Progress at Anna Mann

Anna Mann House (1910)

 Sometimes, good plans DO come to fruition.  A quick trip to the one-time Anna Mann retirement home in Northeast Portland, circa 1910, showed that two new companion apartment buildings for low-income residents are at or near completion.  Restoration of the original building has a few more months to go.

 When finished, the 3.1-acre complex at 1021 N.E. 33rd Ave., will contain 128 apartments.  Of those, 42 will be rented to residents who earn less than 30 percent of the region’s median income, and 86 will house residents earning up to 60 percent of the median standard.

 Innovative Housing Inc., a Portland-based non-profit housing developer, cobbled together a complex funding package and won planning approval from the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission almost three years ago.  The developer has a good track record for respecting historic architecture, and will prove it again by preserving the exterior and many interior details of the original Mann house.

The original Anna Mann building was designed by Whitehouse and Fouilhoux, one of Portland’s most prominent firms of the era.  Their other notable work of the period included the University Club and Lincoln High School, now Old Main at Portland State University, and the original Jefferson High School.

 

New apartment east

The style of the Anna Mann house is considered Tudor Revival or English Elizabethan.  Notable elements include brick walls, steeply pitched roofs, and cast stone lintels and sills at the windows.  The public rooms were trimmed with dark-stained Douglas fir, a common treatment for Arts and Crafts interiors in the Portland area.  Pleasingly, those interior details have been well-preserved.

 The separate new buildings sit on the southern and eastern edges of the site.  While no one will confuse them as “old” buildings, they were designed by Emerick Architects to be compatible with the site’s doyen.  Alas, the budget did not allow for as much brick facing on the eastern building as originally planned.

New apartment south, at left

 When finished, the Mann building will contain 38 apartments, plus communal spaces that will retain many of the original interior details. 

 While senior citizens likely will rent many of the 66 one-bedroom units, there will be numerous two and three-bedroom units that could provide family housing, in addition to a single four-bedroom unit.

 Overall, the project is an excellent example of finding a new use for a worthy piece of historic architecture – and providing a new source of essential housing.

 ----Fred Leeson

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