Rehab of century-old Calumet Building includes Brasserie Montmartre return

Portland's Vallaster & Corl Architects is overseeing renovation and restoration, complete with a targeted LEED Gold certification of the circa-1907 Calumet Building downtown. (Or as they say in the Calumet's promotional materials, "LEEDS". Why does everyone try to pluralize this acronym?)

The hotel was designed by Portland architect Joseph Jacobberger in a French Renaissance/Edwardian baroque style. It opened just after the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, when Portland was growing fast in both population (which doubled between 1900 and 1910) and sophistication. Rooms rented for $1 per day.

Many also remember the restaurant that long occupied this space, Brasserie Montmarte. The building's new owner, Carl Hoffman, bought the rights to the name and will reopen it, with offices and apartments in the six upper stories. I've also been told the plans call for the building's original five-story atrium to be restored, which would add lots of natural daylight as well as some sense of drama inside. And there will also be an eco-roof.

The developer (Norway Development) and contractor (Bochetti Contracting) are also hiring under-privileged kids to work on the project as a means of learning the construction trade. Not to go all Rachael Ray on you good people, but how cool is that?

This is also a building that could have easily seen the wrecking ball given all the new construction happening nearby, from the Park Avenue West condo tower to the new adjacent park. If not for my bad back, I'd sleep better tonight knowing the Calumet--a lovely little fabric building that's in its way as important to the city as its more prominent landmarks--is hear to stay.

Comments

[Scott]

I agree...one of my favorite buildings in all of PDX...has so much personality and really is unique within the city.

[Richard]

I agree as well. The restoration of this building is truely something to celebrate.

I remember that several years ago it did come close to meeting with a wrecking ball, when the owners of Brasserie tried to get permission to demolish all the upper stories of the building rather than undertake an expensive seismic upgrade. I'm not sure how all the details played out in order to get to this point, but it's easy to imagine, as Brian said, that the building would have been lost to us.

Nothing that happens in the architectural world pleases me as much as the preservation and restoration of fine old buildings--especially in the face of market forces that tend to overwhelm our regard for structures that are small, old and seemingly outmoded.

[kathleen mazzocco]

I love this building, and am also happy it has not only survived but been assured a happy respectable future. The Brasserie in itself needed a redo and with its relaunch hopefully we'll have another good dining option in downtown.

[Craig]

I'm glad this building was saved.

But another classic building is facing the wrecking ball a few blocks south. PSU is proposing to demolish a very nice brick apartment building along the park blocks for a very uninspiring business School.

http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2008/07/23/Business-school-design-unveiled-Building-at-Park-Avenue-and-Market-Street-would-sit-at-intersection-

[goose]

portland is such a young town and has very little "institutional" memory due to the high number of transplants. our architectural history is so easily undervalued. i love this town with everything inside me but when i see our older buildings demolished for newer versions (which are often unremarkable in the least) when there are plenty of surface parking lots nearby, i recognize this town less and less.
i have veen worried about buildings along the park blocks for as long as i can remember, namely the calumet and the studio building for which i would gladly stand in front of a wrecking ball for. if is often said (whether true or not) that portland is the most european city in the u.s. and the park blocks and the calumet in particular have definitely fostered that notion. there's just something about a rainy fall evening walking down those blocks and heading for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and listening to old timey jazz in the brasserie that makes me feel like i live in the most romantic city on the world. ~sorry, unlike many of my friends i can't wait for fall.~
anyway, i'm completely appreciative that this building is being rehabbed and the upper windows opened up. i also can't wait for the same thing to happen on the building attached to the back of ringler's annex.

[Thurman Chandler]

I happen to think the little Vallaster & Corl are a bit underrated. They are by no means setting the world on fire; however, they are very sensible, they are innovative as much as possible, they are 'smart' in both the aesthetic and psychological sense. They did a design-build building last year. Why don't more architects do this to pay they way to more "museum-esque" projects? I am not sure. Well, Vallaster is also doing the remodel project in the Pearl, and several years ago they did the remodel project on Hawthorne, where they used innovative steel framing materials. In my neighborhood, they did a small tri-plex years ago which I admire. Not big budget, but smart, clean, Good. I hope they continue their successful work here.