Matthew Ginn's Portland Public Schools photo tour: Jefferson and Grant

Jefferson High School (photo by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images) 

If you've been wandering around the high school campuses of north and northeast Portland lately, catching a football practice or registering for class, perhaps you've seen Matthew Ginn with his camera. This summer, Ginn has been photographing Portland Public Schools sites throughout the city with a focus on high schools.

For the third post in our series, Ginn took pictures of two schools with long legacies but one with an undetermined future, two historic buildings but only one retaining its integrity: Jefferson and Grant.

"It’s a real shame that they 'modernized' Jefferson’s look when they did their 1950s additions/remodel," Ginn said by email. "The out-of-proportion additions were bad enough, but they defaced the main elevation as well. Thankfully, cooler heads (or lighter wallets) prevailed when the additions were made to the other high schools in the 1950s—they’re not entirely stunning, but at least they didn’t reduce the historical character of the original buildings."

As with the previous posts paired with Ginn's school pictures, I'm including information about them from the Portland Public Schools site.

 

Jefferson High School (photo by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images) 

First, Jefferson, which is known largely for the great athletes the school has produced, such as footballer Mel Renfro (an All-American at Oregon and a Hall of Famer for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys) as well as basketball players like Aaron Miles and Brandon Brooks.

"Located at 5210 North Kerby Avenue in the Humboldt neighborhood of north Portland, Jefferson High 12-acre campus includes the original 1909 school building (with several subsequent additions), an auto shop, and a gymnasium.  The high school building currently exhibits limited evidence of its former architectural style that once revealed the tensions between the Arts and Crafts and Classical Revival Movements.  Several subsequent additions and exterior alterations, however, have diminished the building’s architectural integrity."

"Jefferson was a direct reflection of Portland’s ambitions as well as its concerns about school safety.  By the early twentieth century, PPS was constructing a significant number of frame elementary schools largely designed by architect Thomas J. Jones.  Due to the size and fire proof construction necessary for the city’s impressive new high schools such as the old Lincoln High School (1912) and the first Washington High School (1906), the school district held a design competition for the new Jefferson High School in July 1908 rather than hand the design over to its own architect.  The School Board considered eleven sets of plans, and chose the firm Whitehouse & Honeyman (Honeyman was later replaced by Fouilhoux in the partnership) for its design of a new high school on the east side."

 

Jefferson High School (photos by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images) 

"For the new high school, Morris Whitehouse, the founder of Whitehouse, Church, Newberry, & Roer, designed a three story brick building with a full basement that featured an E-shaped plan and reflected the architectural tensions of the Arts and Crafts and Classical Revival architectural movements. Rather than exhibiting the straightforward application of Classical Revival detailing, the building featured concrete plasterwork consisting of horizontal belt courses, diamond-shaped motifs, a hipped roof with a bracketed eave, flush face dormers, as well as projecting walls to diminish the sheer size of the new building.  The building, built at a cost of $321,078 was popularized through a series of color postcards following its construction and was at the time one of the largest high schools constructed in the United States."

"By the 1960s, the Albina cluster of schools would be the flashpoint for accusations of segregation and unequal educational opportunities.  Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, PPS enacted several programs in an attempt to integrate the district’s schools and gain equity in educational opportunities.  In 1978, a controversial desegregation plan to bus Jefferson students to Wilson and Lincoln High Schools was abandoned at the request of the Community Coalition for School Integration. Other measures to diversify the student population at the high schools were adopted by the School Board instead." 

"The oldest high school remaining in Portland, Jefferson High School retains close associations with the surrounding neighborhood. Although designed by Whitehouse and Honeyman (later Fouilhoux), one of Portland’s more prominent architectural firms during the early twentieth century, Jefferson High School does not retain sufficient architectural integrity to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).  While associated with the growth of high school education in Portland in the early twentieth century as well as the desegregation of Portland’s Public Schools, the alterations to the building’s interior and exterior have diminished its associations with these events and trends such that it is not eligible for the NRHP under Criterion A.  The loss of its original overhanging roof with brackets, brick diapering, and interior finishes would also preclude the building from being eligible for the NRHP under Criterion C as the design, workmanship, and materials associated with the original Whitehouse and Honeyman design has been greatly diminished."

And then there's Grant High, which has also produced a star athlete or two of its own, such as legendary University of Oregon and NBA basketballer Terrell Brandon.

Grant High School (photo by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images) 

Grant High School is located at 2245 NE 36th Avenue in the Grant Park neighborhood of northeast Portland.  The ten-acre campus includes an extensive collection of educational buildings constructed between 1923 and 1970 including the main original building and old gym built in 1923, north south wings and an auditorium added two and four years later, and several other buildings added from the 1950s-70s.

Beginning with the construction of the main building and a gymnasium in 1923 and closely followed by an additional auditorium unit and two wings between 1925 and 1927 Grant High School was part of a dramatic building program begun by the Portland Public Schools in the early 1900s. Two of the most influential district architects during this period included Floyd Naramore and George Jones, who designed a majority of the schools from 1908 to 1932.  Due to the large number of projects conducted by the district in the early 1920s, however, the school board hired Knighton & Howell, a Portland architectural firm to create the designs for Grant High School."

Grant High School (photos by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images)  

"The partnership of Knighton & Howell was formed in 1924 and continued for 14 years until William Knighton’s death in 1938. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1864, William Christmas Knighton received his schooling and architecture training in Chicago. After returning to Portland for the second time in 1902 he spent the next decade working in a variety of different partnerships. In 1913 Knighton was appointed the first state architect. While in this position he was responsible for numerous prominent buildings, including the State Supreme Court Building and the Administrative Building at the University of Oregon. From 1919 to 1923 he served as the first president of the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners. Born in Kansas in 1884, Leslie Dillon Howell relocated to Portland in 1910 where he practiced architecture for the next 35 years. Howell served in both World War I and World War II.  Following Knighton’s death, Howell practiced alone for several years."

"Designed in the Classical Revival style, Grant High School fell within stylistic trends of the period as most schools in Portland were designed in the Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, and Collegiate Gothic styles; architectural revivals that were viewed as inspirational and appropriate for educational settings."

"Not unlike Franklin High School, the overall placement and design of Grant High School was greatly influenced by its proximity to a city park. While city planners and the school district had worked together since the early twentieth century to coordinate the construction of schools near open spaces, Grant High School was indicative of the maturity of that coordination and the combined influences of the City Beautiful Movement and the Progressive education movement.  Matthew O’Dell further elaborated in 1923 that “possibly the greatest advancement made during the past year was the successful co-operation of the School District and the Department of Parks and Playgrounds of the city in the development of the Grant High School and its site as a portion of a community park and playground.” The site, a 13.34 acre tract owned by B.E. Wright, was acquired by PPS in 1923 for $40,200.  The main building at Grant would cost $315,473 to construct."

Grant High School (photos by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images)  

"Set within a flat, pastoral setting of trees and parkland, the buildings constructed in the 1920s at Grant High School form a core group of Classical Revival style buildings.  The buildings exhibit a variety of character defining features including a bilaterally symmetrical U-shaped plan, a bold portico supported by fluted Ionic columns with a broad terra cotta frieze, ancillary entries with terra cotta Ionic columns or pilasters and classical entablatures, a concrete water table, terra cotta stringcourse, terra cotta cornice and coping, an interior entry with boxed beam ceilings, as well as the original gymnasium with its flush Ionic column lined entry." 

"Approached from the east side, the main school building is an extensible two story concrete structure with a full basement.  The exterior walls are covered with a brick veneer that is laid in an all stretcher bond.  The Classical Revival style of the high school is most boldly expressed on the main entrance, ancillary entrances, as well as the east faces of the north and south wings. The classical detailing found throughout the building includes terra cotta columns, door and window surrounds, balustrades, dentil cornices, consoles, cartouches, and belt courses."

 

Grant High School (photos by Matthew Ginn/Homestead Images)  

"The most decorative emphasis is placed on the main entrance and ancillary entries. The main (east) entrance into the school consists of three double doorways that are sheltered by a shallow portico that lacks a pediment. The portico is lined by four free-standing fluted Ionic columns that are flanked by brick walls. Bas relief panels that consist of an open book flank the school’s name – 'Ulysses S. Grant High School' – that appears in a plain frieze above the columns. Each of the doorways feature a terra cotta surround as well as a dentil cornice and pediment that consists of a central cartouche as well as acanthus leaf fans." 

"Ancillary entrances located around the main building and north and south wings feature a variety of different terra cotta embellishments. Some entrances feature relatively plain surrounds topped with a console supported balustrade or a double door entry with flanking pilasters, dentil cornice, entablature, and balustrade. The stairwell windows above these entrances have generally retained their wood windows. Similar in scale and treatment as the main entrance, the gymnasium main entrance features four free standing fluted Ionic columns that support a plain terra cotta frieze that exhibits flanking bas relief urns and coping." 

"The interior of the main building consists of an U-shaped corridor plan that consists of the main building and north and south wings. The most significant interior spaces include the main entrance, auditorium, and old gymnasium. The main entrance features paneled pilasters with Egyptian-revival style capitals with acanthus leafs, dentil cornice and boxed beam ceiling. The auditorium features a stage with a guilloche surround as well as its original seating and balcony. Two WPA-era murals that depict the 'Ideals of Education' by Carl Hoeckner appear on both sides of the stage." 

Thanks again to Matthew Ginn and Homestead Images for providing the photos.

Comments

[Bob R.]

Grant High School was a primary location for the film "Mr. Holland's Opus".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Holland%27s_Opus

[Scott]

That's so sad about Jefferson (just looked up some old pictures of how it originally looked-wow, it was actually quite beautiful). I always just assumed it had been built in the 50's or 60's (hence the tacky facade)...but it's almost worse knowing that it was ruined during a remodel...another victim of 50's-era "moderization" :-(

[Doug Klotz]

It's also a shame that most of Portland Public School's buildings have been ruined (including Grant and Jefferson) by removing the original tall wooden double-hung windows, dropping the ceilings, and blanking out the upper half of the openings for small aluminum-frame windows, with tiny, token, openable sections. This gives every building except Benson, I think, the heavy-lidded eyes-half-closed look you see in these pictures. PPS is not a good steward of architecture. I suppose you could argue that the fluorescent-lit dropped ceilings are more efficient than all the light that used to be provided by the tall windows, but wouldn't well-sealed openable tall windows ultimately have been a better choice?