Good News Pending at Central Lutheran Church

 

A landmark building and Northeast Portland’s Irvington neighborhood could be in store for invigorating news given that the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra hopes to buy the vacant Central Lutheran Church.

 The notable church, designed by architect Pietro Belluschi in 1950, offers office space, practice and teaching rooms and a spacious sanctuary that could seat more than 200 people for musical events.  The site also includes 12 parking spaces and easy access to a larger lot across the street that the Zeller Chapel of the Roses often allows to be used for community events.

Details of the potential sale are not yet known.  The non-profit youth philharmonic needs to work through some change-of-use issues with the City of Portland before a deal can be finalized. The timing could take a few months.

 The church is one of several in Portland designed by Belluschi comparatively early in his brilliant architectural career.  It ranks as perhaps the most interesting in that it steers completely away from easily-recognized religious architectural forms.  The bell tower, for example, is an open tower composed only of essential wooden beams.

A canopy over the main entrance on NE 21st Avenue is a gently arched roof held up by simple wooden pillars, reflecting a traditional Japanese feel that Belluschi had studied.  While lacking traditional stained glass windows, the sanctuary is bathed in light entering through red and blue glass panels framed within narrow wooden channels on the western façade. 

(State Historic Preservation Office image)

 Belluschi’s son, Anthony, a retired architect who greatly admires his father’s work, has embraced the youth philharmonic’s concept with enthusiasm.  Finding a new use for a historic building sometimes offers the best opportunity for saving it.  Short of some other church buying it, creating a home for the youth philharmonic orchestra would be an exceptional outcome.

 Tenancy by the youth philharmonic would benefit the Irvington neighborhood by providing an active use for a site has been vacant for a few years.  Central Lutheran halted regular services with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and concluded that it was unable to maintain the building financially after the pandemic ended.  The church has been for sale since late 2023.

 In an interesting historical twist, the youth philharmonic organization was started a century ago in Irvington School by the school’s music teacher, Mary V. Dodge.  Today the orchestra provides lessons and performance opportunities for some 300 students from over 100 schools in the Portland region.  Their ages range from 9 to 20.

A friend asked me:  Will the crosses be saved?  Any exterior changes would have to be reviewed by the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission, and then, if appealed, by the City Council.  Another solution: Let the orchestra play occasional religion-inspired music.

 ----Fred Leeson

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A West Hills Gem Earns a National Honor

 

It comes as no surprise that Portland’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic Places was designed by the city’s most famous architect, Pietro Belluschi.  What adds to its historic gloss was an unusual twist that made the house his own residence for his final 21 years.

Belluschi in 1947 designed a single story, 2,500-square foot home at the end of a narrow dead in  Northwest Portland’s Hillside neighborhood for Portland psychiatrist D.C. Burkes and his wife, Genevieve.  Its flat roof, massive windows and clean, unadorned structure exemplified the new International Style, combined with Belluschi’s appreciation and love for Oregon’s native woods.

As the picture above suggests, the exterior at the entrance was not imposing.  One had to go inside to be swept up by the bright natural light, amazing views, honest use of materials and comfortable human scale that always seemed to be common in Belluschi’s work.

Looking through from back to front (Brian Libby photo)

During a career that spanned more than 60 years, Belluschi had a hand in some 1,000 different buildings, ranging from houses, to churches, office towers and even a small shopping center.  Portland is blessed to be home of several.

 From 1951 to 1965, Belluschi served as Dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning in Boston, while also keeping busy as an architect and consultant.  Meanwhile, the Burkes couple no doubt relished living in their house with expansive views of downtown and wooden louvers under the east-facing windows that allowed cool air to swoosh up the hillside and cool the house in hot weather. 

 Other unusual features included bedroom ceilings of woven wood strips and a fishpond that traversed under the outer wall from the front entrance into the living room.  (A screen subsequently was installed to keep out four-footed creatures that managed to swim their way inside unannounced.)

Eastern facade with louvers under windows (Brian Libby photo)

After the death of her husband, Genevieve Burkes reached out to Belluschi who had returned to Portland from Boston.  She said planned to sell the house, and if he was interested in buying it, she would sell it to him for the same price she and her husband paid in 1948.

Talk about a bargain! Belluschi was quick to accept. It served as his residence until his death in 1994.

Turns out Belluschi also gave serious thought to expanding the house by adding a second story.  His son Anthony, an architect who had practiced extensively in Chicago, talked him out of it.  Anthony Belluschi said a second story would harm the proportions of the house both inside and out.  Instead, Anthony Belluschi later added a single-story addition in the back yard. Anthony and his wife, Marti, are the current owners.

Readers not familiar with Belluschi’s work in Portland can see the Equitable/Commonwealth Building at 421 SW 6th Ave.; the former Oregonian Building at 1320 SW Broadway; the Portland Art Museum Belluschi Building, 1219 SW Park Ave; and St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Zion Lutheran Church and Central Lutheran Church. 

A visitor needs to see the inside of the Burkes-Belluschi House to appreciate its design, which represents a complete architectural break from the traditional imposing houses and mansions in the same neighborhood.    Fortunately, Restore Oregon, a statewide historic preservation organization plans to tour the house on May 10.  Details will become available at restoreoregon.org.

 ---Fred Leeson

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Progress Update on Historic Statues

Lincoln as he once stood in the South Park Blocks 

After a few years of near silence about several Portland monuments toppled or damaged during political protests dating to 2020, encouraging news is beginning to unfold after discussions with citizens, historians and artists.

 A progress report delivered to the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on Feb. 24 suggests that sculptures of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt could be returned to their South Park Block homes sometime this year.

 Darion Jones, assistant director of the city Office of Arts & Culture reported on the following statues:

--Abraham Lincoln: Repair work was started last November to repair damage when the statue was felled.  The bronze alloy in the statue’s base turned out to be brittle and must be replaced before the statue can be returned.  Jones said a return date has yet to be determined, but it could be within a couple months.

--Teddy Roosevelt: Conservation work expected to take 18 months could be finished by year’s end.  Historians recommended by the Oregon Historical Society will write interpretive and historical commentaries to accompany Lincoln and Roosevelt.

--George Washington: This statue was toppled from private property.  Jones said it requires fewer repairs and a new site for it has yet to be determined.  Siting will involve community discussions, he said. The Washington statue also will have interpretive historical information added, wherever it eventually lands.

--Promised Land: This sculpture showing a pioneer couple and a son is being deaccessioned by the city because of its failure to include any other historical communities that inhabited Oregon.  The inclusion of weapons and the son holding a Bible suggests a religious preordination for taking over the state.  Jones said the city of John Day has expressed interest in the statue and that it likely will be sent there.

 --Harvey Scott: This statue will not be returned to its former location in Mt. Tabor Park.  The pioneering newspaper editor wrote disparagingly about Blacks and the city plans to deaccession the statue.  Jones said the process is more complicated because it was located in a national historic district, so additional procedures will be required.

--York: After Scott was toppled, a so-called anonymous “guerilla” bust of York, a Black slave who played important roles in the Lewis & Clark Expedition, was placed on the pedestal that formerly held Harvey Scott.  The York statue subsequently was destroyed beyond repair.  Jones noted that there is substantial interest in recreating the York statue and finding a suitable location for it.  One suggestion has been in Northwest Portland where a street already bears his name.

Figuring out what historical figures deserve to be honored and where "has been very complicated, very emotional for the city," said Kimberly Moreland, a landmarks commissioner.

 Community meetings and planning for the statues has been funded by a $350,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation, Jones said.  He added that $100,000 also has been identified in city funding for repairs and installations.  If that amount is insufficient, Jones said public funding right be necessary given a major budget shortfall the city currently faces.

 The landmarks commission meeting did not address return of the David P. Thompson elk statue and fountain.  A city website said the statue and fountain should be reinstalled sometime this year, but no definite date is listed.

 ---Fred Leeson

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Could a New Public Market Survive Downtown?

 

Market would use ground floor of the Selling Building, left, and two-story building, right

Plans are certainly aggressive for a James Beard Public Market that would contain a restaurant, numerous fresh food stalls, a bookstore, cooking classes and an event space in the 600 block of SW Alder Street.

The proposed market would use the ground floor of the Selling Building at the corner of 6th and Alder, and an adjacent two-story building and basemen that the market has purchased next door.

 A successful new food venue surely would be a big “plus” for a downtown struggling with far fewer workers and many more shrouded retail windows than it had just a few years ago.  But even if the ambitious plans come to pass, will they succeed?

 History provides us with some interesting analogs.  Long story short: Success is not a slam dunk.

Beard Market supporters mention the wonders of Seattle’s Pike Place Market that has been a fresh food retail paradise – and tourist attraction – since its founding in 1909.  Interestingly, a young grocery clerk named Fritz Grubmeyer lived nearby and saw the value of the market from the outset.

 The young Grubmeyer later shortened his name to Fred G. Meyer and became one of the primary operators of the Carroll Public Market that on Portland’s SW Yamhill Street.  Meyer ran some stalls himself under sidewalk tarps and leased stalls to others between SW 1st and 5th Avenues.   From its beginning in 1914 with the city government’s approval, the market was a success.  Alas, the rise of the automobile put increasing pressure on use of Yamhill Street and City Hall came up with a new plan.

Carroll Market on Yamhill Street, 1925

The Carroll Public Market closed in 1934, which marked the opening of the huge Portland Public Market building that stretched 600 north and south at the foot of Yamhill Street at Front Street.  Alas, four lanes of traffic separated the building from the heart of downtown.  Fred Meyer and many other sellers at the Carroll Public Market refused to move to the new building.

 Meyer, of course, took his growing business indoors.  Over the decades he built a chain of Fred Meyer stores that added clothes and many other retail categories, making it the first “one-stop shopping” complex in the Pacific Northwest before his death in 1978.

Public Market Before its Failure

Meanwhile, the Portland Public Market limped along for a few years before closing as a failure.  The building was leased for military use during part of World War II, and then was sold to become home of the Oregon Journal newspaper for several years.  Ironically, the building was purchased by the city government and then demolished in 1969 to help make way for the new Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

 Which brings us full circle.  Could the new James Beard Public Market succeed?  For the good of downtown Portland, one hopes the answer would be “yes.”

But on the other hand, will many workers be returning downtown when the pandemic has taught them the benefits from working on computers at home?  Will many people desire to live downtown when it is less attractive than it used to be?   Can the market survive or thrive with competition from seasonal farmers’ markets in the South Park Blocks?

 Someday, history will reveal the answers.  A proposed opening date has yet to be determined. 

 ----Fred Leeson

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Any Chance of Saving Them?

Montgomery Hall

Blackstone

Sadly, the absence of any official landmark status means that two residential buildings that Portland State University plans to tear down will not have any public hearing as to whether they could be saved and refurbished, instead.

 Regardless, at least a few people who care about the PSU campus and its physical role in downtown Portland’s urban fabric have registered complaints.  Odds of the two buildings’ survival is slim, indeed.

News of the planned demolitions inspired Chet Orloff, a former executive director of the Oregon Historical Society among many other civic “hats,” to send his concerns to PSU’s president, Ann E. Cudd.

His letter, repeated here with his permission:

“Dear President Cudd:

“I am writing to you today as a former faculty member of PSU, Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society, a member and leader of several city, state, and federal organizations, and (even) as a former student at BU, UO, and PSU.

“As you might imagine, I am deeply concerned with the possibility that Portland State may demolish Blackstone and Montgomery halls. While it could be a minor challenge to raise the funds necessary for renovating these two historic buildings for student housing, it would even less of a challenge for you to stop this further erosion of our city's historic landscape. Alas, it won't stop with these two buildings. A bad precedent will be set.

“I join many others––including current and former students as well as active community members––in reminding you of the relative simplicity of doing so. Further, you now have on your staff, in Earl Blumenauer, a proven leader in urban affairs who, I believe, will be a strong advocate for such preservation and reuse, as he was while on the City Council and in Congress.

“I could say much more but I won't. You know what is best for PSU's strategic purposes and I can only presume that you will do your best to lead the University in the preservation of so much that makes the South Park Blocks live up to their ideal: a place that helps preserve some of the best of our city.”

So far, according to another concerned person, PSU’s answer has been “crickets.”

Both buildings are interesting historically and architecturally.  Yes, their interiors are badly run down, but redesigning and reconfiguring their interiors likely would be less expensive than demolishing and building something entirely new.

Those of us who care about preservation are often accused of being lost in time and out of step with the modern world.  My answer: When we needlessly destroy attractive assets of the past, we needlessly destroy our own history and a sense that our living generations are a steppingstone between those who came before us and those that will come later. 

Unnecessarily destroying our past means destroying part of the roadway that made us who we are.

 ----Fred Leeson

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An 'Oops' at North Portland Library

 

For more than a century, the Multnomah County Library has done an admirable job maintaining and preserving three neighborhood libraries that were built with funds donated by Andrew Carnegie.

 The North Portland Library at 512 N. Killingsworth St. attracted sizable crowds when it reopened Feb. 8 after a renovation that included adding an attractive new community room added on at the southeast corner of the historic building erected in 1913.

New lights...

Forgive me, then, for quibbling about the replacement of old light fixtures on the ground floor with skinny circular LED fixtures suspended by thin bare wires. The new lights detract from the historic qualities of an attractive building designed in the Jacobethan style by architect Joseph Jaccoberger. 

 The only worse choice would have been neon.

 

...versus the earlier fixtures

A devout Catholic, Jaccoberger designed many churches including St. Mary’s Cathedral and Assumption Catholic Church, in addition to many large Portland homes of the early 20th Century.  The North Portland Library carries a distinct religious feel with the main reading room essentially serving as a nave with magnificent wooden trusses. 

 One can think of the whole building as a sanctuary for knowledge and education rather than religion.

 The only good feature of the inappropriate new lights is that they will be easy to replace someday with fixtures that better reflect the spirit of the building. 

Dark brick addition is the new community room

Inside the new community room

Carnegie used wealth from his fortune-making steel company to build more than 250 public libraries.  He funded seven neighborhood libraries in Multnomah County.  Three, North Portland, Albina and St. Johns, remain as branch libraries.  Two others, East Portland and Arleta, were eventually sold to businesses.  The former Gresham branch now operates as a museum and the South Portland branch was converted to a Parks Bureau office.

As we look back on Carnegie, it is amazing in this era to think of a fabulously wealthy American entrepreneur who decided he wanted to provide a public benefit with his blessings.  His blessings live on. 

 ----Fred Leeson

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Some Sad News at Portland State University

 

Blackstone

A decision by Portland State University officials to demolish two more historic residential buildings shows the university’s continuing pattern of benign neglect for its historic architecture.

 Last year PSU pulled down the interesting Parkway Manor building to make way for – well, nothing.  The school says the site facing the South Park Blocks at Market Street might become a community garden for 10 years or so.

 Next on the demolition list is the 1916 Martha Washington building, now called Montgomery Hall, designed by Portland’s leading architect of the era, A.E. Doyle.  Also on the chopping block is the interesting 1931 Blackstone apartment building designed by Elmer Feig.  It faces the South Park Blocks two blocks south of the old Parkway Manor and features interesting Egyptian-inspired façade decorations inspired by ancient archeological discoveries of the era.

Montgomery Hall

The Blackstone and Montgomery Hall presumably will be replaced by a new student housing building designed to hold more than 500 students.  Drawings of that proposal have not been shown, but it faces the difficult design decision of abutting the historic Simon Benson house. 

 Both Montgomery Hall and the Blackstone are currently used for student housing.  It is ironic that they should be replaced with “new” student housing when remodeling the interiors of the two historic structures could probably provide a comparable number of attractive student accommodations.  The Montgomery building was equipped with seismic bracing in 2005, and the Blackstone appears to be built with reinforced concrete with brick facades.

 Neither of the buildings headed for demolition bear historic designations.  That means the public has no apparent opportunity to voice objections and ask for interior renovations, instead.  However, now that word is out about the demolitions, it is possible that senior PSU officials will hear about any apparent discontent.

 Further, the plans for the new building likely will be presented for hearings and deliberations by the Portland Design Commission.  At that point, architects will need to address how an L-shaped new structure will relate to the wooden Victorian-era Benson house that is home to the PSU visitor center.

 With the demise of the Blackstone and Montgomery Hall, there is little historic fabric left on the downtown campus for the university to destroy.  Let’s just pretend that Old Main (1911) and Shattuck Hall (1915) are not old.

What's left of Parkway Manor

----Fred Leeson

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Adaptive Reuse at City Hall

 

If you have been an occasional visitor to Portland City Council meetings at City Hall, here’s a friendly tip:  Your next trip will NOT be déjà vu all over again.

 The dais where five city commissioners had ruled since 1913 – some of them giants of local lore – has been reconfigured so the new 12-member council can squeeze into half of a big circle that dominates the chamber.  City staffers and people who offer testimony sit on the front half.

In all, the big circle reduces the number of seats on the main floor, which forces other folks into the balcony, where sound levels are weak from speakers who don’t cuddle up to their microphones.

 Your correspondent spent several years attending council sessions, first in the 1970s when the council sat against the curved east wall, and later in the 1990s when a renovation backed the council against the flat west wall.  The new big circle backs up again to the east.

Offices inside the landmark 1895 City Hall have been substantially reshuffled.  Fortunately, many of the historic internal elements of marble floors, oaken woodwork and glorious stairways have been preserved.  It is one of the best buildings by Whidden & Lewis who comprised Portland's most prestigious architectural firm of the era.

The occasion of my visit was a January 16 hearing at which the council unanimously agreed to allow destruction of a 1908 bungalow at 118 SW Porter St. in the South Portland Historic District.  The outcome was a foregone conclusion, since the site will become part of a new home for Ukandu, a non-profit agency that provides counseling for childhood cancer patients and for their families.

 Ninety minutes of testimony from cancer patients and their families proved compelling to the City Council, same as it had for the Portland Landmarks Commission in an earlier hearing.  While the landmarks body generally tries to protect historic properties, it agreed that the public value of the proposed change was more significant than the historic value of the small residence that had been converted to offices 40 years ago.

 The case of the Porter Street bungalow was so easy, observers couldn’t come away with any real perspective about how this new City Council feels about historic preservation.  We shall learn more someday when a more important historic building comes under threat.

The hearing did allow a few observations.  The councilors listened carefully.  Good questions were asked.  If there are dummies aboard this vessel, it is not yet apparent.

Whether any of them become giants of this cramped new dais…time will tell.

----Fred Leeson

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Looking Back -- and Ahead

von Homeyer House Restoration

 

Portland’s 2024 historic preservation victories ranged from as small as a single house in the Alameda neighborhood to thoughtful renovation of the sprawling Benson Polytechnic High School campus.

Other success stories included completion of the Literary Arts building in the East Portland/Grand Avenue Historic District and major plans for upgrading Veterans Memorial Coliseum and creating a memorial for Chinese buried in a corner of Lone Fir Cemetery during a nasty era of ethnic discrimination.

The most novel project of the year was the 98-year-old single house in Alameda, where a couple living nearby bought the badly run-down von Homeyer residence and cleaned a several decades of “stuff” that had stuffed into it by two elderly brothers who spent their whole lives there.

 Eschewing any dream of potential profit, Michael and Jaylen Schmitt set to work clearing out the mess – including seven junked cars – and planned a restoration that included reopening the front porch that had been enclosed since 1959.

 The Schmitt’s undertook the expensive project because they feared the lot would be sold for development of a McMansion that wouldn’t fit the historic character of the surrounding blocks.  When finished early next year, the couple’s investment likely will exceed $1 million.  Whether they can break even on their heroic challenge of neighborhood preservation will depend on whimsies of the real estate market.

 

Celebration at Benson High School

Meanwhile, Portland Public Schools finished its sixth high school renovation with the re-opening of Benson High School.  The two-year project revamped much of the campus that had a number of seemingly odd additions plopped down since the original building was finished in 1916.

 Fortunately, many original architectural elements were tastefully restored, including the entry foyer, auditorium, original gymnasium and the attractive brick primary façade.  The improvements are intended to give the high school several more decades of important technical education.

Benson Foyer

Looking ahead, the Portland School Board faces an important decision about demolishing Cleveland High School in favor of a whole new building or renovating the historic building instead.  The board’s earlier decision favoring demolition could still be changed, given that the district in 2025 will be asking voters for additional bond money. 

While Cleveland’s interior is seriously outdated, the success at Benson and earlier projects at Franklin, Roosevelt and Grant High Schools could help the district change its mind about demolishing Cleveland if concludes that renovation is an easier sell heading into the bond election.

 In other looming preservation matters, 2025 should see the completion of renovations at the historic Albina and North Portland branch libraries, and restoration of much- loved D.P. Thompson elk statue and fountain in downtown Portland.

And speaking of fountains, at some point the city’s new political leadership needs to make a conclusive decision about restoring the Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt statues in the South Park Blocks. Discussion among the new 12-member City Council could give us a significant “read” on their collective interest in historic preservation

---Fred Leeson

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Crash Landing for the Airplane Factory?

 Demolition likely is next for the Northeast Portland building known colloquially as the “airplane factory” now that two failed preservation plans led to a foreclosure auction this month.

Given that starting bids for the three-story building begin at $225,000, it is apparent that the only value left probably is in the land, not in the 107-year old building.

In 1917 and 19182, the building erected by Oregon Home Builders Inc. was used to manufacture fabric-shrouded spruce airplane wings for U.S. military bi-planes used in World War I.  After the war, the industrial building that included a railroad spur off the Union Pacific main line in Sullivan’s Gulch housed a long list of enterprises.

The last, and longest-lived, was Gordon’s Fireplace Shop that resided in the building from 1990 to the company’s closure in 2016.  Tarlow’s Furniture Co. used the building from the late 1950s to approximately 1980.  More obscure earlier tenants included the Pacific Phonograph Manufacturing Co., Art Erickson Furniture Co. and Portland Window Décor.

Gordon’s sold the building in for $2.7 million 2017 to InterUrban Development, a Seattle firm that concentrates on restoring historic buildings.  InterUrban planned to add retail storefronts at the ground level and creative office spaces on the two floors above.

Alas, the COVID pandemic killed that plan, given that “creative” workers preferred to stay home rather than rent offices.  InterUrban then changed its plans to add housing on the upper floors, instead.

For whatever reasons, InterUrban and Portland building officials could never agree on renovation details.  Meanwhile, vagrants invaded the inside of the building and graffiti painters took great joy in smothering the exterior with spray paint.  The collapse of the planning led to the foreclosure order and auction.

The building is zoned mixed-used commercial, which allows for buildings of up to six or seven stories containing retail, residences, offices or “low impact” manufacturing.   The site’s location next to railroad tracks, a freeway and busy arterials of NE Broadway and 33rd Avenue could make it difficult to find successful uses.

The demolition of any historic building is significant for environmental reasons related to refuse disposal and energy consumption involved in new materials and construction.  While a new building might add to the quality of the neighborhood, it also might detract in ways no one expected.

Preservation is never an easy accomplishment.  Planning and design and financing are always potential barriers.  Unexpected physical problems often arise when digging deeply into the bowels of old buildings.  In this case, COVID and damages done by hooligans were either brand new or unusual challenges. 

 If there are lessons that can be learned from the airplane factory experience, the preservation world should pay attention.

-----Fred Leeson

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A Grand Addition on Grand Avenue

 

Opening of the new Literary Arts location in Southeast Portland was a home run for the non-profit association as well as for historic preservation and the little-known East Portland-Grand Avenue National Historic District.

The building at 716 SE Grand Avenue, now recognized as a “streetcar commercial” architecture, opened in 1904 as Strowbridge Hardware.  It held a few other businesses over the years before its façade was completely shrouded by a fiberglass skin to become a furniture store.

 Fortunately, the fiberglass skin did little to harm the original brick face that laid hidden for more than 40 years until its removal in 2018.  Literary Arts, an organization that promotes books and authors, bought the building in 2022 and began the gradual makeover we see today.

It is a pleasure to enter the long-vacant building today.  Bora Architects and Interiors, working with a fee, opened up the two-story building and laid bare its timber intestines.  The ground floor is primarily a sales space for an inventory of 12,000 books.  A loft above provides classroom space and room for small author-related events.  Plans call for the addition of a coffee shop sometime down the road.

Bora left intact a few interesting historical element, including the inlaid tile at the entrance dating to when the store was operated by W.P. Fuller Paints.

In its day, the original brick façade was typical for an early-20th Century storefront.  Today it joins a handful of other historic commercial buildings on the same block, indicating that Grand Avenue was indeed the “Main Street” of old city of East Portland.  East Portland merged with the City of Portland in 1891.

 The attractive pedestrian addition of Literary Arts to Grand Avenue is a sign of renewed interest in the area.  Negotiations are in progress for the sale of another vacant historic building directly across the street, and a non-profit housing agency is working on plans for upgrading the old Clifford Hotel – now a residence for low-income tenants – around the corner on SE Morrison Street.

The Architectural Heritage Center also sits just across the street from Literary Arts on Grand Avenue.  The two non-profit agencies can make an attractive intellectual magnet for people interested in books and Portland’s architectural history.

When "modern" was a mistake (Portland Historic Inventory)

---- Fred Leeson

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