Today the National Trust for Historic Preservation begins its annual conference, which is being held this year in Portland. As reported in the Portland Tribune by Randall Barton, one of the conference’s tours will focus on classic midcentury modern architecture.
Local historic preservation specialist Paul Falsetto of Fletcher Farr Ayotte will lead the sold-out tour, which is largely comprised of works by celebrated Portland architect Pietro Belluschi, the Italian immigrant who designed the Portland Art Museum and numerous other landmarks. Although the art museum is wonderful, I’d argue another tour stop, Belluschi’s Equitable Building (now called the Commonwealth) is even more impressive. The Equitable has been called the world’s first modern office building for its pioneering use of aluminum cladding—one seemingly continuous sheet of aluminum and glass on the exterior façade. And beyond that, the Equitable has a timeless elegance. Funny how few Portlanders walking by Southwest Sixth and Stark know how significant the building is.
The endurance of historic midcentury modern structures is being put to a serious test these days. As Falsetto explains, many buildings of that era were not built to stand the test of time. So which ones do we tear down and which do we preserve? Is a building still historic if you have to essentially rebuild it from the inside out? As always with historic preservation, there is continuing difficulty reasoning which buildings are to be preserved and which are rescued. And yet those decisions are often not made because of design significance, but because of cold hard economics.
Here in Portland, the city has long enjoyed a lauded reputation for preserving historic buildings. Not every classic is saved (I already miss the St. Francis hotel!), and the loopholes for those who would bulldoze beloved old structures have grown larger. But the underlying culture here favors preserving and re-using old buildings, as with the Masonic Temple that is opening this weekend as the Portland Art Museum’s new Mark Building. Or the Ladd Carriage House that may soon be moved rather than letting a downtown church destroy it. Preservation, though, requires not only a set of regulations, but eternal vigilance.
The other continuing issue with preservation is the form it takes. Some buildings merit renovations that preserve every aspect of their original architectural integrity. Other historic structures, however, can take on new life by becoming part of a hybrid design that transforms the original into something new. Here in Portland, I hope our preservationist community is also open to the idea that certain historic buildings may have bright futures as something altogether new. Depending on the project, extensions and additions to old buildings need not always defer to the existing brick and terra cotta, but use historic structures as the springboard from which they soar.
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