Historic house in Sullivan's Gulch (image courtesy Architectural Heritage Center)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Embodied States: PSU School of Architecture student exhibit Portland State University's School of Architecture celebrates the creative work of students in the undergraduate and Master of Architecture programs with an end-of-year design exhibition, titled “Embodied States.” The monthlong exhibit, beginning with a First Thursday opening reception, will highlight the creative achievements of students throughout the graduate and undergraduate programs, with an emphasis on the independent design theses of the Master of Architecture students. Hand-painted sketches and drawings, material studies, mixed media, building models and many other expressions of architectural design will be on display. AIA Portland Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, June 4. Free.
Yamhill Historic District walking tour What is today the Yamhill National Historic District was separated from the rest of Old Town when the new Morrison Bridge was constructed in the 1950s. This Architectural Heritage Center tour contains an array of 19th century cast-iron buildings, as well as some of the most notable historic commercial architecture in Portland. Attendees will also learn about how this one-time market area was home to the city’s early Chinese immigrant community. Tour begins outside the World Trade Center at SW 2nd Avenue and Salmon Street. 6PM Thursday, June 4. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
UO School of Architecture & Allied Arts open house Two floors of the University of Oregon's Portland outpost, the White Stag Block in Old Town, will be open to the public for exhibits of student work from the Department of Architecture, the Department of Art's Digital Arts Program, and the Product Design Program. The title of this year’s exhibition is “Vitalize,” with work from several studios. The theme of Gerald Gast's class is "Soft Urban Waterfronts." Instructors Becca Cavell and Jake Freauff (both of THA Architecture) teamed with UO John Yeon Center director Randy Gragg for what's called the Willamette Falls Legacy Studio, devoted to this emerging opportunity for the newly public Willamette Falls. The theme for Hajo Neis's class is "(RE)Generative Architecture." University of Oregon, 70 NW Couch Street. 6PM Thursday, June 4. Free.
Solar winery tour Solar Oregon, a local member organization devoted to promoting solar power statewide, presents this tour of three local wineries (all in the Willamette Valley near Newberg) relying largely on photovoltaic energy: Vidon Vineyard (north of Newberg), Laurel Ridge Winery. Bus transportation is provide with admission, as is lunch. Bus boards at Platt Electric, 322 SE Taylor Street, Portland, at 8:30AM Saturday, June 6, and at the Tualatin Park & Ride, 72nd Ave & Bridgeport Road, Tualatin, at 9AM. $100 ($80 for Solar Oregon members).
Sullivan's Gulch walking tour When Ralph Lloyd began his 35-year effort to create an east Portland "downtown" in 1926, the site for his project, Holladay's Addition, was one of Portland's grandest neighborhoods. The remaining neighborhood, now known as Sullivan’s Gulch, was heavily impacted by the development of the nearby Lloyd Center mall. But as this Architectural Heritage Center tour demonstrates, the neighborhood still retains some significant historic residential architecture. Tour begins at northeast corner of Holladay Park, NE 13th Avenue and Multnomah Street, 11AM Sunday, June 7. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Inspired by Travel: Local Design, Global Influence As part of Gray magazine's Gray Conversations series, four local designers will talk about travel as inspiration: Daniel Kaven of William Kaven Architecture, Kelly Ogden of Elk Collective, Brian Cavanaugh of Architecture Building Culture, and Caitlin Wilson of Caitlin Wilson Design. Tufenkian Artisan Carpets, 515 NW 10th Avenue. 7PM Tuesday, June 9. Free but registration required.
Garthwick neighborhood walking tour Located just south of Sellwood and north of the Waverly Country Club, this hidden residential neighborhood provided a great outdoor laboratory for architects and builders working in the most popular residential styles of the 20th century. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores one of Southeast Portland's lesser-known historic neighborhoods. Tour begins at SE 17th Avenue and Ochoco Street, 6PM Wednesday, June 10. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Portland Heights And Vista Avenue walking tour What was once a very difficult area to build in or even get to because of its steep, hilly terrain became a popular residential district during the late 19th century as transportation options increased. Today the mixture of homes, ranging in style from Colonial Revival to Art Deco, is a veritable who’s who of Portland architects and their masterworks, as this Architectural Heritage Center tour will demonstrate. Tour meets on SW Spring Street just west of Vista Avenue, 6PM Thursday, June 11. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Belluschi Pavilion, Marylhurst University (photo by Brian Libby)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
When architect Pietro Belluschi was approached by newlyweds Arthur and Lucy Griffith in 1949 about design them a home in suburban Lake Oswego, his career was at a crossroads.
Two years earlier, Belluschi had seen completion of what may be his most acclaimed building, the Equitable, in downtown Portland, which was celebrated as the first curtain-wall structure in the United States - the nation's first modern office building. That same year, 1947, Life magazine had featured one of his modest home designs as prototype housing for the thousands of soldiers returning home from World War II. When the Griffiths called, Belluschi was also at work on one of his most celebrated ecclesiastical designs, for Zion Lutheran Church in Portland.
But his days here were also numbered. By 1951, Belluschi would leave Portland to become the dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Planning. President Truman would also appoint Belluschi to the National Committee of the Arts in 1950. He had bigger fish to fry.
By the time of the Griffiths commission, Belluschi thus could easily have eschewed such a small commission. But the couple had once worked in the same building as the architect, back when he was part of celebrated Central Library and Benson Hotel (and Benson Bubbler) architect AE Doyle's office. And Belluschi realized that the couple's desire for a modest starter home could bring an opportunity to make his small (one bedroom) but expandable Life design a real-world reality. The house cost just $7,000 to build (minus the cost of the lot) in 1949, which in today's dollars would only be about $70,000.
Belluschi Pavilion entry and dining areas (photos by Brian Libby)
The Griffiths wound up staying in their modest but handsome 911-square-foot, Belluschi-designed residence for some 60 years, eschewing the additions that existed in the Life design. But a few years ago after Lucy Griffin died and Arthur moved to a retirement facility, the house was sold. And the new owner wasted little time in filing for a demolition permit, in order to build something much larger and more banal.
Luckily builder Tim Mather was on the case. Recognizing the value of Lake Oswego's only Belluschi-designed building, he convinced the new owner to let him dismantle and move the house. In 2007 his company, MCM Construction, broke down the structure into some 2,000 pieces, which were stored until Mather and like-minded partners could secure a new site and funding for the house. The City of Lake Oswego expressed interest, but didn't know exactly what to do with or where to put it. Then local a savior emerged: Marylhurst University.
Today the rebuilt Griffith residence, now known as the Belluschi Pavilion, sits at the southern end of the Marylhurst campus, just across from the building that houses the popular Art Gym gallery, providing a bookend to a quad of buildings. The plan is to use the building for special events, classes and meetings. But, as Mather said on a recent visit, "It's a teaching tool. Today people covet midcentury-modern design, and the university wants this to be a cultural outpost for Lake Oswego."
Belluschi Pavilion exterior (photos by Brian Libby)
Given how small the house is, when anticipating my visit to the Pavilion I wondered if seeing it prominently placed more or less on a pedestal might seem a bit silly, as if the prestige of the Pietro Belluschi who designed the Portland Art Museum, the Equitable Building and other landmarks like New York's Pan-Am Building (with Walter Gropius) or San Francisco's Cathedral of St. Mary's was being grafted onto an otherwise forgettable little square building. But quickly the little cottage began to reveal itself as a hallmark of Belluschi's gifts, as well as a testament to the idea that exceptional architecture needn't be reserved for the wealthy or for those seeking vast amounts of square footage.
Viewed from outside, the house is a simple square, but in keeping with the regional Northwest modernism embodied by the work of Belluschi, John Yeon, Van Evera Bailey, Saul Zaik and other local architects of the time, its overhangs (extending 5'3" to the west and east, 2'6" to the north and south) emphasize horizontality and inside-out connections, with the Douglas fir ceiling of the interior continuing as an exterior underhand of the roof.
The roof is also slanted from east to west, something I haven't seen in a lot of Belluschi houses (compared to flat and pitched roofs), but longtime Belluschi scholar Libby Dawson Farr persuasively argues that the architect may have been influenced by another famous designer's plan for simple postwar housing, that of Hungarian and former Bauhaus member architect Marcel Breuer, who was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to design a "House in the Museum Garden" that was displayed on site in 1949. It had a similarly boxy form and a slanted roof (unlike the Minimum house for Life, which had a pitched roof but was otherwise similar).
Belluschi's "Minimum House" for Life magazine, April 1947
Inside, the house feels quintessentially Northwest modern and recognizably Belluschi. One feels enveloped in a wood cocoon with Hemlock walls and a Douglas fir ceiling and beams. There are also details like a crenelated brick pattern on a portion of the fireplace, and a window wall with patterned wood and semi-transparent glass at the front of the house, similar to designs in some of Belluschi's churches, which brings light into the dining room while maintaining privacy.
There are many other Pietro Belluschi-designed houses with more impressive overall architecture. Gems like the Sutor House from 1938 and the circa-1948 Burkes House (now occupied by the architect's son, Anthony Belluschi) are bigger and more ambitious and impressive. Yet those are ultimately still private residences, which means the Belluschi Pavilion can occupy its own unique role in the community as the only house by the architect consistently open to the public.
Like the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Gordon house near Silverton, which similarly was moved from its original location along the Willamette near Wilsonville and re-assembled at the Oregon Garden several miles to the south in order to prevent demolition, the Belluschi Pavilion can be inspiring and educational despite being a modest example of the architect's work.
And besides, what's wrong with modest? We live in a time of increasingly extreme income disparity on a national level, and locally we're seeing every Portland neighborhood within five miles of the city center gentrify at a rapid clip, with all but the affluent threatened with exile outward.
With this house we have a case of an architect who has already gained international notoriety for his work (more than any Portland architect has in the 65 years since) taking the time to design something very modest. It makes one wonder what Belluschi might be designing if he were in practice today. Maybe he'd be doing some innovative tower downtown or in the Pearl District, but maybe he'd also take the time to do a tiny house.
Leo Williams (image courtesy University of Oregon)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
It's easy to forget that Portland wasn't always Portland.
Today if we look around at a lot of the iconic places and spaces that comprise this city, from greenspaces like Waterfront Park to preserved landmarks like Central Library and the Pittock Mansion or historic districts like Old Town and Skidmore, it's easy to forget that a generation ago most of them either didn't exist or were severely threatened.
Only beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s did Portland, under leaders like Neil Goldschmidt and a new generation of progressive planners, architects and historic preservationists, become the beautiful, walkable, well-preserved and transit-oriented place it is today. Before that, we had highways lining both sides of the river and a Robert Moses-shaped plan to make Portland a spaghetti-like knot of interstates. We had people tearing down turn-of-the-century architecture to make way for parking lots.
Former Portland Planning Bureau head and longtime Historic Landmarks Commission member Leo Dean Williams, who last week received the University of Oregon's seventh annual George McMath Award for historic preservation, was one of the people who helped make Portland what it is today. "I think the city would not have evolved into what it was without you," John Tess, one of Williams's friends, said to Williams during the award presentation.
Williams is credited with spearheading a pragmatic approach at the city that led to a lot of great places being preserved. Working with local developers beginning in the late '60s, he helped create an environment that was collaborative rather than confrontational - "seeking to bring about preservation by facilitation, not just regulation," as UO architecture program dean Brook Muller put it. "He masterfully created a mutually beneficial environment when development and historic preservation could occur together. I call it 'Leo-ology,' achieving two avenues at the same time. Those of us in government acting behind the scenes can play as vital a role as those in the private and nonprofit sectors."
During the awards presentation, a slideshow of images spoke to just how much local architecture Williams impacted the preservation of: the St. John’s bridge, the New Market Theater, the White Stag sign, the Blagen block, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Japanese Garden, the Skidmore and Keller Fountains, the Sentinel (formerly Governor) Hotel, and the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
A graduate of the University of Kansas, Williams reportedly made a comprehensive study of where he would move to after graduation in the '60s, and decided that Portland had the best chance to become a livable city. It was a time when state and local governments gearing up to administer the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, a reaction to the ceaseless demolitions of downtowns amidst urban renewal goals. Williams and the award's namesake, George McMath, wound up writing Portland's historic 1968 preservation ordinance, only the second on the west coast after Los Angeles. Yet it was not legislation or the crafting of ordinances that made Williams special, but instead the collaborative approach he took with the private sector.
"You hear so much about Portland today. You say you’re from Portland and people are like, ‘Wow.’ I was talking with someone today about how we’re attracting so much investment. We have a great brand. But it wasn’t always like that," said Williams's former colleague John Southgate during the presentation. "People say we’re the city that took out a highway to build light rail. Leo was a big player in the city we became."
"It’s not always easy to leave a legacy. People don’t wake up saying, 'I want to be a bureaucrat.' But you can have a lot of influence. The impact he had, by working with people like [developers] Al Solheim and Jim Winkler, laid the groundwork for the vision that others had. I remember it wasn’t always fun. We had our battles. But the long arc of your work was to create what we have now. Leo wasn’t the front man. We had Neil Goldschmidt. But he was there year after year."
"Leo said, 'Let’s not worry about how the rules work. Let’s make the rules work for what we’re trying to do,' Tess added. "He influenced a lot of things."
Today is again a challenging time for historic preservation. Old houses throughout the city are under threat from developers looking to tear them down and build something bigger. In the city center, historic works of architecture from the Portland Building to Memorial Coliseum, Centennial Mills to the Multnomah County Courthouse, are facing make-or-break moments. And the lesson of Leo Williams may be illustrative here: that we need to find a way to cast away the extremes of either side, be they people who eschew preservation outright or those who won't allow old buildings to be changed for the times, and instead find solutions. Of course not every old building should be preserved, but Williams helped show us that if one can find a way to make historic architecture work for its time then it adds up, along with investments in dense planning, greenspace and mass transit, to a city where people want to be.
The awards luncheon began and ended with two different people quoting legendary former governor Tom McCall, a Republican who often acted like a Democrat - in other words, a man who, like Williams, defied labels and was loved for it. “Heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky," McCall once said. "They’re the people who say, this is my community, either by birth or by adoption, and it’s my responsibility to make it better.”
In that way, perhaps Williams was a Portland kind of hero - in that he wasn't a showy iconoclast but someone who nobly and with humility kept working like a concerned citizen, whether it was from the inside of government or out. And while the award is a nice recognition, maybe the best way to honor him is to find a way to keep Portland Portland. That happens not by freezing the city, for it will always change, as it should, but by continually taking our most beloved places along for the journey, and finding pragmatic ways to do so without divisive polemics.
In the realm of sustainable American architecture, there is no greater honor than being named to the annual Top 10 Green Projects list, selected by the American Institute of Architects' Committee on the Environment. It's something only a few Portland buildings or Portland architects' works have achieved, and most of them have come in the past few years.
Two projects were named to last year's list, for example: Holst Architecture's Bud Clark Commons and the Edith Green Wendell Wyatt Federal Building by Cutler Anderson (of Bainbridge Island, Washington) and SERA Architects. In 2012 the Mercy Corps headquarters by THA Architecture made the list, as did two out-of-town projects by local firms: Portland Community College's Newberg outpost by Hennebery Eddy Architects and the Hood River Middle School Music & Sciences building by Opsis Architecture. But before that, it was fairly rare to find something from the Rose City on the list, even though Portland has seen itself as a leader in sustainable design for over a decade.
This year, the Collaborative Life Sciences Building by Los Angeles firm CO Architects and Portland's SERA Architects has been named to the list. It's a validation for this latest addition to Oregon Health & Sciences University's Schnitzer Campus in South Waterfront (a collaboration with Portland State University and Oregon State University). The 650,000 square foot building, completed last year for about $295 million, had already earned Platinum LEED status for features such as green roofs, storm water collection for non-potable water, and energy-efficient lighting and climate control, making it about 45 percent more efficient than a comparably sized building designed to code.
The building is comprised of the 12-story Skourtes Tower on the north and a five-story south wing, which are connected by an atrium in the middle, along with lecture halls on the east and west sides. It includes lecture halls, classrooms labs, specialty research centers, OHSU School of Dentistry facilities, and offices for health professionals and educators from multiple institutions.
I'm not necessarily head over heels about how the CLSB looks from the outside, perhaps a bit like a banal office tower fused with oblong additions in three directions. But there was a lot of program to fit inside this building. And being inside the multi-story atrium, as a stream of students and faculty move about like some kind of academic/medical core sample, it still is a genuinely lovely space to behold. Given how it seems to work so well for its occupants, coupled with the building's environmental credentials, one has to call the CLSB a rousing success.
Recently I exchanged questions and answers with CO Architects principal Jonathan Kanda about being named to the COTE Top 10 list and what he takes away from the experience.
Portland Architecture: How did you react upon hearing the news that the CLSB was named to the COTE Top 10 list? Was it a surprise?
Kanda: Our team thought we had a very interesting sustainability story with the CLSB given the project’s size, programmatic complexity, and aggressive sustainability targets. But each year the bar gets raised on COTE submissions, so it’s always gratifying to win. The team is very pleased to be recognized!
Any building, green or otherwise, is the sum of many different components and design aspects, but what do you think sold the COTE committee on the decision to put the CLSB on the list?
All projects that receive COTE awards inherently perform high with regard to energy efficiency and the use/preservation of material resources. I believe the CLSB is one of the largest projects in the country to achieve LEED Platinum, but I’d like to think a few factors helped to distinguish the CLSB: The site has been remediated and resurrected from its industrial past, and it is situated at a multi-transit crossroads. In consideration of the environmental cost of getting to and from our buildings, the CLSB site gives its users and visitors every possible option to minimize their carbon footprint. It is a perfect marriage with the Portland urban ethos. But frankly, the core decision by the three university-owners to merge resources and build a shared, collaborative facility really elevated the sustainability narrative. Sharing, maximizing the utilization of space, and creating an adaptable, flexible building that can accommodate ever-changing curricular and pedagogical trends was the greenest decision of all. We’re starting to see more of these partnerships take hold.
What kind of feedback have you received so far from users of the building and other stakeholders?
We are pleased that the feedback from the users and stakeholders has been overwhelmingly positive. A lot of the sustainability achievements go unnoticed or are simply woven into the daily experience. Users notice the public spaces, areas to gather, socialize, and build human relationships…and the light and views! Some of the views are truly extraordinary.
Have you received any data yet regarding how the building is performing, in terms of energy or otherwise?
The building has been operational for just under a year, so the analysis is still a work in progress. But so far, the building performance appears to be on track. From an energy standpoint, it is estimated to perform 45% more efficient than a typical building code facility.
Is there anything from this project that might constitute a lesson learned, or an advance that you might be able to apply to other projects?
As mentioned earlier, we are engaged in several projects that are supporting multi-institutional and interdisciplinary partnerships that leverage collaboration and maximize the sharing of human and physical resources. It’s like another form of passive sustainable design.
Could you talk a little about the partnership that CO and SERA had, and the complimentary skills the two firms had that helped the project become successful?
A project of this size, complexity, and ambition required the blended skills and expertise of two firms, and a partnership like none that I’ve experienced before. SERA had the native understanding of everything Portland: mindset, environment, design review and permitting process, codes, relationships with the AEC community, etc. Plus deep experience in building highly sustainable buildings in the Pacific Northwest. CO brought national programming and design expertise to this hybrid building type. We co-located in SERA’s office for several months, along with consultants, contractors, and owners.
Terra Cotta Downtown walking tour As this Architectural Heritage Center tour will demonstrate, downtown Portland’s collection of terra cotta-clad buildings (including the Jackson Tower, pictured above) is one of the finest in the nation, exemplifying the popularity of this building material during the early decades of the 20th century. The concentration of these buildings, designed by the likes of architect AE Doyle, also shows us how, by 1910, the city’s central business district had moved west of Fourth Avenue. Tour meets at Pioneer Courthouse Square, on SW Broadway above the fountain. 11AM Sunday, May 17. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Whimsical And Quirky: The Storybook Style The end of the First World War brought about a time of nostalgia, lighthearted humor and rambunctious building creations, as home styles in the US began to reflect those of 17th and 18th century Western Europe, with an emphasis on specialty craftsmanship, theatrical flair, and abundant (and sometimes extraordinary) architectural features. Over time, the style evolved as architects and builders employed charming details and intimate scale in an effort to lighten the hardships of the Depression. Drawing on the work of architects such as AE Doyle and Wade Pipes, as well as numerous not-so-well-known Portland area home builders, this lecture by Leslie Hutchinson will explore how the Storybook style came to be so popular in Portland and elsewhere across the country. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, May 16. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
PSU Masters of Architecture thesis presentations Seventeen Portland State University Master of Architecture students present creative challenges to the status quo in their final thesis presentations. The culmination of their graduate study in architecture, the design thesis is developed over the course of the entire academic year by the individual student and represents the highest level of critical examination, imagination and design. Portland State University, Shattuck Hall, corner of SW Broadway and Hall Street. 9AM Monday-Tuesday, May 18-19. Free.
Roads, Ruts & Revenue When bad roads and bottlenecks slow the flow of people and goods, it puts the brakes on our state's economy. A special guest panel will discuss the state of Oregon's road infrastructure and finding smart ways to fund critical maintenance. Panelists will include Representative Cliff Bentz, a Republican member of the House Committee on Transportation and Economic Development and the House Committee on Energy and Environment; Matt Garrett, director of the Oregon Department of Transportation; Craig Campbell, president of the Oregon Transportation Forum; and two members of The Oregonian's editorial board: editorial and commentary editor Erik Lukens, and associate editor Len Reed. University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch Street. 6:30PM Monday, May 18. Free.
Reimagining Beauty: Creating Living Public Space As part of its Spring Lecture Series, the University of Oregon's John Yeon Center presents this conversation between the center's director, Randy Gragg, and landscape designer Michael Singer. From intimate garden pavilions to major waste facilities and large-scale parks, Singer has applied his skills and ability to innovate space to scale of landscape and urban planning. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Singer’s work opened new possibilities for outdoor and indoor sculpture and contributed to the definition of site-specific art and the reimagining of public places. From the 1990s to the present, his work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture, landscape, and planning projects into successful models for urban and ecological renewal. Singer has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Portland Art Museum, Miller Ballroom, 1219 SW Park Avenue. 6:30PM Monday, May 18. Free.
Preservation Month Fair and Capitol tour May is National Historic Preservation Month and for Oregon communities throughout the state it's an opportunity to reflect on significant places, artifacts, and collections that help tell the stories of our past as well as to recognize contributions that individuals and organizations have made to local preservation projects. Heritage Programs, a division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, will host the fifth annual Preservation Month Fair at the State Capitol State Park in Salem. Community organizations from around the area and several state agencies will provide information about their efforts to help preserve Oregon's history. Nineteen participating organizations will highlight the history of their institutions and their local and statewide work to preserve important sites related to Oregon's historic events, persons, and places. As part of the event, the Oregon State Capitol will offer a free 30-minute tour of the building at 12:00 and 12:30, including a 121 step climb to see the "Oregon Pioneer," which stands atop the building, and t offering a spectacular view of the city and the surrounding area. Oregon State Capitol building grounds, Court Street, Salem. 11AM Thursday, May 20. Free.
Modernism And Beyond: The Architecture Of Downtown walking tour Downtown Portland contains an abundance of post-World War II architecture by renowned architects and firms like Pietro Belluschi, Michael Graves, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This Architectural Heritage Center tour explores the southern portion of the central business district. You’ll learn about the controversial as well as the award winners, the architects and firms that designed them, and the issues of the times that led to such dramatic changes to our built environment and skyline. Tour meets at the Salmon Springs Fountain at SW Naito Parkway and Salmon Street. 6PM Thursday, May 21. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Southeast Quadrant Plan hearing Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will present a draft of and invite feedback on its SE Quadrant Plan, which proposes to preserve the existing Central Eastside industrial sanctuary while expanding the definition of industrial employment and land while activating the new station areas around the Portland-Milwaukie MAX light rail line. Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 1900 SW Fourth Avenue, Room 2500A. 3PM Tuesday, May 26. Free.
Architects Without Borders: Vernonia Health Center At this monthly meeting of the Architects Without Borders Oregon chapter, Joan Jasper of Scott Edwards Architecture will discuss design and fundraising for a new public health clinic in Vernonia, Oregon that replaced a building damaged in the 2007 flood. Among the challenges of this project were complicated site conditions and truly finite funding. The Vernonia Health Center, which opened in October 2014, provides immunizations, family planning, primary care and other services while housing an office of Columbia County Mental Health. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue. 6PM Wednesday, May 27. Free.
James Staicoff (image courtesy Staicoff Design Company)
PDX Interior Designer Spotlight As part of this ongoing series of discussions with top Portland interior designers, yours truly will be in conversation with award winning designer James Staicoff of Staicoff Design Company, whose portfolio includes Hotel Modera in Portland, the Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Barolo Ristorante in Seattle, and numerous private residences. Ceilume Ceiling Showroom, 1225 SE Grand Avenue. 6PM Thursday, May 28. Free.
King's Hill walking tour Many of Portland’s most notable late 19th and early 20th century architects designed homes in the hilly King's Hill, a National Register Historic District, featured on this Architectural Heritage Center tour. The neighborhood is also known for its wonderful landscape architecture, serving as a gateway to Washington Park. Tour meets at the staircase near the entrance to Washington Park on SW Park Place. 6PM Thursday, May 28. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Build Small, Live Large: Portland’s Accessory Dwelling Unit Tour A tour for those interested in learning more about accessory dwelling units, and a chance to meet the homeowners, builders, and designers who built them. The event features a two-day, self-guided tour of 25 ADUs, with Saturday’s tour focused on Northeast Portland neighborhoods and Sunday’s tour devoted to Southeast Portland. There will also be ADU workshops and presentations by local experts. Friday evening workshop at Alberta Abbey, 126 NE Alberta Street. 6PM Friday, May 29. Tours 10AM Saturday-Sunday, May 30-31. $30-75.
Watzek House tour Tour Portland’s only National Historic Landmark-listed residence, the Aubrey Watzek House, the 1937 Northwest regional modernist masterpiece by architect John Yeon. As Leland Roth writes in the Oregon Encyclopedia, the Watzek House "could be described as the most important early modern residence in Oregon. When a picture of the house was published by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in Art in Our Time (1939), and again in Built in USA: 1932-1944 (1944), the design helped define Modernism in architecture in the United States and earned its twenty-six-year-old designer, John Yeon, a national reputation." Watzek House, 1061 SW Skyline Boulevard. 1PM Saturday, May 30. $30.
Pearl District walking tour Over the last 20 years, Portland's Pearl District has been transformed from an industrial area into one of the city's premier residential and retail districts. A century ago, the area went through a similar transformation, from a working class housing area at the edge of a marsh to the city’s biggest industrial and warehousing area. Many of Portland’s best known architects of the period designed buildings for important local and national companies. Most of these buildings remain, with their exteriors intact and new uses inside. Tour meets at the southeast corner of NW 10th Avenue and Johnson Street. 11AM Sunday, May 31. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Shaw Residence, Southwest Portland (photos by Brian Libby)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
When talk turns to the regional Northwest modern style made popular in the mid-20th century, Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon are nearly always the first names that come up. But as last Saturday's Restore Oregon-sponsored tour demonstrated, architect Van Evera Bailey is a name that should not be forgotten.
Bailey's journey as an architect was both an evolution through stylistic periods and one that incorporated ideas from further afield.
Born in Portland in 1903, Bailey's early work in the 1920s was, like that of many architects of that time period who would ultimately go modern (such as Richard Sundeleaf), was heavily influenced by the English arts and crafts style, which can still be seen in neighborhoods throughout Portland and its suburbs. One house on the tour, the circa-1929 Rogers Residence in Lake Oswego, served as an example.
But in the 1930s, after following his mentor, William Gray Purcell (a protégé, like Frank Lloyd Wright, of the legendary Chicago pre-modernist Louis Sullivan), to Southern California, Bailey became influenced by Los Angeles area's transplanted European modernist architects, such as Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler.
Bruno Residence, Lake Oswego
By the time he returned to Portland in 1937, his style was transformed. One of the houses I visited on Saturday, the Bruno Residence (1939) in Lake Oswego, was evident of a version of modernism practiced at the time, called streamline moderne, which took its influence from cruse ships. After passing through a relatively modest entrance, something common to many architects of the time (including Wright), one looks out through large plate-glass windows at outdoor decks with railings that could be mistaken for the Love Boat and its kind, giving Bailey's design a touch of whimsy. The architect here also makes ample use of glass blocks, which brings in light while maintaining privacy.
Two houses on the tour from 1940 and 41, respectively, and both located in the West Hills, showed Bailey refining his simple forms and the journey from modest entrance to glass-ensconced living areas taking advantage of view. The Clifton Residence was not entirely original, as it has been built onto numerous times, and the Sinclair Residence was stripped bare for a whole-house renovation. But in both cases one could see the Bailey signature, particularly his sense of whimsy, as seen in a winding wood staircase at the Sinclair.
Clefton Residence, Southwest Portland
A pair of tour houses completed in 1957, the Lillig Residence in Lake Oswego and the Shaw Residence in Portland's West Hills, showed Bailey at his fully realized zenith, emblematic of the Northwest style with large overhangs, wood ceilings and living areas with floor-to-ceiling glass.
When I first arrived at the Lillig, I'll admit I was underwhelmed. From the street it looked like one of the thousands of midcentury ranch houses that are sprinkled throughout the region. But then I began to consider how the house sits amidst a rich landscape of mature trees and plants. It felt like a home nestled in a garden or forest.
Lillig Residence, Lake Oswego
And then the house began to open up as I moved inside, with vaulted wood ceilings and a wraparound corner fireplace. As I moved downstairs to the lower level and came around to the front from outside, the Lillig further revealed itself as a handsome example of Northwest modernism, its overhanging roofline defining the house's form. This still wasn't a masterpiece along the lines of Belluschi's Burkes and Suitor residences or Yeon's Watzek house, but the talent was easy to see.
And then there was the Shaw Residence, my favorite house on the tour and now one of my favorite midcentury-modern houses in Portland.
It too kept a relatively low profile from the street, but as soon as I entered the home, its magnificent butterfly roof was a defining feature, pitched in the middle in a way that, like the Watzek, perfectly mimicked the slopes of Mt. Hood visible in the distance.
As the wood ceiling rose and fell, it looked like a kind of sculpture, almost like a bird of prey's wings. There was also a remodeled kitchen which gained space by taking over the attached utility room off the garage yet without compromising the integrity of the original architecture. Still, the living area and its view beneath the vaulted roof was the star of the tour.
Honestly my photos don't do it justice - it's hard to shoot directly into sunlight - but standing inside the Shaw Residence gave me a similar sense of wonder to what I've felt while experiencing the best of Belluschi and Yeon.
Shaw Residence, Southwest Portland
In his book Classic Houses of Portland: 1850-1950, William Hawkins writes of Bailey's "restless sense of invention." Bailey indeed was an architect who continuously absorbed the ideas of the talent architects with whom he came into contact, but he also was able to make the synthesis of those borrowed ideas his own.
He also was a structural innovator, helping to develop a stilt system that enabled several West Hills homes on hilly lots heretofore considered unbuildable but that now are part of the collective architectural identity of Portland.
What's more, if Northwest midcentury-modern houses are arguably the most significant and unique contribution that Portland has contributed to world architecture, then Bailey not only deserves his place alongside Belluschi and Yeon, but a larger recognition beyond Oregon's borders.
The renovated Washington High (photos by Brian Libby)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
It occurred to me on a recent tour of the renovated Washington High School that it belongs to a constellation of old buildings across the city that, while of disparate origins and original purposes, have now been transformed into offices for creative companies. Unless you’re a law firm or a major corporation or a government agency, to locate in a downtown office tower almost seems passé, while holding court in, say, a former automobile factory (the Ford Building) or cereal mill (Olympic Mills Commerce Center) or jazz club (Leftbank Building) is the mark of a creative company locating creatively.
Today the restored Washington High, a public school that first opened in 1924 (after its predecessor was destroyed by fire) and saw such alumni as Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling and pioneering food writer/chef James Beard matriculate within its doors, is a very different place from the original house of learning and the abandoned structure of a decade ago—not so much in terms of changed architecture as its better condition and improved vibe.
SERA Architects, which designed the renovation, took the right approach, one that was largely hands-off in terms of the aesthetics that made the building special, while still quietly adding new amenities. The building includes new heating and cooling, for example, as well as new plumbing, new electrical service, a new freight elevator, and is fully ADA-accessible.
When I first visited Washington High before the renovation, in 2005, it was set to become a refugee center for victims of Hurricane Katrina. I’m usually terrible about volunteering, but I remember scrubbing windows and hallway lockers there while thinking about the thousands of Louisianans disposed, and wondering what, if anything, the building might someday become. In 2009 I visited the school again, this time while it served as a location for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival. But for a time, a permanent purpose remained elusive.
Finally, after receiving a US Department of Housing and Urban Development grant for $665,000, in April 2009, an advisory committee was appointed by Portland Commissioner Nick Fish to develop the scope and program for the facility. The City of Portland spent a few years afterward exploring the use of WHS (which in 1978 merged with Monroe High and became known as Washington-Monroe High School) as a community center, which fell through.
But it was the late developer and historic preservationist Art DeMuro of Venerable Properties who made the current renovation happen after it sat vacant for decades. DeMuro passed away in 2012 before Washington High’s renovation could be fully realized, but the team at Venerable has certainly honored his legacy with the completion of this project.
Today the restored WHS is serving as the headquarters for local progressive grocery chain New Seasons (which occupies about a third of the building) as well as a host of other companies, such as Struck, Murmur Creative and Walker Tracker. Many of these smaller businesses, on the 23,000 square foot ground floor, have their own entrances. But part of the attraction to locating in this former high school is a sense of shared community and shared energy that comes to its 50,000 square feet of creative offices. A 2,600 square foot rooftop deck, for example, is an ideal party space.
There is also Revolution Hall, which was borne from the school’s former auditorium but is also gaining traction as a small venue attracting music, comedy and variety acts from the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band to comedian Marc Maron to National Public Radio’s “Live Wire!” show. Its wraparound seating makes it a spot for music, theater and much more.
Entering the brick building, which was designed in the classical revival style by architecture firm Houghtaling & Dougan with detailing such as a series of glazed terra cotta lions’ heads over the entrance and roman columns in front (etched with quotes about education from philosophers and famous politicians), it initially seems surprisingly unchanged.
Walking up the staircase, for example, one is greeted by the original display case, which still houses mementos from the school such as Rose Festival princesses and winning sports teams. (Besides Pauling and Beard, WHS’s alumni roster also includes former Seattle Seahawks coach Jack Patera.) The original lockers still are affixed to the walls of the wide hallways, which teem with natural light. Even the original IBM clocks still hang on the walls.
Even as I moved into the offices and a corner of the downstairs converted to a bar as part of the Revolution Hall build-out, they felt relatively unchanged from the old classrooms. The bar lists its microbrew offerings on an old chalkboard, and the main New Seasons conference room was simply created by adjoining two classrooms.
In the years ahead, it will be interesting to see how the surrounding neighborhood transforms. To the east is the Buckman neighborhood of single-family homes, and due to its centrality, it is already gentrifying fast. To the west, however, is the Central Eastside, which is changing just as much. Lower Morrison and Belmont Streets are already home to renovation projects like the Yale Union art museum and Grand Central Bowl, as well as eateries like Bunk Sandwiches. There is also talk of large new apartment and condominium projects, which could bring added foot traffic but also bring new challenges of parking and rising rents. But it’s not Washington High School’s responsibility to enact the right balance of neighborhood progress and livability.
The good news is that while it never became the community center that the city explored, it nevertheless has become a building that attracts people. And for that it earns a high grade. The same energy that once inspired great scientists and chefs and athletes can live on—only now you don’t need a hall pass.
Belluschi Pavilion Open House Legendary Portland architect Pietro Belluschi designed the 911-square-foot home in 1951 for Arthur and Lucy Griffith of Lake Oswego that has since been dismantled, moved to Marylhurst University and restored. The Belluschi Pavilion, as it's now known, will provide educational opportunities for Marylhurst students and the architectural community, and will be a resource for the community at large. Marylhurst University, 17600 Pacific Highway, Lake Oswego. 10AM-3PM Saturday, May 2. Free.
Architects In Schools Exhibits Artful design creations by students from local schools who have participated in the Architecture Foundation of Oregon's Architects In Schools program (in which architects volunteer their time to help teach kids about possible careers in design) will be on display in a variety of locations for the month, with First Thursday opening celebrations. AIA Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Avenue; ZGF Architects, 1223 SW Washington Street; Place Studio, 735 NW 18th Avenue; Pioneer Place, 700 SW Fifth Avenue. 5:30PM Thursday, May 7. Free.
The Spirit of Details: Tilikum Crossing The cable-stay has become ubiquitous in turn-of-the-21st-century bridge design. But Portland’s new (and first) cable-stay bridge stands apart: besides being the largest bridge in the country to be entirely free of cars, Portland’s new Tilikum Crossing is arguably one of the most sensitively designed cable-stays nationwide. From the pure white cables sliding through its slender towers at angles echoing Mount Hood to the polished stainless-steel railings, Tilikum Crossing is a testimony to the spirit of details. Join three members of the bridge’s design team—architect Donald MacDonald and engineers Semyon Treyger and David Goodyear—in a conversation with University of Oregon John Yeon Center Director Randy Gragg. Collaborative Life Sciences Building, 2730 SW Moody Avenue. 6:30PM Thursday, May 7. Free.
Introducing Modernism to Portland University of Oregon professor Leland Roth's lecture, presented by DoCoMoMo focuses on early modernists in the Bay Area and Seattle as well as those architects who introduced modernism to Portland in the late 1930s into the 1940s - including John Yeon and Pietro Belluschi, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright's sole house in Oregon, the Gordon House, which arrived a few years later. Besides his long career in Eugene, Roth is the author of American Architecture: A History and a leading national authority on American modernism. North, Inc., 1515 NW 19th Avenue. 6PM Thursday, May 7. $15 ($10 for DoCoMoMo members).
Skidmore-Old Town Historic District Tour Learn about some of the oldest buildings in the city and the people who built them in this Architectural Heritage Center-sponsored tour of Portland’s only National Historic Landmark District. The area also contains the highest concentration of cast-iron fronted buildings on the west coast and much of that iron was even produced locally. Skidmore Fountain (for beginning of tour), SW First Avenue and Ankeny Street. 6PM Thursday, May 7. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Lunch & Learn: Residential Demolitions and Major Residential Alterations/Additions The City of Portland's Bureau of Development Services hosts a presentation and discussion devoted to code changes related to residential demolition delays and notification requirements, as well as the new Major Residential Alteration and Addition Permit (MRAA). Attendees will learn how to distinguish between major residential alterations, additions and demolitions and how to file a successful appeal. City of Portland, Bureau of Development Services, 1900 SW Fourth Avenue, Room 2500A. 12PM Friday, May 8. Free.
Van Evera Bailey and Regional Modernism
As part of the Mid-Century Modern Home Tour scheduled for the following day, a panel discussion will be devoted to the work of Van Evera Bailey, the legendary midcentury modern architect whose work will be the focus of this year's tour. The panel will include architect Anthony Belluschi (son of Bailey's contemporary, legendary architect Pietro Belluschi), architect Becca Cavell of THA Architecture, architectural historian Jack Bookwalter, and Restore Oregon executive director Peggy Moretti. Central Lutheran Church, 1820 NE 21st Avenue. 7PM Friday, May 8. $15 ($10 for Restore Oregon members).
Workshop: The Basics of Wood Window Repair Contrary to the mass marketing that fills our mailboxes, original windows can be refreshed and repaired to meet today’s energy savings goals. At the same time, preserving original windows also preserves historic character and re-uses material that is inherently sustainable. This workshop covers the basics of identifying problems and repairing the wood windows in our older homes. The Architectural Heritage Center AHC welcomesPatty Spencer, owner of Fresh Air Sash Cord Repair, who will share her years of experience in preserving and restoring the function of original, double-hung, wood windows found in homes built in the 1940s and earlier. Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Avenue. 10AM Saturday, May 9. $12 ($8 for AHC members).
Mid-Century Modern Home Tour Over six Portland area homes and buildings designed by the influential but under-recognized architect Van Evera Bailey will be featured in Restore Oregon’s annual Mid-Century Modern Home Tour. Bailey (1903-1980) was one of the most highly respected and admired Portland architects of his time, and is considered one of the progenitors of regional Northwest modernism along with Pietro Belluschi, John Yeon, and others. One of his most celebrated projects, the David Eyre House, was featured on the cover of Better Homes & Gardens Magazine in 1954. 10AM Saturday, May 9. $35.
Ladd's Addition Tour Enjoy a leisurely stroll through this leafy enclave of early 20th century homes, churches, and businesses in Southeast Portland in this Architectural Heritage Center guided tour. Unlike any other neighborhood in Portland, this National Register Historic District (Oregon’s oldest planned community) is laid out as a series of circular rose gardens from which the streets radiate like bicycle spokes. With one of the city's oldest and most mature tree canopies, it's an ideal place to be a pedestrian. (And I should know: I've lived there for 16 years.) In 2009 the American Planning Association honored Ladd's Addition, which originated from former Portland mayor William Ladd's personal acreage, as one of America’s Great Places. Tour begins outside Palio, 1996 SE Ladd Avenue (on Ladd Circle). 10AM Sunday, May 10. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Watzek House Tour Published widely and exhibited repeatedly at Museum of Modern Art next to such icons as Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, the house became an important inspiration for the Northwest Regional style of modernism in its bold yet timeless synthesis of many traditions of residential architecture into a refined new language. This exclusive tour is open only to 12 people. John Yeon Center director Randy Gragg and Blue Sky Gallery director Todd Tubutis will show you the house, the gardens, and a number of original vintage photographs of the home. Watzek House, 1061 SW Skyline Boulevard. 2PM Sunday, May 10. $40.
George McMath Historic Preservation Award Luncheon Named for the late Portland architect and preservationist George McMath, this annual award honors local champions of historic buildings. This year's honoree is Leo Dean Williams. For nearly thirty years, Williams, an urban designer and architect, was an essential member of a team of civic leaders who created, expanded, and implemented Portland’s historic preservation program. He served as lead staff member to the Portland Historical Landmarks Commission from 1968 until 1996, and is credited for reinstituting urban rail in Portland. The program also includes a presentation by Josette Katcha, graduate student in the UO Historic Preservation Program, called "Save or Scrap: Deconstructing the Impact of Architectural Salvage on Historic Preservation." University of Oregon, White Stag Block, 70 NW Couch. 11:30AM Wednesday, May 13. $50.
Historic Multi-Family Housing of Northwest Portland As this Architectural Heritage Center tour will show, Northwest Portland’s Alphabet District is often thought of for its beautiful mansions, when in fact, it has a surprising history as a "rental" district. The Couch family built some of the earliest upscale rental units. In the 1920s, Elmer Feig became well known for his Northwest Portland apartment designs, and a housing crunch during World War II led to the conversion of many classic homes into multi-family units. Tour begins at NW 22nd Avenue and Kearney Street. 6PM Thursday, May 14. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
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