The Sept. 27 article about the vacant Concordia University campus attracted one of the highest volumes of readers in the modest history of this blog. Many people said they’d like to see the campus used for emergency housing, low-income housing or a combination of low-income and market-rate housing.
Given land-use zoning issues, the quickest path for the
24-acre campus would be to remain as an institutional campus. Wayfinding Academy, alternative two-year
college in North Portland, has expressed interest in acquiring some but not all
of the Concordia buildings. That option
appears tenuous, at best, given the hardships of carving up the resource.
Nick Bertram, a friend of mine who graduated from Concordia High School before the institution advanced to the collegiate level, offered
another interesting idea. He believes
Portland State University should acquire it to add housing and classroom space
for PSU students.
Taking over the whole campus also would give PSU a genuine
home field for its women’s soccer and softball programs and men’s and women’s
tennis teams. A PSU graduate, Bertram thinks the university could simply move an academic program of an appropriate size to the Concordia academic buildings.
Public acquisition of a former private college is not
unprecedented in Portland. Cascade
College closed its North Portland campus in 1969, unable to pay mortgages it
owed on new buildings. The campus, with
the help of tax funding over many years, has morphed into the attractive
Portland Community College Cascade campus.
Since this blog concentrates on the value of historic
buildings, the comments of Paul Falsetto, an architect who frequently visited
the Concordia campus, are relevant:
“Years
ago I was researching university alumni centers, and one factoid stayed with
me. After conducting scores of interviews with college graduates, it was
determined that three elements have the most important influences on graduates’
memories: the people they met, the buildings they inhabited, and the open space
that defined the campus.
“Seems
to me that with the movement towards online education, both as a business model
and as a pandemic response, today’s students will miss out on all three. I’m
hoping that our region’s higher education institutions are able to tread wisely
during this time of challenge, and retain what they do and where they do it. An
active campus grows roots that run deep in the experiences and memories of
alumni and neighbors alike.”
Those of us who attended attractive campuses where we lived and went to school would agree.
The history
of this interesting structure was related in an Aug. 12 article on this
blog. Hand-hewn timbers that were
rescued years ago from another location are believe to be from 140 to more than
200 years old, depending on which analysis one chooses to accept.
While
all the timbers fit together tightly without need for metal fasteners, modern
building codes would not allow reconstruction of the roof without steel
support. Pamela Hayden, who has
dedicated many years to saving and reconstructing the log building, said there
was no choice other than adding steel supports so the building eventually can
be used for tours and meetings.
“We will have a seismically safe building,” Hayden says. “The irony is that in the recent fires the
only thing that remains in severely burned wooden buildings are their steel
components - sadly stark in the embers.”
Research suggests that the building has had several roofs during
its lengthy life. The exact nature of
the original one is not known. Gregg
Olson, a craftsman and scholar of historic woodworking, is fabricating a roof
that he believes to be close to what the original may have been.
“Preservationists must stay steadfast,” Hayden says. “Our first priority was to do everything
possible to keep the original integrity of the log building as close to the
original builders’ intent as possible - trying to adhere closely to the
Secretary of Interior Standards for Historic Rehabilitation. This took a
lot of study, research, time and last but not least - new Douglas fir wood and
lots of money to hire the labor of qualified and knowledgeable craftsmen.
“We definitely had to be open to making some modifications since another priority was to make the building accessible to the pubic inside and out. The good news is we will have a building that will last at least another 100 years (hopefully) with ongoing maintenance - that can be enjoyed by generations of new learners and architectural history buffs.”
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