NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY

The neighborhood began as a land claim of Thomas and Polly-Anne Tyse, and through the 1800's the area remained a densely wooded area, unnamed and home to only a few residents. Early resident Isaac Baird was a circus man who wintered his animals, including elephants, in a barn near his home. Larger development was spurred by the arrival of an electric street car line in 1907 and a station. In 1910, H.L.Gilbert consolidated the majority of the current village (including the existing Home Addition) into the Wildwood Subdivision. At this point, the site was bounded by the same physical streets, but their names were: Fulton Boulevard, Farewell Street and Gordon Avenue. The neighborhood continued to grow and was eventually annexed to Portland over an 8-year period beginning in 1954.

DESIGN IMPETUS

When investigating both the history and contemporary culture of the Village, we were greatly struck by two primary precedents. The first of these being 'Wild West' storefront architecture, which came directly from the pioneers whom first built the area. Secondly, we began to look even farther back to the European and eastern seaboard concepts of mixed and stratified uses in relation to pedestrians and building's access to light; a prototype of most contemporary Portland zoning code and converse to the recent snout housing built in the area.

Unfortunately, the little red building; which was greatly adored by the client, Village, design team and the countless number of 'start-up' tenants over the decades, was structurally condemned due to neighborhood petition and therefore had to be removed.  Efforts were made to preserve the building for both historical and resource ecology, but the community chose  to not support it.  It was demolished.  But, first accurate measurements and drawings were created, so that their is a proper historic record for the Multnomah Village Community and Portland's archives.


measured drawings: Akiko Suzuki

On 31 May 2005, with a few raindrops in the air, the first shovels of dirt began to move on the construction vision.

The site has a length of 130' and rises 19' from its primary retail frontage, which intersects 'Fulton Boulevard' at an angle of approximately 12.25°.  For the version of this project being constructed, only one quadrant has been developed, leaving the other three for future prospects.