The Society Hotel: preservation and progress in Old Town

Society Hotel from Third Avenue (NashCo Photography)

BY BRIAN LIBBY

In a year that has seen more historic buildings destroyed than any in recent memory, from neighborhood homes to hulking riverside landmarks, visiting the recently-opened Society Hotel was refreshing.

Located at NW Third Avenue and Davis Street in the historic Old Town/Chinatown district, the building was originally completed in 1881 and has had many lives over its 134-year history. It has been a residence hotel for mariners, a hospital, and a Chinese dance hall. But since 1975, it had been mostly unoccupied, which is often a death sentence for old buildings.

Given the near-panic that Portland has felt this year since a New Yorker magazine article alerted us to a massive earthquake on the way, one that would claim the city's unreinforced masonry buildings (such as this one) more easily than any other type of building, it's all the more happy news to see that should the quake come, this is a structure that will not crumble. The Society Hotel renovation added over one million pounds of new concrete foundations and walls to strengthen the original brick structure, as part of a renovation seeking LEED sustainable-building certification.

The Society Hotel building, originally known as the Mariners Building and renovated under the guidance of local architect Philip Sydnor of Integrate Architecture, is not just a relatively rare example of 19th Century architecture in the downtown core. It's one of the 20 or so remaining cast-iron front buildings left in the city, which makes it something extra-special, and a vital part of Old Town as such. Sometimes when I'm arguing with members of the general public about preservation, someone rings in with an empty platitude like, "We can't live in the past," as if historic preservation is some kind of naive endeavor that ignores our contemporary needs. But when I visited the Society Hotel, it told a different story. It was teeming with activity and life.

Society Hotel lobby and a suite (NashCo Photography)

Over the past decade or more, Old Town/Chinatown has transformed, but in ways both encouraging and concerning. On one hand, projects like the University of Oregon's White Stag Block and the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine have added energy and diversity. But we have also clustered a lot of social-service agencies and bars in the district, neither of which are a bad thing per se but arguably have in sheer numbers overwhelmed the neighborhood's balance. The best neighborhoods are neither overly rich nor poor, neither devoid of nightlife nor dominated by it, and never given over to single uses. Projects like the Society Hotel aren't going to single-handedly change the character and sense of place in Old Town/Chinatown, but there's little arguing what a positive addition the project is, especially when you consider that this is not an expensive boutique hotel only open to top income earners. Its small rooms are affordable, and its basement, given over to a hostel-style array of bunk beds, invites low-budget travelers to join in.

My recent tour of the Society Hotel, with co-developer and general contractor Matt Siegel, was a kind of journey through its history. We started, of course, in the lobby, which was made wide-open by eliminating an interior wall and now houses a small cafe in addition to the check-in area. In a certain sense, the ground floor is the one portion not original to the 1881 building; about a decade after its completion, the entire structure was lifted up by one level to make the heretofore three-story building four stories. Upper floors, however, had been left almost completely untouched since 1945, revealing not only the brick walls but also, during the renovation a host of artifacts for its renovators to find, from old newspapers (some of which have been framed and hung in the rooms) to roller skates and stoves, and even a large jug of wine hidden in the floor during Prohibition. Walking amongst the upstairs rooms or the preserved original stairway, the renovation just feels right: not without signs of modernity, but mostly given over to a faithful historic restoration.

The hotel prior to renovation (NashCo Photography)

On the top floor is the Society Hotel's roof deck, which offers one of the best views of the city: a panorama that looks out at downtown and the Pearl and the west hills in one direction, and out across the Willamette in the other. I've stood atop other buildings before, usually downtown, that offered higher vantage points. But I've scarcely encountered a view that encompassed both the wide panorama of the downtown core and the close-up view of this most historic of Portland districts.

Standing atop the Society Hotel brings one a sense of both the micro and the macro: a sense of this special urban context between Burnside, Broadway and the river, and the bigger buildings that surround it. Standing there, it was easy to contemplate not just the success of the Society Hotel but also the opportunity and challenge of Old Town: a district with both architectural and demographic issues, but one too irreplaceable not to value and to back with investment and love.

 

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Comments

[Michelle Wood]

Architect?

[Fred Leeson]

Like the Washington High School project, this one proves once again that old buildings can have new and successful lives...and preserve a sense of place and a sense of history at the same time. I wish these entrepreneurs all the success they deserve.

[Jeff Belluschi]

Nice post, Brian.

Preservationists, such as Eric Ladd if still alive, should revel in this significant save of that era of cast iron that is the bedrock of downtown Portland. It could be the pivotal point of the district.

[Scott Tice]

We need more of this. Bravo!

[Susan Stelljes]

I just knew of this building earlier last year and then discovered that it was going to be renovated. It's so good to see that there are those who work towards preserving some of the past.