Old Town Treasures

In today's Oregonian Fred Leeson reports on a renovation to the circa-1883 Bickel Block building at 33 NW Couch Street in which the original cast-iron facade has been restored after being covered with brick for several decades. Leeson continues:

The Bickel was completed near the end of the cast-iron era. From the 1850s to the late 1880s, cast iron was the material of choice for commercial and industrial buildings in major cities, starting in London. Columns, arches and architectural details were produced in large factories and shipped to building sites where the pieces were bolted together.

"It just happened that Portland was founded during that time," [architect/historian Bill] Hawkins says....Soon after the Bickel was finished, steel proved stronger than cast iron. Many of Portland's cast-iron buildings were lost to parking lots after World War II.

The Bickel is one of three buildings being renovated by the University of Oregon for its new Portland headquarters. Their presence in this under-utilized area, but one of some terrific historic buildings like the Bickel, is already paying dividends.

  Reading about the Bickel, I also remembered a post I'd planned to write a few months ago after having a series of meetings at an office in the Blagen Block, which is just a door or two down the street. Standing here along the MAX line, just a block away from the Waterfront, within a short walk of the Classical Chinese garden and a host of cool galleries as well as downtown, I found it stunning how dead it felt. Historic architecture, mass transit, greenspace, the core of the city, cultural amenitiies--what more could you want?

Comments

[Rich]

How wonderful! The careful restoration of a rare and beautiful old building for the purpose of housing an educational institution--it's great to hear of something in the world of local architecture and development that is so unarguably positive.

As to why the Old Town area in general can seem so lifeless--that's due to a broad combination of reasons, don't you think? That it abuts Portland's skid road and has more than its fair share of "street people" continues to make it a forbidding place to some. Also, the area's bars and restaurants don't seem to generate the kind of appeal they once did, when Old Town was first reborn as part of Portland's night life scene 30 or so years ago. I'm not sure if that's because so many other areas of Portland now compete with it, or if the quality of the places in Old Town has deteriorated. (Jazz de Opus having given way to a strip club wasn't exactly a step in the right direction, for instance.) Beyond that, it just seems like most areas of downtown Portland are pretty quiet most of the time (a few exceptions being Pioneer Courthouse Square, the transit mall around rush hour, the public library block during the day, and the area right around Berbati's at night.)

Having students in Old Town should help to increase foot traffic and benefit the retail businesses in the area, I'd think.

[Steve Szigethy]

Old Town Portland shares characteristics with Pioneer Square in Seattle and Gastown in Vancouver, BC: beautiful 19th Century architecture, some tourist spots, but also a homeless issue and in some cases, drugs. I suppose the homeless missions and drug treatment centers (both necessary, worthy causes) started locating here in the 60's when the buildings were truly run down and sold for pennies. What a difficult, sensitive issue! How do we capitalize on these historic urban spaces (a rarity in the Northwest) and still have options for those who are less fortunate? I wish I knew the answer.