Following a recession after World War I, Portland’s building activity picked up around 1922. During the period from the early 1920s until the Great Depression, the apartment work of Carl Linde grew in prominence as does that of Earl Feig, a versatile designer of prolific output. Styles reflecting a Spanish heritage, such as Mission, Spanish Revival, or Spanish Colonial were popular and followed a national trend. Apartment buildings with streamlined modernistic styles, some featuring Art Deco characteristics, emerged during this time. Multi-unit housing proliferated on the east side, which had 71% of Portland’s population in 1920. But because of the availability of land, the “apartment house” was less popular than such emerging building types as single family homes, attached townhouses, and garden court complexes.
In the 1920s, apartment house construction flourished with buildings of varying designs and scale. The 1920 Portland City Directory listed 362 apartment houses, an increase of nearly 30% from 1914. In 1922, the Ambassador Apartments [1209 SW 6th Ave.] designed by Carl Linde was built for Richard Wassall and Donald B. McBride. The nine story structure has an H-shape plan and is constructed of concrete and hollow clay tile. It has a veneer of Columbian brick made in Portland and Boise sandstone for exterior details. The Ambassador is one of Portland’s most ornate structures and remains the oldest continuously inhabited apartment building in Portland’s central business district. The rich decoration has characteristics of Jacobethan revival styles. Prominent are the lions holding escutcheons, the abundance of quoins which contrast with the red brick, and the ornamentation of the windows. Standing out are the third floor east façade windows which are framed in a temple ensemble featuring columns supporting a broken pediment, all supported by large brackets connected by segmental arches. The interior currently consists of 45 apartments ranging in size from 700 to 1100 square feet. There were more units originally but over time some units would cannibalize their neighbors. The Ambassador also features a roof garden. (1) To the west of the Ambassador is the Sovereign Hotel [710 W. Madison], another elaborate structure designed by Linde which opened a year after the Ambassador. The Sovereign was intentionally designed as Portland’s first residential hotel. That is, each unit was equipped with a kitchen. And so it was easily converted into an apartment house in 1938. (2)
In the 1920s, architectural styles derived from Spain and the Mediterranean became increasingly popular. The Panama–California Exposition in San Diego between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917 and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, between February 20 and December 4 in 1915, encouraged this trend. The planners of the Lewis & Clark Exposition of 1905 deliberately selected Spanish Colonial as its architectural theme as a way to distinguish it from earlier World’s Fairs in St. Louis and Chicago. The Agricultural Palace designed by Edgar M. Lazarus is a prominent example of the Mediterranean influence. (3)
The Casa del Rey at 1730 NE Couch Street of 1927 is an example of how Spanish styles employing stucco also enabled modern updates of existing structures (see Historic Images for comparisons). The Casa is actually the Ionian Court, a 1908 apartment house built by William Morgan for entrepreneur Mrs. Iona Bickerton who owned and managed the property. The Casa stands next to its original neighbor, the Gloria Apartments [1714 NE Couch] by William Morgan, which has preserved its Colonial Revival look. Curiously, it is now called the Mediterranean Arms, and so it has also received a Spanish update at least in name. (4)
A fine example of the Spanish Colonial idiom is the Del Rey apartment building, at 2555 NE Glisan Street, designed by Lee Hawley Hoffman in collaboration with the contractor Eric Rasmussen. Completed in 1925, the two-story L-shaped building is comprised of 30 units which vary in size from 600 to 850 square feet. The characteristics of the style include the use of stucco detailing, wrought iron for the exterior hardware, railings, and balconies, repeated use of arches to define both the interior and exterior spaces, red clay tile for the roofing, and decorative niches. The first multi-unit apartment building completed by contractor Eric Rasmussen on Portland's east side was a two-building complex, the Malcolm and Salisbury apartments, built in 1915 and still standing at 2345 NE Sandy. Hawley Hoffman, educated in architecture at Harvard, was the son of Julia Hoffman, the inspiration behind 705 Davis. He founded the Hoffman Construction Company which remains one of the largest in the United States. Hoffman and Rasmussen worked together on several projects from 1921 to 1927. Hoffman died in 1959. (5)
The Spanish-inspired Olympic Apartments [707 NW 19th Avenue] is among the distinctive designs from prolific architect Elmer Feig. Feig was born in Atwater, Minnesota, in 1897, and came to Portland in 1910. From 1914 to 1916, he was a draftsman at Fenner Redicut Homes. After employment during the war for a shipbuilding firm, he returned to Fenner Redicut. From 1924 to 1927 Feig worked for the City of Portland Bureau of Buildings where he was consecutively a clerk deputy inspector and assistant examiner for the City of Portland Bureau of Buildings. In 1927 Feig started the Architectural Services Bureau, a firm that specialized in supervising the planning and construction of homes and providing advice on government regulations, knowledge he gained from his government service. Feig had a contractor’s license but no architectural degree. Nevertheless, he was the most prolific of Portland's apartent house designers, credited with designing over 81 apartments houses during the period 1925-1931. He worked for several real estate developers including J. C. Meyer, S. E. Henderson, and Harry Mittelman. (6)
The Olympic apartment building was designed in 1928 by Feig for S. E. Henderson, one of nine collaborations with that developer. This U-shaped structure is three stories in height and constructed in stucco-clad concrete. The building reflects characteristics of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Each leg of the street elevation is divided into three parts defined by fluted pilasters topped by decorative earns. Three stories of windows are decoratively surrounded and topped by a curved cornice. The central bay uses four fluted pilasters to tie together smaller windows and the wrought iron fire escape on the three floors. This ensemble is topped by a cornice. A curved parapet tops the entire bay. Access to the central bay is through a wrought iron arch entrance which leads to a landscaped space featuring a fountain. The building's entrance is arcaded with three Islamic arches which lead to an oak doorway infused with beveled glass. The arcaded pattern is repeated on the second and third floors. The entry ensemble is topped by an elaborate parapet. The interior has twenty-seven living units, nine on each floor, consisting of six one-bedroom, two studios, and one two-bedroom. (7) The Eugene Apartments, 2030 NW Flanders Street, which opened in 1930 is another example of Feig's foray into the Spanish idiom.
While the Olympic apartment house is regarded as one of Feig’s strongest works, he explored practically every plan and style popular during the era. Examples include the three-story walk-up, the L-shape building, the U-shape building, and garden court complexes. In the late 1940s throughout the 1950s, Feig was living in Orlando, Florida, employed as a draftsman, estimator, and other positions for the building industry. He returned to Oregon in 1965 and died in Newberg, Oregon, in 1968. (8)
Also in the Mediterranean vein is the distinctive Envoy Apartments [2336 SW Osage Street]. Designed by Carl Linde for developer Jack Easson, the Envoy apartment building was built with reinforced concrete and was available for occupancy in September 1929. The seven-story building can list a commanding view of Portland among its many attractions. Mediterranean design characteristics include the use stucco, tile, cast stone trim. As built, the interior consisted of 43 units of varying layouts with most consisting of 3 to 5 rooms which are accessed on the various floors from a long hallway spanning the length of the building. Two penthouses originally topped the building; they were merged into one large unit in the early 2000's. In contrast to Linde's earlier, lavishly ornamented apartment buildings, the Envoy is modernistic by comparison with clean lines and and surface treatment lacking ornamentation. In retrospect, the Envoy can be interpreted as a transitional design between various historic revival styles and the modern apartments that would arise in the neighborhood in the 1950s and later. (9)
Only a month after the Envoy opened, the stock market crashed in late October 1929. The ensuing economic depression took a heavy toll on all types of construction. Building permits in Portland increasingly dropped, from about 11,000 a year in 1929 (valued at $29 million) to about 3,000 a year in 1935 (valued at $2 million). Some building projects already in progress in 1929 proceeded to construction. They continued to reflect more modernistic styles such as Art Deco, a leading decorative trend in the 1920s and 1930s. Art Deco was popularized by the 1925 Exposition of Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. The style is characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colors. (10)
The Jeanne Manor Apartments [1431 SW Park Ave.] is an excellent example of the modernistic vein employing Art Deco stylistic features. Built of reinforced concrete construction, the seven-story U-shaped building opened in March 1931. It originally featured 72 units, ranging from studio to large one-bedrooms. The Jeanne Manor was designed for developer Harry A. Mittelman by Bennes & Herzog, with Harry Herzog chief designer. Harry Albert Herzog was among the city's most gifted designers and practiced in Portland for about 50 years. His family settled in Portland in 1905 after living in Chicago. Herzog worked as a draftsman for the firm Bennes and Hendricks after high school then attended the University of Pennsylvania where he obtained an architecture degree in 1917. During World War I, Herzog he worked for the shipbuilding firm, the Northwest Engineering Company. In 1926 he partnered with John Virginius Bennes to form Bennes and Herzog which lasted until 1931. Herzog participated with architects Morris H. Whitehouse and Herman S. Brookman to design Portland’s Temple Beth Israel in 1926-27. He was also was involved with Bennes in designing the Hollywood, United Artists, and Liberty theaters. Herzog died in 1979. (11)
The facade of the Jeanne Manor apartment house, which faces the South Park blocks, is a fine example of Art Deco detailing. Art Deco was an eclectic style inspired by the design traditions of many cultures. It took its name from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. Structural bays with polychromatic brick surface are separated by pilasters capped by cast stone, with scroll motifs which rise to the pediment. Chevrons, or zig zags, are recurring decorative motifs throughout the facade. The corner windows give the illusion that the rectangular block is cut away at the corners. The entrance on SW Park Avenue is an arch with lintel in which the building title is carved. A three-part clerestory window provides natural light to the foyer. (12)
The discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 captivated the popular imagination and decorative elements borrowed from ancient Egypt were compatible with the architectural elements which characterized Art Deco. Architect Elmer E. Feig's unique foray into Art Deco included three apartment houses in what he called the Egyptian style: The Blackstone (1930), 1831 SW 9th Avenue, The Manhattan (1931), 2209 NW Everett Street, and the Morland (1931), 1530 NE 10th Avenue. (13)
It was not until 1937 that another major apartment house was built in Portland. Its opening was heralded by an eight-page special section in the Sunday Oregonian. (14) Another design by architect Harry Herzog, the Regent Apartments, 1975 NW Everett Street, opened for occupancy in August 1937. It was the sixteenth apartment house constructed by Harry Mittleman in Portland. This five-story, U-shaped building was set back on the lot rather than directly on the sidewalk affording more greenspace than the standard approach in employed in earlier apartment house designs. The interior consisted of fifty-two living units ranging in size from studios to five-room suites. The style of the Regent Apartments shows characteristics of Art Deco with polychromatic brick surfaces, strong vertical emphases, and zig zag or chevron motifs for decoration. Of special significance, the Regent's design and construction exceeded the requirements of the housing code of 1933 regarding light, air and ventilation. Also, new types of materials for fire resistance and sound insulation were utilized in building the structure. And the Regent was the first apartment house in the United States to meet completely the lighting standards established by the Illuminating Engineering Society. Its substantial cost of $250,000 and scale expressed Mittleman's confidence that prosperity was returning after many years of economic decline. As evidence, the value of the city's building permits in 1937 had indeed improved; at least they were now the approximate average of 1930. The construction of the Regent Apartments served as sign to builders, investors, and the general public that the worst of the Depression was over. (15)
Following the years of the Depression and the subsequent World War II era, modernist styles emerged in Portland. The Equitable Building of 1948 designed by architect Pietro Belluschi, described by some as the first modern skyscraper, displays a glass exterior that characterizes the look of practically all modern high-rises in Portland including apartment houses. The early apartment houses, many still standing, retain a unique charm that stand in contrast with the sleek glass skyscrapers that surround them.
Notes:
1. Finch, Sheila. Ambassador Apartments, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1979.
2. Wade, Susan O. Sovereign Hotel, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1981.
3. Abbott, Carl, Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City (University of Nebraska, 1982), 36-48.
4. Donovan & Associates, "Casa Del Rey," Oregon Survey of Historic Properties, 1991.
5. Grimala, Barbara. Del Rey Apartments, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1991.
6. Ritz, Richard E. "Elmer Feig," Biographical Dictionary of Oregon Architects (Lair Hill, 2002), 128-129.
7. Heritage Investment Corporation. Olympic Apartment Building, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1997.
8. Ritz, 129.
9. Heritage Investment Corporation. Envoy Apartments, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1983
10. Abbott, 109-110.
11. Heritage Investment Corporation. Jeanne Manor Apartment Building, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1998.
12. Bayer, Patricia. Art Deco Architecture: Design, Decoration, and Detail from the Twenties and Thirties. Thames and Hudson, 1999.
13. National Register nominations for the Morland, Blackstone, and Manhattan buildings.
14. "Regent Apartments open to the Public, Sunday," Sunday Oregonian, August 6, 1937, 1.
15. Tess, John M., and Richard E. Ritz. Regent Apartments, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Salem: Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, 1991.