Seen on the AHC Yamhill Historic District and Beyond Walking Tour, downtown Portland, May 31, 2012

Close-up view of magnificent adornment on the facade of the middle building of three at 824-828 SW 1st Avenue. I wish I could remember the names of the buildings which our guide told us, but I cannot, doggone it.
 

Oh, joy! I just found some info online! The building with the green trim is the Pearne Building (built 1865 at one place online and 1874 at another). The one in the middle is the Poppleton Building (built 1867 at one place online and between 1875-1880 at another), and the one next to it with the brown awning, now known as the Patrick Building, originally was the Harker Building (1878 at both places online). About the Poppleton and the Harker, I found this note at that site which is a Flickr account of a local historian, Dan Haneckow: Originally built in 1867, destroyed except for the lower cast iron features in the Great Fire of 1873. The first two floors were rebuilt in the mid 1870s, the third circa 1880 and the roof added in 1890.)

I used the name of each building and searched for it at the database, Historical Oregonian 1861-1972, online at the Multnomah County Library. I narrowed the search to several years on either side of the date(s) associated with it.

I didn't find anything about the Pearne Building.

However, I found a bit about the one in the middle with the red window trim and a portion of which is seen in the close-up at the top of the post. It's the Poppleton Building. Here's an announcement in the September 21, 1868, Oregonian: "Nonpareil Lodge No. 86, I. O. G. T. meets every Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock. Hall in Poppleton's building, First Street, between Yamhill and Taylor. Members in good standing are invited to attend." By April 9, 1869, the announcement stated that the lodge "Meets every Thursday evening at 7 1/2 o'clock." I like this bit, found in the May 7, 1869, paper: "Dancing Academy - Prof. Cardinell's classes are held every week-day evening, and on Saturday afternoon for children. Hall in Poppleton's Building, First Street." I found mention of a Dr. E. Poppleton, Coroner for Multnomah County, around the same span of years. I wonder if he owned the building. And I found that an Edgar Poppleton was being sued, but I didn't have the time to dig around to find out why or even if Edgar and E. are the same Poppleton.



Van Rensselaer Building (1878)

About the Harker Building, I couldn't find anything, except an interesting tidbit which connects that last name to a building on the next corner north which is known as the Van Rensselaer, completed in 1878, with the third and fourth floors added in 1884). (Now it's the home of Paddy's Bar & Grill, on the corner of SW 1st Avenue and SW Yamhill.)  In the November 3, 1879, Oregonian, there's mention of the fact that Mrs. J. B. Harker and Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Van Rensalier (the spelling in the old newspaper) were owners of a mill that had recently burned in the town of Dayton, the Dayton Flouring Mills. Interesting. I had already seen mention of Sarah Harker who may or may not have been Mrs. J. B. Harker, and mention of a J. B. Harker, bankrupt in Dayton, Oregon.

Whoops. May have been on a wild goose chase.

I just found several interesting mentions in the January 1, 1879, Oregonian, in an article titled "Growth of Portland, Improvements for the Past Year, A Solid and Substantial Growth, Good Record for the City of the Northwest." First, "J. C. Van Rensselaer, two brick stores, cor Yamhill and First streets, W. S. Ham contractor, value $11,000.). (That's the location in the photo above.) Second, "Asa Harker, two brick stores, First Street near Yamhill, G. F. Wells contractor, value $5000." (First near Yamhill just might be the Poppleton and the Harker which are on First and half a block south of Yamhill.)

Isn't that interesting? Different Harkers connected with Mr. J. C. Van Rensselaer. Wonder if Asa and J. B. Harker are brothers? Cousins? Father and son?

Well, I never. I've just found something else very intersting in the July 25, 1870, Oregonian. Sheriff's Sale, The Circuit Court found against J. B. Harker and his wife Sarah E. Harker and directed the Sheriff to sell "all the right, title and interest" of the buildings and improvements on the south half of lot 7, block 3 in Portland. You see, according to Portland Maps, the three buildings in the photo are on lot 6, block 4. Makes me wonder even more about the relationship of J. B. and Asa. Could these lots and blocks be next to each other?

Here's one more very interesting thing I've found just now, in the March 19, 1872, Oregonian. "A CHURCH BELL - There is on the wharf a large bell, brought by the Almatia, for the Congregational church of this city. It is from the Menulay Bell Foundry, Troy, N. Y., and weighs 1,511 pounds. It bears this inscription: "Presented by Asa Harker to the First Congregational Church of Portland, Oregon, A. D. 1871." This is so cool because on Thursday night, June 21, I sat in the sanctuary of that very same church and listened to Douglas Brinkley speak for nearly 90 minutes about Walter Cronkite, the subject of his latest book. Now I'm wondering if this particular home of the church is the one in which the bell was installed.

Wow. I love these connections! I'll have to find time to do more research on these Harkers and on that bell.

Some of what I saw, No. 6

As you may know, on May 14 I took part in an Architectural Heritage Center event, a Walking Tour of Portland’s Yamhill Historic District and Beyond. We began at Lownsdale Square and walked for an hour and a half, looking here and there, listening to our guide, Morgen Young of the AHC.

Our first stop turned out to be a building which I have loved for years. While the Portland’s Transit Mall, essentially the spinal column—the nerves and supporting bones of TriMet was being renovated between 2007 and 2009, I caught my first homeward bound bus right across the street from it. Here's Walt Lockley’s online information and photos about the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Temple.

Here are my photos, taken on May 14 during the walk unless otherwise noted.

The Temple is so large that I would have had to walk away from the group to get all of it in the photo--I didn't want to miss what our guide told us about the building. Seems like I remember some of the women on the walk saying that they used to go dancing in this building, back in the day.


She certainly solved a mystery for me--the capital U on that sign. I've seen it here and there in Portland and wondered what it could mean--my doofus guess at first that it was a way to mark a secret door to some sort of club, but as I saw more and more of them, I abandoned that idea. And how secret could a door be with that large orange U on it? Morgen explained that it's for firemen so that they will know that entering through the marked door is unsafe. Hmmm.



The six-story building was built in 1892, designed by architect Justus F. Krumbein. It's address is 915 SW 2nd Avenue. The style is Romanesque, at least that's what it says beneath a photo I found online. It also says this: "Rights © University of Oregon. This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ ). Acknowledgement of the University of Oregon Libraries as a source is required.. All Rights Reserved." Here’s a link to the photo. It’s worth taking time to click on it—you get a look at it from a different perspective.


I took this photo in February, 2010, from a parking garage. There on the left you see the west-facing wall of the Temple, with bricked-in windows and fire escapes.


And here's the south-facing wall in a photo taken in July, 2008.

Here’s more online information about the Temple, from 2005.

Here's the description of the walking tour from www.visitahc.org.

Portland’s Yamhill National Register Historic District contains some of the earliest remaining buildings in downtown. Among them are fantastic 19th century buildings like the Poppleton, known for the whimsical faces on its upper façade. Just beyond the boundaries of the district are several more architectural gems, designed by notable architects such as Warren H. Williams, Whidden and Lewis, David Lewis, and Cass Gilbert.

This tour, developed by AHC Education Committee chair Morgen Young, explores the interesting history and architecture of the Yamhill Historic District and the nearby historic buildings of SW Second and Third avenues of Portland, Oregon. We did go beyond this area on our walk--superb!

Here's the map of the portion of downtown that the City of Portland considers as the Yamhill Historic District.

Some of what I saw, No. 1

I had such a great time on Saturday, May 14. First I made a momentous decision to trust the weather forecast and leave my umbrella and raincoat at home. Next I thoroughly enjoyed every single second of the Architectural Heritage Center's Walking Tour of Portland’s Yamhill Historic District and Beyond. Then I rode the MAX Yellow Line in search of lunch and a restroom, just for the fun of going to a different neighborhood. Finally, I rode home on the 6 and the 12 buses. No rain! Some of the time I had to wear my sunglasses due to the sunny/cloudy glare! Naturally, I took loads of photos, all sorts of photos. And I have already uploaded each of them to Flickr, placed in Sets which means I will easily find them to share with you!


First interesting shot of the day as I ambled to the meeting spot for the walk, and I didn't have my camera on! I missed a fantastic side view of this rolling advertisement. Perhaps another dry Saturday or Sunday I will be out and about and see the Trident Vitality Vigorate Gum vehicle again.

By the way, I am thrilled that our trees have their glorious green leaves back--hooray for Portland!