The Architect

The Deepwood home and carriage house were designed by American architect William C. Knighton (1867-1938). Commissioned in 1893, Deepwood was Knighton’s first solo commission and launched his career in Oregon.

William Christmas Knighton was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mary Hill and Charles J. Knighton. Knighton moved to Oregon in 1893 and apprenticed with C. S. McNally in Salem, working on the Capital National Bank Building. In 1902, he settled in Portland and by 1912 was appointed Oregon’s first paid State Architect. During his five years in that position he designed the Supreme Court Building in Salem, the Eastern Oregon State Hospital in Pendleton and the State Boys’ Training School in Woodburn. In 1917, he resigned as State Architect and resumed his architectural business in Portland, partnering with Leslie D. Howell.  Knighton was architect for numerous commercial and residential buildings in Portland. Several buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the 1909 Seward Hotel (later known as the Governor Hotel and currently named the Sentinel) and the 1910/1919 Whitney-Gray Building on which he collaborated with Edward T. Root. 

Knighton was a Mason and member of the Knights of Pythias. He served as the first chairman of the Oregon State Architectural Board and president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.