New on the Honeyman Hardware Block

 

NW Park Ave/ frontage shows new apartments above the creamy brick facade of the historic bindery building at lower left.  (TVA Architects)

What started out as a potential glassy, 23-story apartment tower has been trimmed to eight stories on the historic Honeyman Hardware block in Northwest Portland under revised plans approved by the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission.

 If erected, the new building would contain 165 apartments and sit partially above the two story 1920s structure known as the bindery building that was part of the three-block Honeyman complex in the 500 block of NW Park Avenue.

The proposed addition to the Honeyman block follows the demise of another apartment project approved by the landmarks commission in 2007, but died as a consequence of the 2008 recession.

Under the new plan, the oldest component of the Honeyman complex, a livery stable called the Metro building built in 1903 and remodeled many times, would be demolished.  It fronts on NW Park and Hoyt Sttreet. Its place would be taken by a new half-block frontage erected as part of the apartment complex.

 A third building on the block, built as a Honeyman warehouse in 1912, has seen been converted to apartments and will remain. The top of the new apartment, rising 87 feet, roughly matches the height of the former warehouse now called the Cotter Building.

Hoyt Street frontage shows Cotter Building, right, and north facade of new apartments (TVA Architects)

Robert Thompson, a principle of TVA Architects, said the two remaining historic buildings “are in really good shape,” though dirty.  He said their exteriors will be cleaned and the Cotter Building will be repainted as part of the development.

The eastern frontage of the block faces on what is planned to be an extension of the North Park Blocks.  Directly north lies the large vacant site that formerly housed the Main U.S. Post Office.  No development plans have been announced for that multi-block site, but zoning rules could allow high-rise buildings as tall as 400 feet.

The block at present (TVA Architects)

Honeyman Hardware was a leading Pacific Northwest hardware dealer for many years a century ago.  Although built at different times, the three buildings on the block were linked together for commercial purposes.  The full block was added to the National Register of Historic Places in regard for its commercial importance in the era.

Eran Fields, who owns the Honeyman block, met several times with residents and the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.  Despite some quibbles from the neighborhood group, four people testified in favor of the latest plan.  Fields earned compliments for his willingness to listen to concerns and to make changes.  “I think we have come up with the best iteration yet,” he said.

Upper stories of the new apartment feature large windows and a horizontal emphasis on its structure.  The horizontality is a nod to the industrial architecture of the early 20th Century as reflected in the Cotter Building.  Composite metal cladding in a red shade will cover the vertical and horizontal structural members.

 -----Fred Leeson

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