News

http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/04/23/historic-home-must-move-or-be-destroyed/

Brandon Spencer-Hartle loves old buildings. When he was a student at Portland State University, one in particular caught his eye: a 1880s house on Southwest 11th Avenue that had previously been used as office and storage space by the university.

The house was closed to the public, but Spencer-Hartle would sneak onto the porch to peer through the windows, hoping the interior would reveal something about the history of the structure.

"There are not a lot of good examples of typical residences from that era left," Spencer-Hartle said. "There's the Ladd Carriage House and the Simon Benson House which are great success stories, but not the average Portland version of a Victorian-era home. That's why I like this house. It's representative of an average family home downtown."

This past September, Spencer-Hartle received bad news about the house. PSU needed the land the building was on for future building projects, and the house had been targeted for demolition.

Spencer-Hartle immediately started a Facebook group, Don't Just Demolish Portland State's Past, to raise awareness about the house's potential destruction. But despite his efforts, a deadline still looms for the structure. If no one puts forth a proposal by April 30 to buy the house and relocate it, it faces the wrecking ball.

Spencer-Hartle isn't the only one stumping for a hero to save the house. For Val Ballestrem, education manager for the Architectural Heritage Center, the house represents a vanishing breed.

"This is a remnant of a whole block of residential homes built before World War II," Ballestrem said. "The rest of the block the house sits on was cleared off, and now they're taking the rest. I think it's a problem. There are so few of those residences left. It's really hard to tell the story of that part of the city."

According to Scott Gallagher, director of communications for PSU, the building has become unsafe for use by the university due to asbestos and other issues. The house is listed on the city's historic resource inventory, however. So before it can be demolished, the city requires a 120-day demolition delay to allow time for consideration of alternatives such as restoration or relocation.

For the past few months, PSU has offered the house to the highest bidder over $1 who agrees to move the structure from its present location by June 30.

That's easier said than done, according to Keith Settle, president of Northwest Structural Moving. Streetcar lines, utilities lines and overhead obstacles like power lines make moving a structure out of downtown Portland a difficult and expensive process.

He estimates, for example, that moving the house on Southwest 11th Avenue will cost between $30,000 and $50,000. The cost to move utility lines will push that amount even higher.

"The cost depends on the route, and that is determined by negotiations with utilities companies," Settle said. "Whatever they say the price is for moving utilities, that's what it is. There's definitely enough time for someone to move it, but you'd have to get going right away on building permits. It's hard. Most of the building goes on downtown but we have to relocate other things to rural areas. As much as we want to save these buildings, it's tough to do."

Proposals to purchase and move the 1633 SW 11th Avenue house must be submitted to PSU by 3 p.m. on Friday to be considered. If no one comes forward, PSU will move forward with the deconstruction of the building.

"Even if we don't find an owner, we will recycle the building after we abate it," Gallagher said. "We'd work with the Rebuilding Center so nothing goes to waste."

Though he is now a student at the University of Oregon, Spencer-Hartle can't shake his interest in the house at PSU. Though he hasn't been able to confirm it through his research, he says he has a feeling the house is probably the oldest residence still standing on the entire campus.

"The story of Portland from the 1940s onward with urban renewal and development of PSU is great," Spencer-Hartle said. "But the story of what happened before that is almost gone."