Some Sad News at Portland State University

 

Blackstone

A decision by Portland State University officials to demolish two more historic residential buildings shows the university’s continuing pattern of benign neglect for its historic architecture.

 Last year PSU pulled down the interesting Parkway Manor building to make way for – well, nothing.  The school says the site facing the South Park Blocks at Market Street might become a community garden for 10 years or so.

 Next on the demolition list is the 1916 Martha Washington building, now called Montgomery Hall, designed by Portland’s leading architect of the era, A.E. Doyle.  Also on the chopping block is the interesting 1931 Blackstone apartment building designed by Elmer Feig.  It faces the South Park Blocks two blocks south of the old Parkway Manor and features interesting Egyptian-inspired façade decorations inspired by ancient archeological discoveries of the era.

Montgomery Hall

The Blackstone and Montgomery Hall presumably will be replaced by a new student housing building designed to hold more than 500 students.  Drawings of that proposal have not been shown, but it faces the difficult design decision of abutting the historic Simon Benson house. 

 Both Montgomery Hall and the Blackstone are currently used for student housing.  It is ironic that they should be replaced with “new” student housing when remodeling the interiors of the two historic structures could probably provide a comparable number of attractive student accommodations.  The Montgomery building was equipped with seismic bracing in 2005, and the Blackstone appears to be built with reinforced concrete with brick facades.

 Neither of the buildings headed for demolition bear historic designations.  That means the public has no apparent opportunity to voice objections and ask for interior renovations, instead.  However, now that word is out about the demolitions, it is possible that senior PSU officials will hear about any apparent discontent.

 Further, the plans for the new building likely will be presented for hearings and deliberations by the Portland Design Commission.  At that point, architects will need to address how an L-shaped new structure will relate to the wooden Victorian-era Benson house that is home to the PSU visitor center.

 With the demise of the Blackstone and Montgomery Hall, there is little historic fabric left on the downtown campus for the university to destroy.  Let’s just pretend that Old Main (1911) and Shattuck Hall (1915) are not old.

What's left of Parkway Manor

----Fred Leeson

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Adaptive Reuse at City Hall

 

If you have been an occasional visitor to Portland City Council meetings at City Hall, here’s a friendly tip:  Your next trip will NOT be déjà vu all over again.

 The dais where five city commissioners had ruled since 1913 – some of them giants of local lore – has been reconfigured so the new 12-member council can squeeze into half of a big circle that dominates the chamber.  City staffers and people who offer testimony sit on the front half.

In all, the big circle reduces the number of seats on the main floor, which forces other folks into the balcony, where sound levels are weak from speakers who don’t cuddle up to their microphones.

 Your correspondent spent several years attending council sessions, first in the 1970s when the council sat against the curved east wall, and later in the 1990s when a renovation backed the council against the flat west wall.  The new big circle backs up again to the east.

Offices inside the landmark 1895 City Hall have been substantially reshuffled.  Fortunately, many of the historic internal elements of marble floors, oaken woodwork and glorious stairways have been preserved.  It is one of the best buildings by Whidden & Lewis who comprised Portland's most prestigious architectural firm of the era.

The occasion of my visit was a January 16 hearing at which the council unanimously agreed to allow destruction of a 1908 bungalow at 118 SW Porter St. in the South Portland Historic District.  The outcome was a foregone conclusion, since the site will become part of a new home for Ukandu, a non-profit agency that provides counseling for childhood cancer patients and for their families.

 Ninety minutes of testimony from cancer patients and their families proved compelling to the City Council, same as it had for the Portland Landmarks Commission in an earlier hearing.  While the landmarks body generally tries to protect historic properties, it agreed that the public value of the proposed change was more significant than the historic value of the small residence that had been converted to offices 40 years ago.

 The case of the Porter Street bungalow was so easy, observers couldn’t come away with any real perspective about how this new City Council feels about historic preservation.  We shall learn more someday when a more important historic building comes under threat.

The hearing did allow a few observations.  The councilors listened carefully.  Good questions were asked.  If there are dummies aboard this vessel, it is not yet apparent.

Whether any of them become giants of this cramped new dais…time will tell.

----Fred Leeson

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