Lovejoy Fountain Park

Last updated
Lovejoy Fountain Park
Lovejoy Fountain Park, Portland, Oregon, 2015 - 1.jpg
The fountain and park in 2015
Lovejoy Fountain Park
Type Urban park
LocationSW 3rd Avenue and Harrison Street
Portland, Oregon
Coordinates 45°30′34″N122°40′47″W / 45.509318°N 122.67974°W / 45.509318; -122.67974 [1]
Area1.11 acres (0.45 ha)
Created1966
Operated by Portland Parks & Recreation
StatusOpen 5 a.m. to midnight daily

Lovejoy Fountain Park (or Lovejoy Plaza) is a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, U.S. [2]

Contents

Description and history

Completed in 1966, the park was designed by American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. The park was the first in a series of fountains and open space designed by Halprin in the South Auditorium District urban renewal area. [3] The stark concrete contours of the park are bounded by tree-lined pedestrian malls that connect to other parks, including Keller Fountain Park. [4] The park is named in honor of Asa Lovejoy, one of the first landowners of the Portland town site. The Portland Penny, which was used by Lovejoy and Pettygrove to detemrine the name of the city, was used to determine the name of Lovejoy and Pettygrove Parks. [2]

In addition to the fountain, the park also features a large copper-clad pavilion designed by Halprin's collaborator, American architect Charles Willard Moore. [3]

Shortly after opening, Life Magazine published a three-page pictorial Mid-City Mountain Stream which described the park as a "piece of wilderness transplanted—wet and dry, glittering and static—which effectively invites wading and clambering and contemplation." [5]

The Halprin Landscape Conservancy was formed in 2001 to "spruce up and protect Lovejoy Plaza, Ira Keller Fountain, and Pettygrove Park, an ensemble considered to be one of Mr. Halprin's masterpieces." [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

The year 1966 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghirardelli Square</span> United States historic place

Ghirardelli Square is a landmark public square with shops and restaurants and a 5-star hotel in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, United States. A portion of the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Halprin</span> American landscape architect, designer and teacher

Lawrence Halprin was an American landscape architect, designer and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom McCall Waterfront Park</span> Public park in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a 36.59-acre (148,100 m2) park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 1978. The park covers 13 tax lots and is owned by the City of Portland. The park was renamed in 1984 to honor Tom McCall, the Oregon governor who pledged his support for the beautification of the west bank of the Willamette River—harkening back to the City Beautiful plans at the turn of the century which envisioned parks and greenways along the river. The park is bordered by RiverPlace to the south, the Steel Bridge to the north, Naito Parkway to the west, and Willamette River to the east. In October 2012, Waterfront Park was voted one of America's ten greatest public spaces by the American Planning Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KOIN Tower</span> Building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

KOIN Tower is a 155.15 m (509.0 ft), 35-story, skyscraper in Portland, Oregon, United States. The building, the third-tallest in the city, was designed by the firm of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership and opened in 1984 at a cost of US$48 million.

Robert Murase was an American landscape architect. He worked throughout the Pacific Northwest in the field of landscape design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asa Lovejoy</span> American politician (1808–1882)

Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon. He was an attorney in Boston, Massachusetts before traveling by land to Oregon; he was a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon, mayor of Oregon City, and a general during the Cayuse War that followed the Whitman massacre in 1847. He was also a candidate for Provisional Governor in 1847, before the Oregon Territory was founded, but lost that election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Pettygrove</span> Oregon pioneer from Maine credited with naming Portland, Oregon

Francis William Pettygrove was a pioneer and one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to establish a store in Oregon City. Later that year he paid $50 for half of a land claim on which he and Asa Lovejoy laid out a town named Portland after the port city in Pettygrove's home state. Lovejoy preferred Boston, but Pettygrove won a coin toss giving him the right to choose the name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embarcadero Plaza</span>

Embarcadero Plaza, previously known as Justin Herman Plaza from its opening in 1972 until 2017, is a 1.23-acre (0.50 ha) plaza near the intersection of Market and Embarcadero in San Francisco's Financial District, in the U.S. state of California. It is owned by Boston Properties, who acquired the neighboring Embarcadero Center office, hotel, and retail complex in 1998.

William Overton was a pioneer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In the mid-1840s he purchased the land claim, along with Asa Lovejoy, for the site which would become Portland, Oregon. Overton sold his share shortly thereafter to Francis Pettygrove.

Satoru Nishita was a landscape architect and a partner in the architectural firm Lawrence Halprin & Associates, based in San Francisco. He was one of Lawrence Halprin's earliest employees, hired in 1951. He became a principal of Halprin's firm in 1964. During the period 1975 - 1977, he and several other employees bought and re-formed Halprin's as Carter Hull Nishita McCulley Baxter & Associates. The company later became Nishita & Carter, Inc. and operated through 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Courthouse Square</span> Public space in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) city block in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1984, the square is bounded by Southwest Morrison Street on the north, Southwest 6th Avenue on the east, Southwest Yamhill Street on the south, and Southwest Broadway on the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamison Square</span> Public park in Portland, Oregon, United States

Jamison Square is a city park in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District. It was the first park added to the neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keller Fountain Park</span> Public park in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Keller Fountain Park is a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon. Originally named Forecourt Fountain or Auditorium Forecourt, the 0.92-acre (0.37 ha) park opened in 1970 across Third Avenue from what was then Civic Auditorium. In 1978, the park was renamed after Ira C. Keller, head of the Portland Development Commission (PDC) from 1958 to 1972. Civic Auditorium was renamed as Keller Auditorium in 2000, but is named in honor of Ira's son, Richard B. Keller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pettygrove Park</span> Public park in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Pettygrove Park is a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It is the second park in a series of urban open spaces designed by American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin in the South Auditorium District urban renewal area. The soft mounds of landscaping are responsible for the park's nickname of 'Mae West Park'.

<i>Vaillancourt Fountain</i> Fountain in San Francisco, California, U.S.

Vaillancourt Fountain, sometimes called Quebec libre!, is a large fountain in Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, designed by the Québécois artist Armand Vaillancourt in 1971. It is about 40 feet (12 m) high and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes. Long considered controversial because of its stark, modernist appearance, there have been several unsuccessful proposals to demolish the fountain over the years. It was the site of a free concert by U2 in 1987, when lead singer Bono spray painted graffiti on the fountain and was both praised and criticized for the action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Plaza (San Francisco)</span> Plaza in San Franciscos Civic Center

United Nations Plaza is a 2.6-acre (1.1 ha) plaza located on the former alignments of Fulton and Leavenworth Streets—in the block bounded by Market, Hyde, McAllister, and 7th Street—in the Civic Center of San Francisco, California. It is located 14 mi (0.40 km) east of City Hall and is connected to it by the Fulton Mall and Civic Center Plaza. Public transit access is provided by the BART and Muni Metro stops at the Civic Center/UN Plaza station, which has a station entrance within the plaza itself.

Angela Danadjieva is a landscape architect who founded the multidisciplinary design firm Danadjieva & Koenig Associates with her partner Thomas Koenig. She is well known for her work with Lawrence Halprin & Associates, including the Ira Keller Fountain in Portland, Oregon and Freeway Park in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halprin Open Space Sequence</span> Series of urban open spaces and pedestrian zones in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Halprin Open Space Sequence is a series of urban open spaces and pedestrian zones between Southwest Lincoln Street and Clay Street, in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Designed by Lawrence Halprin, the project was completed during 1966–1970, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 6, 2013. It includes Keller Fountain Park, Lovejoy Fountain Park, and Pettygrove Park, along with several other elements.

References

  1. "Lovejoy Fountain". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Lovejoy Fountain Park". Portland Parks & Recreation . Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Halprin, Lawrence (2009). Randy Gragg (ed.). Where the revolution began. Washington, D.C.: Spacemaker Press. ISBN   978-0-9824392-1-0. OCLC   449857189.
  4. Carr, Stephen (1993). Public Space. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-35960-3.
  5. "Mid-City Mountain Stream". Life Magazine. 65 (3). Time, Inc: 72–74. 1968.
  6. Patricia Leigh Brown (July 10, 2003). "For a Shaper Of Landscapes, A Cliffhanger". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2010.