Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple

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Ancient Order of
United Workmen Temple

Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple building - Portland, Oregon (2016).jpg

The building in 2016
Downtown Portland.png
Red pog.svg
Location within Portland, Oregon
Alternative names Tourny Building (or Tourney Building)
General information
Status Demolished
Architectural style Richardsonian Romanesque
Town or city Portland, Oregon
Country United States
Coordinates 45°31′00″N122°40′32″W / 45.516558°N 122.675647°W / 45.516558; -122.675647 Coordinates: 45°31′00″N122°40′32″W / 45.516558°N 122.675647°W / 45.516558; -122.675647
Completed 1892
Demolished 2017
Design and construction
Architect Justus F. Krumbein

The Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple, also known as the Tourny Building, was a historic building located at the intersection of Southwest 2nd Avenue and Taylor Street in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The six-story building was completed in 1892 [1] and it was demolished in 2017 to be replaced by new development. Demolition was underway in August 2017, and it was complete by November of the same year.

Portland, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Portland is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is a major port in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of 2017, Portland had an estimated population of 647,805, making it the 26th-largest city in the United States, and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest. Approximately 2.4 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area (MSA), making it the 25th most populous MSA in the United States. Its Combined Statistical Area (CSA) ranks 18th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. Approximately 60% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area.

Contents

Description and history

The building was designed by Justus F. Krumbein, also the architect of the second Oregon State Capitol. Its style had elements of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture and, according to Restore Oregon, it was one of the city's most prominent buildings from the 1890s that was still extant in the 2010s. [2]

Justus F. Krumbein American architect

Justus F. Krumbein was an architect based in Portland, Oregon, United States, whose work included Richardsonian Romanesque designs and Italianate, cast-iron architecture. Little of his work survived the 20th Century.

Richardsonian Romanesque Romanesque Revival architectural style, named for Henry Hobson Richardson

Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston (1872–1877), designated a National Historic Landmark. Richardson first used elements of the style in his Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane in Buffalo, New York, designed in 1870.

Restore Oregon nonprofit organization working in historic preservation

Restore Oregon, formerly the Historic Preservation League of Oregon (HPLO), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a mission to “Preserve, Reuse, and Pass Forward Oregon’s Historic Resources to Ensure Livable, Sustainable Communities." Formed in Eugene, Oregon, in 1976, Restore Oregon was officially incorporated in 1977 and relocated to Portland, Oregon, soon thereafter. In addition to the Board of Directors, Restore Oregon has several active volunteer committees and a regional and topical Board of Advisors. As of February 2009, Peggy Moretti serves as the organization’s Executive Director. Known for 37 years as the Historic Preservation League of Oregon, the group announced in July 2013 that it was changing its name to Restore Oregon.

Originally serving as a club and office for the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) fraternal organization, within about 10 years it had been sold by that organization and renamed the Tourny Building, a mixed-use building that initially included apartments. The AOUW retained a library in the building for its members for some years after its sale. The building was sold again in 1905, for $100,000, [3] and again in 1907 for $140,000 (equivalent to $3.7 million in 2017 [4] ). [5] The offices of the Oregon Historical Society were in the Tourny Building from 1913 [6] until 1917, [7] and its museum was on the first floor. [8]

Ancient Order of United Workmen

The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies.

Oregon Historical Society Organization founded in 1898 devoted to the history of the U.S. state of Oregon

The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preserves, and makes available materials of historical character and interest, and collaborates with other groups and individuals with similar aims. The society operates the Oregon History Center that includes the Oregon Historical Society Museum in downtown Portland.

Oregon Historical Society Museum

The Oregon Historical Society Museum is a history museum housed at the Oregon Historical Society in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The museum was created in 1898 and receives about 44,000 visitors annually.

In 1941, the six-story building was sold to Gilbert Brothers, Inc., [9] who opened a furniture store and warehouse in it. In 1946, a fire gutted the top three floors and destroyed the roof [10] and cornice. Fires has previously broken out in 1916 and 1922, [11] and yet another occurred in 1974, gutting the top two floors. [12]

Cornice horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture

A cornice is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element – the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown.

Portland architect Richard Sundeleaf made modifications in 1942 and 1946, and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects in 1980. [13]

Richard Wilhelm Sundeleaf was an American architect from Portland, Oregon, United States. A number of the buildings he designed are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

ZGF Architects LLP

ZGF Architects LLP (ZGF), formerly Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, is an American architectural firm with offices in Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; Washington D.C.; New York, New York; and Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 1942, the firm was listed in 2011 as the #4 architectural firm in the United States by Building Design+Construction, and ranked the #9 architectural firm by Architect. In 2016 Architect named ZGF the #1 architecture firm in the country, citing the organization's dedication to sustainability as a major deciding factor. Between the company's five offices in the United States and their office in Canada they employ more than 600 employees.

At an unknown date, the building was designated a historical landmark by the city's Historical Landmarks Commission (now known as the Historic Landmarks Commission), but the commission removed the designation in 1973, after concluding that subsequent repainting had lessened the building's historical significance. [14]

Delisting and demolition

During demolition (September 2017) Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple (Portland) during demolition, 3 Sep 2017.jpg
During demolition (September 2017)

In November 2015, it was reported that the City of Portland had removed the building from the city's Historic Resource Inventory, having deemed it unsafe. This opened the possibility of demolition. [15] The Portland Tribune reported in December 2015 that, "Plans provided by Ankrom Moisan Architects show a 20-story hotel and 10-story office building rising on the block", in place of the 1892 building and the nearby Hotel Albion (Lotus Café building). [1]

The completed design for the hotel building proposed to be constructed on the block was approved by the Portland Design Commission, a city-appointed advisory panel, in early July 2016. [16] The plans called for demolition of the United Workmen Temple, and the development team submitted an application for a demolition permit to the city in mid-July 2016. [16] A campaign by the preservation organization Restore Oregon to save the AOUW building and the Hotel Albion was unsuccessful, [11] and the demolition permit was approved in the first months of 2017. [17]

In August 2017, visible demolition of the building began, [11] following a few months of preparatory work inside the structure to remove hazardous material before demolition. [17]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Bancud, Michaela (December 1, 2015). "Lotus Card Room building may fold for good". Portland Tribune . Business Tribune section, pp. 3-5. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  2. ↑ Spencer-Hartle, Brandon (November 6, 2015). "Historic No More?! Demo Epidemic Strikes Notable Downtown Buildings". Restore Oregon. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Sales of the Week". The Sunday Oregonian. October 22, 1905. p. 8.
  4. ↑ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  5. ↑ "[General city news; no headline]". The Sunday Oregonian. March 10, 1907. p. 6, col. 5.
  6. ↑ "City News in Brief: Historical Society to Move". The Morning Oregonian. March 7, 1913. p. 11, col. 2.
  7. ↑ "City News in Brief: Historical Society in New Home". The Morning Oregonian. October 1, 1917. p. 9, col. 1.
  8. ↑ "Fire Threatens Museum". The Morning Oregonian. June 10, 1916. p. 9.
  9. ↑ "Gilberts Acquire Tourny Building". The Sunday Oregonian. October 5, 1941. Section 2, p. 1.
  10. ↑ "Fire Guts Furniture Building". The Oregonian. August 30, 1946. p. A1. [The fire] burn[ed] off the entire roof of the 75x100-foot building.
  11. 1 2 3 Perry, Douglas (August 24, 2017). "Downtown Portland's 1892 United Workmen Temple being demolished; 'poster child' for lost history". The Oregonian. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  12. ↑ "3-alarm fire guts Portland building". The Oregonian. December 17, 1974. p. 1.
  13. ↑ Historic Resource Inventory datasheet, City of Portland, Oregon, 1984.
  14. ↑ "Building off historic list". The Oregonian. December 13, 1973. p. 42.
  15. ↑ Bell, Jon (November 18, 2015). "Historic downtown building, once planned to be saved, could meet the wrecking ball after all". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Rogers, Jules (July 26, 2016) [online date July 25]. "Downtown duo: Hotel design approved; new office coming soon". Portland Tribune . Business Tribune section, pp. 8–9. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  17. 1 2 Bell, Jon (August 28, 2017). "Historic temple building meets its maker in downtown". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
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