Saturday, May 17, 2025

Coming and Going in the East Portland Historic District

 

Two changes are afoot – one positive, one not – in the Grand Avenue East Portland National Historic District.

On the plus side, Mother Foucault’s Bookshop has moved into the long-vacant building at 711 SE Grand Ave., a three-story building erected in 1892.  The building shares the block with two other buildings built in 1883 and 1896, respectively, by Nathaniel K. West, a dry goods merchant who served as president of the East Portland City Council when East Portland was a separate city.

The oldest building of the three, at 701 SE Grand, now houses the Architectural Heritage Center.  The “newest” building at the southern end is a tavern.  Though the buildings look they might share common walls, there are narrow spaces behind the front facades that separate them. When they were built, they backed up to the marshy banks of the Willamette River.

Mother Foucault concentrates in used, vintage and rare books.  With the Architectural Heritage center next door and the new Literary Arts store across the street, the nexus creates an interesting cultural connection for people interested in books, historical lectures, author presentations, and architectural displays and research all within a couple hundred feet.

 

On the downside, owners of Next Adventure, a major retailer of used sporting goods, have to enter retirement by liquidating the big store at 436 SE Grand.  The store has been a fixture in the historic district for 30 years.

The four-story building was erected in 1911, with four retail storefronts on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.  It is owned today by REACH Community Development, a nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing.  The housing on the upper floors assures continued viability for the building, although filling the retail spaces below will be a major challenge.

Internet shopping and the pandemic seriously damaged retail shopping both in downtown Portland and neighborhood commercial districts.

 The space housing Mother Foucault contained a hair styling shop for several years before the pandemic.  The upper floors housed offices of Mia Birk, a bicycle transportation consultant.  Public records show that her firm still owns the building though she no longer works in it.

Mother Foucault is no stranger to the neighborhood.  It formerly operated at 538 SE Morrison in the Clifford Apartments.  It was forced to move when the apartment owner started renovating the building.

-----Fred Leeson

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Thursday, May 8, 2025

Honoring the McMenamins

 

AHC Director Heather Flint Chatto and Connors McMenamin

Whenever a historic building falls into jeopardy in the Pacific Northwest, we often hear: “Maybe the McMenamins will buy it.”

 For 40 years, the company headed by brothers Mike and Brian McMenamin of Portland has established a remarkable record of transforming historic buildings with vibrant, often multiple new uses, while capturing the buildings’ origins with artifacts and historic mementos.

In a better world, other creative entrepreneurs would follow the McMenamins formula by finding vital new uses for historic structures.  With now more than 50 venues (not all of them “old”) in Oregon and Washington, the company has proved its magic on vacant schools, theaters, fraternal lodges, hotels, a county poor form and even a funeral home.

 Despite their success, the two brothers do not seek public attention.  When the Architectural Heritage Center honored them with a preservation away this month, Connors McMenamin represented his father and uncle at the ceremony.

 The younger McMenamin said his elders were impressed by early travels in Europe, when they noted that pubs often offered entertainment for whole families, not just for those imbibing alcohol.  That spirit is carried at the McMenamin venues, where, given available spaces, visitors can hear music, see movies, attend history presentations, eat meals, enjoy spas and in many cases rent hotel rooms. And have a beer.

Aside from respecting history in their buildings, the McMenamin brothers also helped make history in 1985.  They testified successfully in favor of a state law that would allow breweries to sell beer at the same locations – thus creating Oregon’s brew-pub industry.

 Connors McMenamin said the next generation intends to carry on with the business and to take advantage of opportunities to let old buildings continue to tell their stories.  And to provide visitors with recreational opportunities beyond eating and drinking.  Along the way, perhaps their successes will encourage other entrepreneurs to find successful new uses for interesting buildings that otherwise face demolition.

 The Architectural Heritage Center’s preservation award is named in honor of William J. Hawkins III, an architect and Portland historian whose work includes restoration of the Kamm House and restoration of the commercial building that now houses the AHC at 701 SE Grand Ave.  Hawkins, a proactive preservation supporter, finished the AHC rehabilitation 20 years ago.

---Fred Leeson

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