Reviving Grace Peck Terrace

 

Grace Peck Terrace

 The Irvington National Historic District wasn’t even a gleam in anyone’s eye in 1979 when the Housing Authority of Portland designed and built the six-story Grace Peck Terrace for low-income seniors and residents with disabilities.

 Forty years later, the 95-unit apartment building suffers from water infiltration in its window frames and its stucco facades.  What might be described as a "low-budget modern" architectural style does not fit well with the houses and apartment buildings from the early 1900s to 1920s that surround it.

 The good news is that Home Forward (nee: Housing Authority) wants to upgrade the building with facades and windows that shed water better and provide a more compatible appearance with the historic neighborhood.

 Granted, the Grace Peck will never be confused with an old building.  However, different materials and colors could create a better fit in the district. “We want a much more durable and sustainable façade,” Dave Otte, a principal with Holst Architecture, told the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission during an advisory meeting. 

Thin-brick version with window bands (Holst Architecture)

Holst presented two potential revisions for the whole building.  The first featured thin bricks on most of the walls, and wider bands of windows on the five residential floors.  A second option favored narrow strips of oko skin, a fiberglass reinforced concrete cladding material, with a more random pattern of windows.  A common element in both schemes was enclosure of 61 small balconies that extend from apartment interiors to the outer walls.

Otte said eliminating the balconies would give tenants greater flexibility in arranging furniture and eliminate any friction among tenants as to which ones have balconies and which ones don’t.  Based on testimony from one resident, however, the landmarks commission preferred to see the balconies remain – and asked if there was a means for providing balconies for ALL apartments.  At present, the balconies amount to about 20 square feet each – but provide enough room for pots for flowers or tomatoes. 

Oko skin version (Holst Architecture)

The commission did not take a formal vote on the proposals, but by consensus preferred the oko skin plan better than the one with thin bricks.  The horizontal oko cladding would be a visual nod to the lap siding common om most houses nearby.  Some members felt the first version with the wider window bands would make the building look too much like an office building.  Jannel Waldron, a Holst designer, said the option with oko skin allows for “a more playful pattern to the windows.

 Holst is expected to return to the landmarks commission sometime in the next few months with a final proposed design.

 Portland’s proposed historic code revisions come to the City Council on Nov. 3.  Preservation advocate Constance Beaumont offered the following:

 While a number of the proposed rule changes have been welcomed by the preservation community, others have raised concerns.  Among the latter:  

• diluted requirements for relevant expertise on the part of Historic Landmarks Commission members;  
• a stronger role for the Planning and Sustainability Commission, which has been hostile to preservation in recent years, and a weaker role for the Historic Landmarks Commission; and  
• new criteria for demolition approvals in historic districts.   

It will be important for those who support the preservation of Portland’s historic and architecturally significant resources to weigh in on the HRCP proposal and to emphasize to Council the value of these resources to the city as a whole.  

Given the upcoming hearing on November 3, I wanted you to know ASAP about several backgrounders available on-line to help those interested in submitting testimony:

• for info on how to testify and get involved, visit https://www.portlandtomorrow.org/get-involved;
• for details on rule changes affecting the Historic Landmarks Commission and the Planning and Sustainability Commission, visit https://www.portlandtomorrow.org/administration;
• for recommendations provided by Restore Oregon, visit https://restoreoregon.org/take-action-on-portlands-historic-resources-code-project/#unique-identifier;
• for info on the economic, environmental, and health benefits of historic areas: visit https://www.portlandtomorrow.org/ and https://www.portlandtomorrow.org/the-levers;
• for a short commentary on​ the proposed rules, visit https://buildingonhistory.blogspot.com/2021/10/preservation-hard-times-ahead.html  

 You can join Building on History’s mailing list by writing “Add me” to fredleeson@hotmail.com