.”
Visitors said they appreciated Althea and the Pratt sisters’ commitment to maintaining the historic status of the home and their direct ties to the building’s past.
“The Pratt Family was here to tell us about the place that they had grown up in,” visitor Louann Richards said. “That’s priceless.”
Another guest that afternoon, Dawn Westphal, said that the Sweek House “rivaled Pittock Mansion.”
“Rivals Pittock Mansion, I’d say surpasses,” Westphal said.
Another one of the many visitors, Tualatin City Councilor Valerie Pratt, said the experience was “wonderful.”
“This is my first time going through it,” said Councilor Pratt. “This was really wonderful, the whole thing.”
