J.C. Havely House, 1893

The Havely House at 3344 SE Belmont was built in 1893 by J.C. Havely, a railroad tycoon. The original address was 980 ½ Belmont Street before the streets in the area were renamed. Like the Thaddeus Fisher house next door, it was built in the Queen Anne Vernacular style popular at the time. It boasts a square turret, pyramidal roof, dentiled frieze, pediment with lattice pattern, a bay window, fretwork, and spindle work ornaments on gable ends. It underwent major renovations and alternations in 1967, likely by Jerry Bosco & Ben Milligan. Even though it is significant for its architecture, it does not have any historical protections at this time. The house once hosted SE Portland suffragette meetings in the late 1880s/early 1900s.

In the 1960s-70s, Ben & Jerry had been running a restoration business called “Victorian Facades” out of the house as they slowly worked on restoring it. They put in beautiful salvaged ceiling medallions, light fixtures, and stained glass. In the 1970s, it was mainly being used as one of their many “storage” places for structural antiques and wood.  In 1979, Ben & Jerry offered it as a place for their freind's new resturaunt - Buttertoes. For the new space, Ben & Jerry installed a striking pair of sailing ships stained glass on the front doors.

The J.C. Havely House's longest staying resident is the Ghost of Aunt Lydia. A friendly ghost, with a high-collared dress, black shoes, and her hair pinned up. Lydia would move things in the kitchen around and rearrange the table settings. The cook and manager of Buttertoes once saw a woman go into the back room (which had no exit) and when they went back there to see who it was, no one there. One of the waitresses finally quit because they felt so uncomfortable, and Carolyn and the sisters didn’t like going there by themselves. The tenets who lived upstairs in the rental apartment also reported strange things, like rocking chairs moving without anyone in them, and strange dreams. A psychic finally came into the restaurant and did a reading, and confirmed a spirit was present. These stories live on today in the Pied Cow, as it seems that Lydia still haunts the old house.