LOST OREGON

71 SW Oak (1966)

Aubrie Koenig and Will McKay from The History Press were in town for a couple of days to check out Portland. (History Press is publishing my book on lost Portland eateries and it was cool to meet Aubrie and Will in person and chat about the book.)

As part of their brief stay in Portland, Dan Haneckow presented a two-hour walking tour of downtown Portland on a recent non-rainy but chilly Portland morning. (He’s also working on a book for History Press on Portland’s Great Light Way.) I also got to do some catching up with photographer Alexander Craghead, who recently gave a sold-out presentation for AHC on Railroad Architecture and the Northwest.

The theme of the tour was Three Downtowns in Two Hours (the downtowns of the 1860-1880s, the 1890s and the teens-twenties and beyond).

Dan’s knowledge of this area of Portland’s past shined during the walk as he pointed out surviving buildings, parking lots of lost buildings and horrifically remodeled ones. Since I’ve started working downtown last summer, I’ve had the chance to do a lot of exploring and have become increasingly fascinated with Portland’s cast iron buildings and the area along the Willamette that once housed them.

It’s one thing to read about the history of this section of town, but to walk it and see buildings in person really resonated and helped connect the dots from my lacking early Portland history.

Fechheimer & White Building, built in 1885.

Plaque on the Fechheimer & White Building.

71 SW Oak (retrofitted in 1976)

SW 1st and Oak

SW Ash and 2nd (next to Kells and in desperate need of a retrofit back to its former cast-iron self)

The Architectural Heritage Center hosted a “hard hat” tour last Saturday at the Salvation Army building on MLK Blvd.

I’ve driven past the building so many times over the years and it’s so a part of the urban landscape of the Grand/MLK Blvd. fabric that I almost knew where it was by memory alone (“the Salvation Army logo on the brick building by that one office supply store and the indoor soccer place?”). Usually – mostly – MLK/Grand is sadly used as a driving route to get to and from downtown. It was a nice to be able to slow down and do some walking before the tour and check out the neighborhood, recently dubbed Produce Row by the city. And walking – running- across MLK to the Salvation Army building was an adventure.

I showed up a bit early and checked in and walked around the space a bit. Immediately noticeable was that funky smell of abandoned building – which brought back memories of illegal activities and secret hideouts, way back before I knew what the word “preservation” and “retrofit” meant. Attendees started to gather and were milling about on the first floor, some snapping photos and others chatting.

Impressive beams and other structural feats aside, the building has an interesting story, as does the Salvation Army. The crowd gathered around displays while Morgen Young from Alder told the tale of the Salvation Army and its auspicious beginnings in Portland (members had rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at them for displaying signs) and its history dating back to England.

Next up was Venerable Properties who explained the history of the building and how it’s being retrofitted. The building itself is actually two buildings. The south half was constructed in 1893 and was then expanded and remodeled in 1930 by architect Frederick Manson White, giving it the uniform appearance it has today.

According to Venerable:

While the 1893 building first had a hay-and-feed use, it was later owned and used by the Salvation Army as their Industrial Home in 1913. Industrial Homes were more common in major American cities during this time as the Salvation Army was growing and spreading their mission to help the poor. The purpose of the Home was to provide work and shelter for homeless, unemployed men. They would collect, sort and resell recyclable items such as rags and paper and collect, repair and sell second-hand merchandise such as clothes, shoes, furniture and household items.

The original exterior?

Venerable says once the rehab is complete, the first floor multi-tenant retail spaces will have restored storefronts, high ceilings and exposed structure. The upper floors will have high ceilings, original timber construction and operable windows with downtown views. The building will be brought up to code with a seismic upgrade, all new HVAC and mechanical systems, elevator, and parking lot upgrades.

The rehabilitation is by the same team that resurrected the White Stag Block, including Venerable Development, Fletcher Farr Ayotte Architects, and Bremik Construction.

If the AHC hosts another hard hat tour, I’ll be there. Great way to see history up close, nerd out on architecture, chat with the architects and learn more about re-using Portland’s many amazing older buildings, not tearing them down.

Former home of The Bonfire.

I love when history and technology meet. The What Was There site (and app) is a perfect example of mashing old technology (photography) and newer tech (Google Street View maps). Essentially you get a “then” photo with the ability to drag your mouse to see the “now” version.

Closer to home, the folks behind the Dill Pickle Club are trying to launch a free Portland social history app and website called Know Your City. The app and website will utilize mapping and smart phone technology to create greater awareness of Portland’s history, culture and diversity through video, audio, photos and text. The project “aims to provide a holistic view of how neighborhoods change over time to deepen our understanding of Portland.”

The app will feature a Google map, with pinpoints around town. By clicking on the pinpoint, users will be able to learn about local buildings, historical tidbits and the stories behind Portland’s past, through illustrations, video or articles. The package we received had illustrations by Kate Bingaman Burt, creator of favorite Obsessive Consumption so this’ll be guaranteed to be top notch.

Here’s the catch, though. If you want to enjoy this free app, organizers need to raise more than $9,000 in the next 35 days to make the project possible.

They’re using Kickstarter, a social networking fundraising website, to raise the capital needed to pay for the app’s development. If they reach their goal, they will make the app free and available to everyone. If they don’t reach this amount, they won’t be able to dedicate the resources needed to implement the program.

Cool project and worth donating to. Check out how here.