Looking Back -- and Ahead

von Homeyer House Restoration

 

Portland’s 2024 historic preservation victories ranged from as small as a single house in the Alameda neighborhood to thoughtful renovation of the sprawling Benson Polytechnic High School campus.

Other success stories included completion of the Literary Arts building in the East Portland/Grand Avenue Historic District and major plans for upgrading Veterans Memorial Coliseum and creating a memorial for Chinese buried in a corner of Lone Fir Cemetery during a nasty era of ethnic discrimination.

The most novel project of the year was the 98-year-old single house in Alameda, where a couple living nearby bought the badly run-down von Homeyer residence and cleaned a several decades of “stuff” that had stuffed into it by two elderly brothers who spent their whole lives there.

 Eschewing any dream of potential profit, Michael and Jaylen Schmitt set to work clearing out the mess – including seven junked cars – and planned a restoration that included reopening the front porch that had been enclosed since 1959.

 The Schmitt’s undertook the expensive project because they feared the lot would be sold for development of a McMansion that wouldn’t fit the historic character of the surrounding blocks.  When finished early next year, the couple’s investment likely will exceed $1 million.  Whether they can break even on their heroic challenge of neighborhood preservation will depend on whimsies of the real estate market.

 

Celebration at Benson High School

Meanwhile, Portland Public Schools finished its sixth high school renovation with the re-opening of Benson High School.  The two-year project revamped much of the campus that had a number of seemingly odd additions plopped down since the original building was finished in 1916.

 Fortunately, many original architectural elements were tastefully restored, including the entry foyer, auditorium, original gymnasium and the attractive brick primary façade.  The improvements are intended to give the high school several more decades of important technical education.

Benson Foyer

Looking ahead, the Portland School Board faces an important decision about demolishing Cleveland High School in favor of a whole new building or renovating the historic building instead.  The board’s earlier decision favoring demolition could still be changed, given that the district in 2025 will be asking voters for additional bond money. 

While Cleveland’s interior is seriously outdated, the success at Benson and earlier projects at Franklin, Roosevelt and Grant High Schools could help the district change its mind about demolishing Cleveland if concludes that renovation is an easier sell heading into the bond election.

 In other looming preservation matters, 2025 should see the completion of renovations at the historic Albina and North Portland branch libraries, and restoration of much- loved D.P. Thompson elk statue and fountain in downtown Portland.

And speaking of fountains, at some point the city’s new political leadership needs to make a conclusive decision about restoring the Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt statues in the South Park Blocks. Discussion among the new 12-member City Council could give us a significant “read” on their collective interest in historic preservation

---Fred Leeson

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Crash Landing for the Airplane Factory?

 Demolition likely is next for the Northeast Portland building known colloquially as the “airplane factory” now that two failed preservation plans led to a foreclosure auction this month.

Given that starting bids for the three-story building begin at $225,000, it is apparent that the only value left probably is in the land, not in the 107-year old building.

In 1917 and 19182, the building erected by Oregon Home Builders Inc. was used to manufacture fabric-shrouded spruce airplane wings for U.S. military bi-planes used in World War I.  After the war, the industrial building that included a railroad spur off the Union Pacific main line in Sullivan’s Gulch housed a long list of enterprises.

The last, and longest-lived, was Gordon’s Fireplace Shop that resided in the building from 1990 to the company’s closure in 2016.  Tarlow’s Furniture Co. used the building from the late 1950s to approximately 1980.  More obscure earlier tenants included the Pacific Phonograph Manufacturing Co., Art Erickson Furniture Co. and Portland Window Décor.

Gordon’s sold the building in for $2.7 million 2017 to InterUrban Development, a Seattle firm that concentrates on restoring historic buildings.  InterUrban planned to add retail storefronts at the ground level and creative office spaces on the two floors above.

Alas, the COVID pandemic killed that plan, given that “creative” workers preferred to stay home rather than rent offices.  InterUrban then changed its plans to add housing on the upper floors, instead.

For whatever reasons, InterUrban and Portland building officials could never agree on renovation details.  Meanwhile, vagrants invaded the inside of the building and graffiti painters took great joy in smothering the exterior with spray paint.  The collapse of the planning led to the foreclosure order and auction.

The building is zoned mixed-used commercial, which allows for buildings of up to six or seven stories containing retail, residences, offices or “low impact” manufacturing.   The site’s location next to railroad tracks, a freeway and busy arterials of NE Broadway and 33rd Avenue could make it difficult to find successful uses.

The demolition of any historic building is significant for environmental reasons related to refuse disposal and energy consumption involved in new materials and construction.  While a new building might add to the quality of the neighborhood, it also might detract in ways no one expected.

Preservation is never an easy accomplishment.  Planning and design and financing are always potential barriers.  Unexpected physical problems often arise when digging deeply into the bowels of old buildings.  In this case, COVID and damages done by hooligans were either brand new or unusual challenges. 

 If there are lessons that can be learned from the airplane factory experience, the preservation world should pay attention.

-----Fred Leeson

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A Grand Addition on Grand Avenue

 

Opening of the new Literary Arts location in Southeast Portland was a home run for the non-profit association as well as for historic preservation and the little-known East Portland-Grand Avenue National Historic District.

The building at 716 SE Grand Avenue, now recognized as a “streetcar commercial” architecture, opened in 1904 as Strowbridge Hardware.  It held a few other businesses over the years before its façade was completely shrouded by a fiberglass skin to become a furniture store.

 Fortunately, the fiberglass skin did little to harm the original brick face that laid hidden for more than 40 years until its removal in 2018.  Literary Arts, an organization that promotes books and authors, bought the building in 2022 and began the gradual makeover we see today.

It is a pleasure to enter the long-vacant building today.  Bora Architects and Interiors, working with a fee, opened up the two-story building and laid bare its timber intestines.  The ground floor is primarily a sales space for an inventory of 12,000 books.  A loft above provides classroom space and room for small author-related events.  Plans call for the addition of a coffee shop sometime down the road.

Bora left intact a few interesting historical element, including the inlaid tile at the entrance dating to when the store was operated by W.P. Fuller Paints.

In its day, the original brick façade was typical for an early-20th Century storefront.  Today it joins a handful of other historic commercial buildings on the same block, indicating that Grand Avenue was indeed the “Main Street” of old city of East Portland.  East Portland merged with the City of Portland in 1891.

 The attractive pedestrian addition of Literary Arts to Grand Avenue is a sign of renewed interest in the area.  Negotiations are in progress for the sale of another vacant historic building directly across the street, and a non-profit housing agency is working on plans for upgrading the old Clifford Hotel – now a residence for low-income tenants – around the corner on SE Morrison Street.

The Architectural Heritage Center also sits just across the street from Literary Arts on Grand Avenue.  The two non-profit agencies can make an attractive intellectual magnet for people interested in books and Portland’s architectural history.

When "modern" was a mistake (Portland Historic Inventory)

---- Fred Leeson

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