An Unusual Renovation

 

An eyeball scan along any Portland neighborhood commercial street shows the dreadful impact of the pandemic and internet shopping.  Many stores that sold merchandise are gone.  The ones that remain offer services not available online – cannabis, haircuts, tattoos, massages and toenail and fingernail renovation.

Vacancies offer new opportunities.  An unusual one is occurring on NE 24th Avenue where a longstanding limousine tenant has been replaced by what can best be called a high-end man cave.

An affluent (presumably) car collector hired designer/contractor John McCulloch to renovate the indoor space.  Over half of the old limousine area will be devoted to the owner’s car collection.  The rest contains computerized bicycle-racing exercise machines, a sauna, showers and a wet bar.

 The renovations do not physically affect five storefronts facing Broadway that are part of the same building.  The single-story commercial building dates to 1913; the identity of the architect is not known today.

McCulloch faced at least two interesting design challenges.  One was what to do with large picture windows that once allowed substantial views into the formerly retail space. McCulloch answered that challenge with some large historical photographs showing other buildings in the neighborhood, plus a large blow-up drawing of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition.

 Another large window contains a sketch of numerous old Portland houses and buildings.  What they have in common – and you will know this only because you read it here – is that they are all structures that McCulloch has renovated during his active career.

 

All told, the solution to the windows problem gives pedestrians interesting things to look at that related to Portland history, neighborhood history and architecture.  One could imagine that the images could be swapped for others over time, but perhaps that is too big of an “ask.”

 Another challenge to be faced is the threat of graffiti taggers.  This building, like many others in seemingly all of Portland’s neighborhood business districts, has not been immune.  McCulloch has added several attractive sconces at the clerestory level.  Lighting is a deterrent to taggers who prefer not to be seen.

In the architectural preservation world, finding new uses for vintage buildings is one element that savesthem from potential demolition.  This case offers an interesting – if unusual  – example. The result is definite visual improvement over the building's former appearance, below.

-----Fred Leeson

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