Right-Sizing on a Historic Block

 

(TVA Architects)

A developer who had proposed building a glassy, 23-story apartment tower on the historic Honeyman Hardware block in Northwest Portland has scaled down the plan to a 12 story building sitting on half of the block at 555 NW Park Ave.

 “What we heard loud and clear…it was simply too big and overwhelmed the remaining block,” Eran Fields told the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on Sept. 26.  The revised plan reduces the total number of apartments from 223 units to 123, and the total building height from 250 feet to 135.

The commission holds design review authority because the full block is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  At an earlier meeting, the commission showed no interest in the taller tower, shown below. 

The earlier plan (TVA Architects)

The proposed building would sit adjacent to the Honeyman Hardware warehouse built in 1912 that has since been converted to housing.  The new structure also would hover above the two-story bindery building that was part of the Honeyman complex of three buildings.  The quarter-block stable building, dating to 1903 and heavily changed over the decades, would be demolished.

Landmark commissioners still have concerns about the development scheme, but they expressed consensus for accepting the 12-story, half-block building.  “We really appreciate the scale of change,” said Landmarks Chair Kristen Minor.  “We’re really just focusing on the details now.”

 After two advisory meetings with the commission, the developer will return for a third and possibly final hearing at a date yet to be determined.

 The new building would essentially hover over half of the bindery building, the insides of which would be substantially demolished to provide structure for the new building.   One of the challenges raised by the landmarks commission is to what extent the rest of the new base should look like the adjacent bindery building.

As part of the project, exterior details of the bindery building are to be cleaned and restored, as well as the historic exterior elements of the former warehouse, now known as the Cotter building.

The new building would face a block – now used for parking – that is planned to become a new addition to the North Park Blocks. 

 Robert Thompson, a principle of TVA  Architects, said the design of the new building reflects the “very clear, simple expression” of structure common to other buildings dating to the early 20th Century in what was then primarily an industrial neighborhood.  The plan calls for underground parking on two levels for approximately 120 cars.

 Several neighborhood residents and business people testified in favor of the revised plan.  “It’s amazing to see the reduction in program to make it more contextual,” said David Dysert, speaking for the Peal District Neighborhood Association’s planning committee.  Unlike many developers, Fields had met more than once with residents and business owners on the block. 

 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.

 ----Fred Leeson

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Around and Around We Go

 

(Images courtesy of Restore Oregon)

A decade has passed since children -- sticky fingers and all -- clambered aboard big wooden horses for their last circular rides on the Jantzen Beach Carousel.

 The 20-ton relic from the early 20th Century entertained family and children from 1928 to 1970 at the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park and then at the Jantzen Beach Mall until 2012.  Plans to return the carnival ride to a revised shopping mall were never carried out.

 Those of us in the preservation world know what happened next.  But many people don’t, and the question arises frequently on social media.  What happened to the C.W. Parker “Superior Park” model carousel?

 After five quiet years in storage, the carousel’s owner donated the deconstructed pieces in 2017 to Restore Oregon, a statewide preservation organization, in return (no doubt) for a sizable tax deduction.

 While it seemed that many potential sites loomed as new homes for the historic carousel, reality proved otherwise.  At 67 feet in diameter and standing 29 feet tall, the carousel would need a building with a clear roof span of 77 feet on a lot probably measuring 100 by 100 feet.  In short, that’s a tall order and expensive order.

 In 2020, Restore Oregon announced a potential partnership with the Portland Diamond Project, a group attempting to lure a major league baseball franchise to Portland.  The proposed site for a new stadium and the carousel was to be along a retired shipping pier on the Willamette River in Northwest Portland.

 

Alas, the pandemic and other problems arose.  The Diamond Project is now quietly considering other sites. Stephanie Brown, Restore Oregon’s carousel project manager, said the carousel remains part of a potential stadium plan, but she cannot reveal any details.  Given Portland’s history with professional baseball, the Diamond Project’s plans are far from a slam dunk.

In the meantime, the 82 carousel horses and two chariots have not been sitting idle.  Thanks to some aggressive fund-raising, Restore Oregon is making detailed investigations into structural problems and original paint schemes.  All the work is intended to return the carousel to optimum condition for renewed operation -- someday.  The early results are spectacular. 

The Jantzen Beach carousel will return to the public consciousness this fall with opportunities for enthusiasts to learn more about its history.  These events include:

·         Oct.7 to 9: Pop-up exhibit at the Portland Fall Home and Garden Show at the Expo Center;

·         Oct. 13: Lecture by Barbara Fahs Charles, a co-founder of the National Carousel Association, at the Architectural Heritage Center, focusing on the Jantzen carousel history;

·         Nov. 18 through April 30, 2023: Interpretive exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society.

One can hope that someday children who rode the carousel at Jantzen Beach someday will be able to enjoy it again with their children – or grandchildren, as the case may be. 

-----Fred Leeson

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Sprucing Up The Palms

 

(Image courtesy of Kate Widdows)

No matter how many times you have travelled N. Interstate Avenue in Portland – especially at night – the glowing neon sign shown above no doubt is lodged in your memory.  Standing more than 50 feet tall, and carefully designed with artful lettering and many neon colors, the sign was an exuberant reflection of 1950s automobile-inspired culture.

Cars had taken over the roads from streetcars.  Interstate Avenue at the time was Portland’s highway to Vancouver, Wash., and Seattle before construction of the Interstate-5 freeway.  Motorists needed places to sleep. And the Palms Motor Hotel was there to reel them in with a dramatic sign and welcome rooms for rent.

 These days the neon no longer glows. Paint is fading and peeling.  The motor hotel is on its way to being demolished and being replaced by a complex of more than 200 apartments.

Help needed these days...

There is good news, however.  Though the big sign will be removed stored during construction, the sign’s owner pledges to replace it and repair it.  That means sometime in the future it should glow again.

 Yet the removal and restoration poses a number of questions.  Where will it be on the site?  Since the new building will not be a motel, does the sign’s wording have to be changed?  Can the creative historic letter fonts be retained? If moving electronic letters are to be added (a proposition believed to be under consideration) can it be achieved with the least possible damage to the original sign?  

 These are some of the questions raised by Kate Widdows, a member of PDX Neon, a non-profit organization devoted to preservation of many Portland neon signs, of which The Palms is one of the most iconic. “A good neon sign is a public work of folk art that anchors community and adds beauty to sense of place,” she says.

 Ideally, Widdows would like the sign to be preserved as close as possible to its original condition, including the colors, wording, letter types and – yes – the multiple neon colors.  How could the wording NOT change if the building is no longer a motel?

Widdows said one example of a solution occurred in San Francisco, where a former motel became housing for art students.  She said a gate was placed at the driveway and the former motel’s “No Vacancy” sign remains lit at all times to deter visitors from seeking rooms.

 The Palms sign bears no formal historic designation that would help with preservation.  However, the City Council some 20 years ago recognized the visual importance of eight neon signs along Interstate Avenue that are allowed to be retained or moved despite not conforming with the city’s extensive sign regulations.

 The Palms sign was singled out by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler in a planning work session last October.  “I love these signs so much,” he said.  “They really are touchpoints.”  He described The Palms sign as “so tacky and fanciful, you can’t help smile by looking at it.”

 Recent revisions to Portland historic code regulations conceivably could let the sign itself be designated as a Portland landmark, apart from any other structure on the same site.  At this point, however, no such effort has been initiated. 

Assuming that the apartment plan will have to be approved by the Portland Design Commission, public testimony could be taken concerning return of The Palms sign and proposed changes could be discussed.  Commission deliberations always include signs related to a new project.  All this, however, is a ways down the road.

 ----Fred Leeson

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A Good Save Downtown

 

Alderway Building -- A Few Years Ago

In times of economic distress, smart money looks for “bargains” that will pay off when times improve.  That is good news for one of downtown Portland’s most interesting old buildings, where the purchaser appears to be motivated by long-term gain rather than short-term riches.

The four-story Alderway Building is named for the prominent downtown corner where SW Broadway intersects with Alder Street.  It was built by Portland entrepreneur Fred G. Meyer, best known for his big chain of one-stop shopping centers bearing his name in Oregon and a few other states.

 Before the Great Depression intervened, Meyer planned to be a commercial property developer.  However, the Alderway Building and crash of 1929 forced Meyer to concentrate full-bore on groceries and retail.

 In 1928, Meyer took a 99-year lease on the failed Pantages Theater, a vaudeville house that had been on the site since 1911.  Meyer planned to demolish the theater a build an office and retail building.  Demolition was in progress when engineers advised Meyer that the theater’s underlying steel structure could be left in place and reused.  Ever mindful of expenses, Meyer agreed.

 The building as it stands today was designed by the Claussen & Claussen firm that continued to work with Meyer remodeling old buildings into Fred Meyer stores during the Depression that followed.  The Alderway building is a clear example of  the "Chicago School" architecture, with a clear expression of the steel frame, masonry cladding, expansive tripartite windows and rather minimal decoration.

 The revamped building was completed early in 1929.  Meyer moved in his corporate office and planned to rent most of the other three office floors.  On the main floor, he introduced Fred Meyer Toiletries & Remedies, his first venture into a self-service drug store.  Adjacent was the Fred Meyer Thrift Laundry where customers brought in clothes for laundry and dry cleaning and picked them up the following week.  (Meyer contracted with others who did the actual cleaning.)

 

Early 1930s Fred Meyer storefronts

Meyer had just moved into the new Alderway Building when the stock market crashed in October, 1929.  As a consequence, he was unable to lease the vacant space and eventually had to forfeit the lease.  Meyer by nature never discussed his failures, so how much he lost on the Alderway project is not known.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the rest of the Great Depression worked out reasonably well for Meyer.  He added several stores during the era and was one of the few companies to add employees during the painful economic era.  After World War II, he continued expanding aggressively until his death in 1978.

 The new owner of the Alderway Building is Melvin Mark Investors, a branch of the Melvin Mark real estate companies that have been active in Portland since 1945.  The company plans to do some renovations to the building that likely will not jeopardize its historic feel.  The Hennebery Eddy architecture firm that will design the changes has a solid reputation working on old as well as new buildings.

 The gamble for the Mark firm is that the business environment around the Alderway will improve with new towers under construction nearby, and that Portland ultimately will get its act together in recovering from the pandemic and rampant sidewalk camping.  In the meantime, at least, the Alderway Building is not in jeopardy.

----Fred Leeson

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Good News at (Old) Concordia U.

 

 There is good news for a former 24-acre small college campus tucked in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Northeast Portland.  By next summer, students should be taking classes again in what used to be Concordia University.

 The campus has been closed for more than two years after the conservative Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church decided to shut down the 1200-student university ostensibly because of its creation of a center to provide assistance to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.  (Don’t ask if Jesus approved.)

 The future of the campus and its many buildings became a big question mark in the Concordia neighborhood.  The land is zoned as a "campus" under Portlands's land-use laws, which made potential  converstion to some other use difficult and costly to achieve.

Two years ago, Building on History recommended that it be resold to a larger institution – possibly Portland State University – as an adjunct campus.  While our suggestion seemed to go nowhere, the University of Oregon purchased the site earlier this summer for $47 million, according to county records.

 The purchase arose from a $425 million donation to the University of Oregon from Connie and Steve Ballmer to create the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health.  (Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft.)  The institute will offer bachelor’s degrees and certificates for mid-career professionals upgrading their credentials.

 According to information presented to the Concordia Neighborhood Association, the institute hopes to address a national shortage of professionals engaged in mental health programs for children.  As many as 80 percent of American students needed mental health care are unable to get it, according to the institute’s proponents.

 The first 200 students are expected to arrive on campus by summer and fall of 2023, along with 20 faculty members.  The university also has left the door open to other programs potentially using parts of the “new” campus. 

 The sale closes the history books on Concordia, which began in 1905 as a Lutheran-related private high school.  It expanded to a junior college in 1950 and to an accredited four-year university in 1977, dropping the high school along the way.

 

While new ownership is good news for the campus and the neighborhood, it does not answer what happens to the old Concordia athletic facilities.  In the early 2000s, Concordia removed 30 nearby houses it had acquired over many years to build attractive all-weather fields for soccer and baseball.  The university also has tennis courts and a gymnasium in good condition that seats about 1100 for basketball.

 All these facilities are in good condition – or at least were when Concordia University closed.  They should not be left idle.  If the University of Oregon doesn’t intend to use them, perhaps it could structure a deal with the Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation.  Ball fields are at a premium in the neighborhood, and these should be put to good public use.

 -----Fred Leeson

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Back to the Future

 

Restored facade at 716 SE Grand Ave.

Dramatic changes in retail shopping stemming from the pandemic and internet purchasing have given some building owners opportunities to peel off fake frontages and to restore facades to their historic architecture. 

 A notable example is at 716 SE Grand Ave., where a fake façade from the former Khanate Imports furniture store was unbolted and carted away by new owners in 2018.  The speedy demolition revealed the interesting original brick storefront that dates to 1903.   The purchaser in 2018 was a limited liability company affiliated with Lorentz Bruun Construction, which undertook the restoration. 

 

Fake facade before removal

Demolition revealed metal brackaets at cornice that held the top of the false front

Despite the encouraging restoration, the building sat vacant for three years.  The pandemic has pushed more shoppers to the internet and led to increased retail vacancies on Portland’s commercially-oriented streets.

 The delay notwithstanding, this story likely will have a happy ending.  The building was purchased earlier this year by Literary Arts Inc., a nonprofit enterprise that uses several ways to engage readers and support authors.  The entity is best known for hosting the Portland Book Festival and the Portland Arts and Lectures series.  

 Documents filed with the City of Portland indicate that Literary Arts intends to renovate the interior ng for offices and space for events.  The new activity will be a welcome plus for this block of SE Grand Avenue, which is part of the East Portland/Grand Avenue Historic District.

The façade’s restoration included reintroduction of the clerestory windows, located above the ground-floor windows on the heightened first floor.  These windows were intended to allow more natural light into interiors which were poorly served by electrical illumination of the era. 

Two and three-story buildings having storefronts on the ground level and offices or residences above were highly common edifices in the first two decades of the 20th Century. They were especially popular on commercial streets like SE Grand that bore streetcar lines carrying most local commuters before the automobile achieved mass popularity. 

 ----Fred Leeson

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Good News in Albina

 

Good news appears to be in the offing for one of Northeast Portland’s most attractive landmark buildings, the  Multnomah County Library's Albina branch located at 216 NE Knott Street.

A renovation plan nearing a final proposal would restore the interior of the Spanish Renaissance-style building to make it the children’s reading room connecting to a proposed larger, two-story new library building facing one block to the south on NE Russell.

 The historic Albina branch was built in 1912, under the design of a young architect, Ellis Lawrence, who went on to have an impressive career both in academia and private practice. It was one of seven branch libraries funded in the early 20th Century by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.

 For a time, it sat in the heart of Portland’s Black community, that later was sundered by the Interstate-5 freeway and the unsuccessful Emanuel Hospital urban renewal project.  “This is what the community remembers,” said Chandra Robinson, an architect for LEVER Architecture who is working on the renovation and expansion plan.  “They’d like to see their grandkids have the same experience" in the old library.

Given all the neighborhood changes, the Albina branch was moved to the first of five subsequent locations in the mid-1950s.  In 1954, the interior of the historic building was serious impaired by closing in arched portals in the main room.  Those portals will be reopened under the renovation plan.

(LEVER Architecture) 

 The building “has some beautiful detailing,” Robinson told the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission recently.  Robinson’s firm is expected to return with a final proposed library plan in upcoming weeks.

The Carnegie-funded building served as a library until 1960, when the branch was first moved to other locations.  The historic building was returned to library service a year ago, but has been hampered somewhat by COVID-19 restrictions.

 As it stands now, the new building facing on Russell would have two stories, and would be connected to the historic building by a hallway allowing direct access between the old and new buildings.  Because of a change of grade in the block between Russell and Knott, the new “taller” building would hardly be visible behind the historic entrance on Knott.

 The new building would include the reading room and stacks for adults as well as library offices and a room for community use.  The new building would replace a warehouse and bindery that was erected behind the historic building in the 1950s.

 Though Ellis Lawrence’s firm designed more than 500 buildings during his 40-year career in Portland, the Albina branch was his only library building.  He also was founder of the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and served as its dean from 1914 to 1946, commuting on a regular basis between Portland and Eugene by train.

 The original attractive plaster ceiling and much of the woodwork details remain in the Albina branch, and presumably will be incorporated into the restoration.  One would hope the plan will include replacement of the standard fluorescent lights with something stylistically closer to the originals.  According to a construction schedule, the new building and renovation of the historic structure should be finished late in 2024.  

 ----Fred Leeson

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An Unusual Renovation

 

An eyeball scan along any Portland neighborhood commercial street shows the dreadful impact of the pandemic and internet shopping.  Many stores that sold merchandise are gone.  The ones that remain offer services not available online – cannabis, haircuts, tattoos, massages and toenail and fingernail renovation.

Vacancies offer new opportunities.  An unusual one is occurring on NE 24th Avenue where a longstanding limousine tenant has been replaced by what can best be called a high-end man cave.

An affluent (presumably) car collector hired designer/contractor John McCulloch to renovate the indoor space.  Over half of the old limousine area will be devoted to the owner’s car collection.  The rest contains computerized bicycle-racing exercise machines, a sauna, showers and a wet bar.

 The renovations do not physically affect five storefronts facing Broadway that are part of the same building.  The single-story commercial building dates to 1913; the identity of the architect is not known today.

McCulloch faced at least two interesting design challenges.  One was what to do with large picture windows that once allowed substantial views into the formerly retail space. McCulloch answered that challenge with some large historical photographs showing other buildings in the neighborhood, plus a large blow-up drawing of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition.

 Another large window contains a sketch of numerous old Portland houses and buildings.  What they have in common – and you will know this only because you read it here – is that they are all structures that McCulloch has renovated during his active career.

 

All told, the solution to the windows problem gives pedestrians interesting things to look at that related to Portland history, neighborhood history and architecture.  One could imagine that the images could be swapped for others over time, but perhaps that is too big of an “ask.”

 Another challenge to be faced is the threat of graffiti taggers.  This building, like many others in seemingly all of Portland’s neighborhood business districts, has not been immune.  McCulloch has added several attractive sconces at the clerestory level.  Lighting is a deterrent to taggers who prefer not to be seen.

In the architectural preservation world, finding new uses for vintage buildings is one element that savesthem from potential demolition.  This case offers an interesting – if unusual  – example. The result is definite visual improvement over the building's former appearance, below.

-----Fred Leeson

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Move Along Folks, There's Nothing to See Here

 

Barring a seemingly impossible miracle, Portland State University this fall will start demolishing an attractive 5-story building that has been a compatible neighbor to the South Park Blocks for 90 years.

 While loss of the Parkway Manor is sad in itself, the fact that PDSU has no immediate plans or funding for a replacement building compounds the wound.  The site could sit vacant behind security fencing as an urban puncture for several years to come.

 “I wish I didn’t have to present this,” Jason Franklin, PSU’s vice president for planning, construction and property management,  told a Downtown Neighborhood Association committee as started detailing problems with the now-vacant building.  The 54-unit apartment has served as student housing since 1969, but has been vacant for over a year.

 Franklin said renovation for continued student housing would cost $25 million, and operations would lose $13 million over the next 20 years.  “Everything (inside) would have to be removed and put back.”  It is clear that the building has suffered from managerial neglect, with a leaking roof, broken elevator and inadequate plumbing.

 It wasn’t clear from his presentation whether PSU had considered any other potential uses for a renovated building, but he ruled out potential office space.  He said the university has plenty of office space already, and many employees like working from home.  Switching the building’s use would be “a big lift for us to do that.”

 Peggy Moretti, a longstanding preservation advocate, questioned the validity of Franklin’s gruesome financial picture.  “You can make numbers say anything you want,” she said.  Saving the building, she added, “Depends on whether there is a will to do so.”  She said demolition “feels morally irresponsible to me.”

 The building was designed by the prominent Portland firm of Bennes and Herzog.  John Virginius Bennes designed several buildings on the Oregon State University campus that are now a part of a National Historic District.  He and Harry Herzog also designed the prominent Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland.

 The Parkway Manor’s two public facades show a rather subdued Art Moderne Zig-Zag motif crafted with bricks.  There is nothing like it anywhere downtown.

 Franklin said PSU is “very cognizant of its location and the importance of its location,” and agreed that demolition creates a “hole” on the South Park Blocks.  But he said allowing the building to stand empty while PSU decides what should replace it “is a safety issue for us at this point.”  He said the empty building would be a threat for vandalism, graffiti and trespassing squatters.

 So just think of how much money is being saved while the vacant site scars what used to be one of the most pleasant urban environments on the PSU campus -- and in downtown Portland.  PSU has no current plans for the site, and when it does, it will have to await funding from the Oregon Legislature, which meets every two years..  And then any proposal will have to go through Portland's design review, taking most of another year.  

Meanwhile, enjoy the view. 

----Fred Leeson

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A Blockbuster in Northwest Portland

 

Apartment tower large version (TVA Architects)

The urban tension between “old Portland” and “new Portland” could play out dramatically on the historic Honeyman Hardware block where a developer hopes to plant a 23-story, 250-foot tall apartment tower near two historic landmarks.

 Call it a blockbuster proposal in more ways than one.  The tower would eliminate one historic structure and loom high above its two remaining predecessors standing at nine and two stories, each.  The 250-foot height is the maximum allowed under current zoning.  The block is bounded by NW Glisand and Hoyt Streets between Park and 9th Ave. 

 Because of the block’s historic designation, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission has design review authority over the proposal.  While the commission likes the idea of additional housing and vitality it would bring to the neighborhood, the 250 foot height was clearly the commission’s primary concern at a preliminary advisory meeting.

 “The scale is overwhelming,” said Commissioner Matthew Roman.  “I don’t know how you make a tower disappear.”

 The building is proposed by Evan Fields, a Los Angeles developer who owns the whole block.  His “preferred” plan would hold 295 units with parking buried below.  The footprint amounts to roughly half of the block, with a fin of the tower rising from within the two-story Bindery Building.

 

Apartment tower smaller version (TVA Architects)

At its first review, the landmarks commission preferred a slightly smaller building that would add 243 units to one quarter of the block.  This tower would sit on the site of the existing the Metro Building, which started life in 1903 as a livery stable for freight-hauling horses.  The two street-facing facades of the Bindery Building would be saved, though its interior would be wiped out to create underground parking and a new interior built.

The two other historic buildings include the Cotter Building, a seven-story reinforced concrete structure built in 1912 as the Honeyman Hardware warehouse.  Surprisingly, it was designed with potential conversion to a hotel in mind.  Decades later, the building was converted to apartments and a two-story penhouse was added.  The two-story bindery building, built in 1920, originally served as the Honeyman Hardware retail store. At one time, all three old buildings were linkied as part of Honeyman Hardware Co.   

 This once-industrial and transport-oriented neighborhood is on the cusp of a host of big buildings.  Two blocks to the north, the city has approved 400-foot height limits on the U.S. Postal Service site that soon awaits redevelopment.

Placing the proposed tower on the block with historic buildings struck Commissioner Andrew Smith as odd, since there are other potential sites sitting nearby.  “It’s like I’m the only person sitting in a theater and somebody comes in and sits on my lap.”

 Fields and his design team, TVA Architects, are expected to return at a date uncertain with more details about the smaller, quarter-block tower. 

 Melissa Darby, a former landmarks commissioner for eight years, testified that in her experience these public reviews often lead to better outcomes.  “This can be done better,” she said.  “It looks like any airport hotel.”

 Interestingly, Fields agreed.  “She’s right,” he said.  “Developments and architecture get better with feedback.” 

 At this point, the 250 height appears to be a necessity in Fields’ mind.  The question is whether TVA, a highly talented design firm, can devise a possibly more muscular-looking building that fits better with the block’s context.

 It’s also worth noting that rejection of a final plan by the Landmarks Commission could be appealed to the Portland City Council.  Such appeals are rare.  But given the general lack of interest --or downright antipathy -- usually xhibited by the current council for anything historic, approval would be a slam dunk.

 -----Fred Leeson

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Encouraging Work In Progress

 

Given the challenges many faced by historic buildings in Portland, it is refreshing to see work on two important restorations steaming ahead, two years after their plans were approved by the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission.

One is the Troy Laundry building, at 1025 SE Pine St., a rare industrial project dating to 1913 designed by Portland architect Ellis Lawrence.  Lawrence at the time was in the early stages of became a busy, productive and prominent architectural career.

 The other is the New Fliedner building, at SW 10th Ave and Washington St., which is downtown Portland’s best example of a Zig Zag Moderne design on its two public facades.  The building as we see it today was designed by Richard Sundeleaf, although the structure itself dated to 1906.  Until Sundeleaf’s colorful makeover, it had been the home of the Eastern Outfitting Co., one of Portland’s major apparel retailers of the era.

 Astute followers of Building on History will recall that both these renovation projects were described here as they went through historic design review by the landmarks commission in June and August of 2020, respectively.  Months passed while final plans, financing and building permits were achieved.

 The half-block Troy Laundry building was the culmination in Portland of the efforts of James F. Tait, a Scottish immigrant, who opened a laundry service in 1889.  As years passed and his business grew, Troy Laundry amassed as many 10,000 individual and business clients in the era before the presence household washing machines became, well, automatic. 

 Tait also expanded to Seattle, and is believed to have operated the largest commercial laundry business on the West Coast.  He was an early adopter of the 8-hour working day and provided a lunchroom for employees. +-

 Laundry operations folded, so to speak, in 1980.  The renovation will retain the historic characteristics of the public facades and the interior will be converted to a private athletic club.  The restoration is paired with construction of a 6-story residential building with 132 units and ground-floor retail abutting Troy Laundry on the north.

If all goes well, the 5-story, quarter-block New Fliedner building will be returned to its earlier status as an office building with ground-floor retail.  The office entrance will be through the stylishly-decorative portal on Washington Street.

 The building’s Zig Zag Moderne styling is a variety of Art Deco.  It varies from other Art Deco structures with its frequent cross-hatched designs at the main entry, at the cornice and on banding above the first floor.  Zig Zag lacks the rounded building edges intended to give Art Deco buildings an aerodynamic feel.  When finished, it should be a colorful and eye-catching sight.

 The New Fliedner was going through design stages at the start of the COVID pandemics.  The pandemic’s negative effect on retail and downtown office spaces has been dramatic.  Given the investment and attention to detail in the restoration, one hopes that the New Fliedner can still have a long and successful presence. 

-----Fred Leeson

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