Back to the Future

 

Restored facade at 716 SE Grand Ave.

Dramatic changes in retail shopping stemming from the pandemic and internet purchasing have given some building owners opportunities to peel off fake frontages and to restore facades to their historic architecture. 

 A notable example is at 716 SE Grand Ave., where a fake façade from the former Khanate Imports furniture store was unbolted and carted away by new owners in 2018.  The speedy demolition revealed the interesting original brick storefront that dates to 1903.   The purchaser in 2018 was a limited liability company affiliated with Lorentz Bruun Construction, which undertook the restoration. 

 

Fake facade before removal

Demolition revealed metal brackaets at cornice that held the top of the false front

Despite the encouraging restoration, the building sat vacant for three years.  The pandemic has pushed more shoppers to the internet and led to increased retail vacancies on Portland’s commercially-oriented streets.

 The delay notwithstanding, this story likely will have a happy ending.  The building was purchased earlier this year by Literary Arts Inc., a nonprofit enterprise that uses several ways to engage readers and support authors.  The entity is best known for hosting the Portland Book Festival and the Portland Arts and Lectures series.  

 Documents filed with the City of Portland indicate that Literary Arts intends to renovate the interior ng for offices and space for events.  The new activity will be a welcome plus for this block of SE Grand Avenue, which is part of the East Portland/Grand Avenue Historic District.

The façade’s restoration included reintroduction of the clerestory windows, located above the ground-floor windows on the heightened first floor.  These windows were intended to allow more natural light into interiors which were poorly served by electrical illumination of the era. 

Two and three-story buildings having storefronts on the ground level and offices or residences above were highly common edifices in the first two decades of the 20th Century. They were especially popular on commercial streets like SE Grand that bore streetcar lines carrying most local commuters before the automobile achieved mass popularity. 

 ----Fred Leeson

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