Skylab Architecture's Yard (Stephen Miller)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Ladd's Addition Tour
Enjoy a stroll through this leafy enclave of early 20th century homes, churches, and businesses, not to mention yours truly for the past 18 years. This National Register Historic District is Oregon’s oldest planned community and in 2009 the American Planning Association honored it as one of America’s Great Places. Easily identifiable on any map, the neighborhood, once comprising the property owned by former Portland mayor William Ladd, eschews a traditional street grid for a series of circles dotted with rose gardens. As attendees on this Architectural Heritage Center will see, Ladd's Addition also boasts one of the largest tree canopies in the city, making it ideal for a spring or summer walk. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, June 2. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Portland Modern Home Tour
Now in its fifth year in Portland and curated by yours truly, this tour from the Modern Architecture + Design Society includes seven modern and contemporary homes from around our area. Tour stops include the Alcoa Carefree Home, one of 24 model homes that were built throughout the country in 1957 utilizing aluminum as the main feature; an apartment in the Yard building by Skylab Architecture, one of the most talked-about Portland buildings of the past decade; a circa-1948 ranch house in Lake Oswego transformed by architect Walker Templeton of Templeton Built; a former Street of Dreams house from 1981 re-imagined by Urban Housing Development LLC; a light-filled house with distinctive use of raw building materials by M.O. Daby Design, a collaboration between award-winning firm Waechter Architecture and builder Oregon Homeworks; and a house designed and built by Drew Hastings of Raphael Design for himself and his family. Tour locations revealed with purchase. 11AM Saturday, June 2. $40.
Historic Willamette Walking Tour
Historic Willamette was established in 1893 upriver from Oregon City on the west side of the Willamette River. Over the next decade it became the home for hundreds of power plant and mill workers and their families. The need for safe drinking water led to annexation by West Linn in 1916. Today, the historic core of old Willamette features a vibrant concentration of shops, restaurants and other services; and a compact 16 block National Register residential historic district. This Positively Portland Walking Tour will the explore attractive, pedestrian friendly main street and walk through the historic residential area viewing some well-preserved late Victorian and Craftsman architecture. After the tour join us for optional food and beverage in one of the many dining choices along main street. Tour begins at Lark Cafe, 1980 Willamette Falls Drive, West Linn. 10AM Saturday, June 2. $15.
Historic Sellwood Walking Tour
Before it was brought within Portland city limits in 1893, Sellwood was an independent, incorporated town. This Architectural Heritage Center tour takes you through a section of the original Sellwood tract where you’ll see a variety of houses and commercial buildings, some dating back to the town’s earliest days. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, June 5. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Pearl District Walking Tour - A Century of Preservation and Change
Over the last 20 years, the Pearl District has been transformed from industrial enclave and rail yards into one of Portland’s most popular residential, cultural 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. But as the pending demolition of the Pacific Northwest College of Art's Feldman Building (a renovated old warehouse) reminds us, the current wave of development could threaten more historic buildings. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, June 5. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Design Matters: Inside the Creator’s Studio
Hosted by engineering firm KPFF, Design Matters is an event/speaker series on equity in design. The latest installment is a panel discussion and mixer about the intersection of arts spaces, equity, and ongoing development in Portland. Perspectives will be shared from a developer, designer, and artists/space owners. Panelists include Subashini Ganesan, creative laureate for the City of Portland; Emily Green of SERA Architects;Leila Haile and Maya Vivas of the Ori Gallery, which displays work primarily from trans and queer artists of color in Northeast Portland; and Charlene Zidell of the Zidell family, which owns and is developing the Zidell Yards in Portland's the South Waterfront District. KPFF, 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 2400. 4PM Thursday, June 7. Free.
SMPS Career Development Panel
This panel discussion hosted by the Oregon chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services features a trio of distinguished senior design and construction industry marketing professionals talking about about how they have advanced their careers and demonstrated value to their firms. Panelists include Hacker Architects marketing director and principal Sarah Bell, Lease Crutcher Lewis marketing director Janice Westcott, and Catena Consulting Engineers principal Paige Viehouser. Pacific Center, 851 SW Sixth Avenue. 4PM Thursday, June 7. $20 (free for SMPS members).
Willamette Heights Neighborhood Tour
Some of Portland’s most notable architects, including Emil Schacht, designed homes in Willamette Heights, an area that borders the site of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. This Architectural Heritage Center tour is strenuous walk through this hilly neighborhood. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 6PM Thursday, June 7. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Street Seats Model Gallery Opening
Street Seats is an international design challenge from Design Museum Portland that will culminate in an outdoor design exhibition and walking tour around the World Trade Center Portland plaza. Entrants will participate by designing sustainable outdoor sidewalk furniture with a focus on reuse, using environmentally-friendly materials and innovative construction methods. This event commences the opening of the Model Gallery, in which hundreds of Street Seat models will be showcased and semifinalists announced. World Trade Center, 212 SW Salmon Street. 6PM Thursday, June 7. $10 (free for Design Museum Portland members).
Historic Homes of the Alphabet District Tour (Part II)
Northwest Portland is replete with historic houses. This second installment of the Architectural Heritage Center'sr Historic Alphabet District Homes tour explores another section of the area, where attendees will learn of its transformation from farmland to Portland's "Millionaire Row". Featured architectural styles include Italianate, Queen Anne, and Jacobean Revival. One can also learn about the nuanced differences in American Revival styles, and see one of Portland's rare Romanesque Revival homes: the Mackenzie House. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Saturday, June 9. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Walking Tour of Historic St. Johns
St. Johns was a separate, incorporated city from 1902 until it was annexed into the City of Portland in 1915. With a distinctive development history and one of the most beautiful suspension bridges on the West Coast, St Johns has an identity all its own. This Positively Portland Walking Tour will pass though the historic center of St Johns and then make its way down to Cathedral Park for an up close view of the landmark St Johns Bridge. Tour begins at McMenamins St. Johns Pub, 8203 N Ivanhoe Street. 1PM Saturday, June 9. $15.
Classical Downtown Portland Tour
Portland contains an extensive collection of classically influenced buildings, many of which are clad with glazed terra cotta, a building material that was at its height of popularity in the early 20th century. Visitors on this Architectural Heritage Center tour will see the city’s first “skyscraper,” a bank that could have been a Greek temple and learn about several architects from this period who left an indelible impression on Portland including A.E. Doyle, the firm of Whidden and Lewis, and the Reid Brothers from San Francisco. Tour meetup location revealed with ticket purchase. 10AM Tuesday, June 12. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
Hip Hop Inspired Architecture: Michael Ford
Michael Ford’s talk focuses on three interconnected realms — education, practice and media — to expose the subconscious roles of celebrated modernist architects and urban planners in the creation of the environments which necessitated hip hop’s birth. The multi-media lecture will include a live DJ who extracts samples of rap lyrics as dialogue, commentary and counterpoints to popular architectural history and theory. The juxtaposition establishes golden era Hip Hop lyrics as a post occupancy evaluation of modern architecture.Ford will provide examples of his pursuit to create a hip hop-inspired architecture through multiple efforts including working with pioneering hip hop artist Kurtis Blow to design and program the Universal Hip Hop Museum in The Bronx. He will also discuss his international initiative, The Hip Hop Architecture Camp, which uses Hip Hop culture as a catalyst to introduce underrepresented youth to architecture and urban planning. Currently, less than 2% of all architects in The US are African American. Looking to change that, Ford details how hip hop can increase diversity in architecture. The event is co-presented by Portland Design Events and the Architecture Foundation of Oregon. Ziba Design, 810 NW Marshall. 5:30PM Thursday, June 14. $15 (suggested donation for students and emerging professionals).
Kenton Neighborhood Tour
In the early 20th century, before it was known best for its Paul Bunyan statue, Kenton was the heart of Portland’s meat-packing industry and home to the largest livestock exchange on the West Coast. Swift & Company, through various subsidiaries, platted, developed, and heavily influenced the industrial, commercial and residential growth of Kenton. This Architectural Heritage Center tour shows how a dominant employer influenced the housing stock of management and labor in a neighborhood that possessed many elements of a company town. Tour meets at Paul Bunyan statue, at North Denver Avenue and North Interstate Avenue. 6PM Thursday, June 14. $20 ($12 for AHC members).
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