Street of Eames Pre-sale Tickets
Street of Eames Modern Home Tour
Tickets for the 2010 Street of Eames modern homes tour are available for purchase right now. Special advanced tickets are available for an additional donation price of $250 per pair (includes 2 – $50 tickets and a $150 tax deductible donation to the Street of Eames Fund, which supports after-school programs for homeless elementary school students in Portland Public Schools). Regular priced tickets ($50) officially go on sale February 22nd, 2010 but the event sells out every year (within minutes) so, if you don’t want to take any chances, then you should buy tickets now at the Street of Eames website.
Rummer Restoration Project – Gresham Oregon
back of the double gabled Gresham Rummer *Not For Sale*
- double Thermador’s reporting for duty
A little while ago I stumbled across a very entertaining blog about a family (the Lewis’) from Gresham restoring/remodeling their Rummer home. They do not make it look fast or easy but it is very entertaining getting to take a peek into their remodeling projects and the outcome is always amazing, they do such a great job! Another thing that I love about the Lewis’ blog is that the entire family is excited about their home projects, they make it feel like the home is a family member and not just a place to live.
So after I had devoured all of the blogs contents, I contacted Steve and Haley and invited myself over to tour and get a first hand look of their restoration project. When I visited they had zero kitchen, it was gutted to the studs (very brave). Haley took me on the tour and explained all of the pretty, clean lines they are going to open up throughout the home, to take it back to the way it was intended to look (& then some).
The kitchen design is influenced by case study home #22. Here is the plan:
kitchen plan, modeled after case study home #22 - (photo by the Lewis')
case study house #22 - photo by Julius Shulman
Update: Since I have visited, the Lewis’ have put the kitchen back together. Pics here! It is amazing, thanks for sharing it with us.
P.S. can’t wait to see what they do with that ‘56 Airstream Safari aka Plan B
Gresham Rummer holiday ~ beautiful! (photos by the Lewis')
For a list of all of the Rummer homes for sale in the Portland area visit the Rummer page where I will update listings as they hit market.
More Rummer Related Blog Posts:
Historical Mid Century Modern Home by Pietro Belluschi Preserved
- Belluschi House – 911 sq.ft.
Belluschi House Built in 1951 - Lake Oswego, Oregon
Below is a great article update on the preservation of the Pietro Belluschi (one of the fathers of the NW Regional Style) home in Lake Oswego. Thanks for the article REPDX and Clarin Cromwell of Marylhurst University.
Historic Lake Oswego House to Find a Home at Marylhurst University
Rare residence built by famed architect Pietro Belluschi will come to campus
LAKE OSWEGO, OR — A small but historically significant home designed by noted Portland architect Pietro Belluschi will be kept in Lake Oswego, now that the Marylhurst University board of trustees has endorsed a plan to give the house a permanent home on the Marylhurst campus.
The agreement comes nearly three years after Tim Mather, owner of MCM Construction, and Tia Ross, a fellow historic homes preservationist, discovered a 911-square-foot home designed in 1951 by Belluschi for Arthur and Lucy Griffith of Lake Oswego was about to be demolished, and began a campaign to save it.
The home was believed to be one of only a few Belluschi-designed residences still standing unaltered, and the only one of its kind in Lake Oswego. The Italian-born Belluschi was involved in the design of an estimated 1,000 buildings over his 50-year career, including the Portland Art Museum, the Julliard School of Music in New York and St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. He is widely known as the creator of the Northwest style of architecture, and his homes were constructed to take advantage of their natural surroundings and available light.
“The house is a perfect example of the elegant simplicity of Belluschi’s mid-century modernist approach to design,” said Mather. “It’s truly a work of art and, fully restored, will be a lasting reminder of Belluschi’s architectural legacy.”
The home is essentially one large room, featuring cork floors, hemlock paneling and beamed ceilings. Never remodeled, it had fallen into disrepair, needing a new roof and heating and electrical systems. The home was purchased by developer George Hale, who recognized the house’s intrinsic value but couldn’t find a suitable reuse for the structure until Mather and Ross interceded. Hale donated the home, and Mather paid for it to be meticulously deconstructed and stored. The house – now in 2,000 pieces, all numbered and measured – sits in a 48-foot storage container awaiting reconstruction and restoration.
“I am so pleased that Marylhurst will become the home of this noted piece of 20th-century architecture,” said Judi Johansen, Marylhurst University president. “The educational opportunities the Griffith house at our new Belluschi Pavilion will provide for our students and for the broader community are countless, and I look forward to working with Tim and his colleagues on all the next steps of restoring this home to its full beauty on our campus.”
Fundraising efforts are now underway to pay for the costs of siting, permitting, reconstructing and restoring the Belluschi house. Contact David Miller - Friends of Belluschi 503-699-9600 dave@mcmbuild.com to donate to the preservation effort.
About Friends of Belluschi
Friends of Belluschi was founded in 2006 by Tim Mather, Tia Ross and other home preservationists to save and restore the Griffith residence designed by Pietro Belluschi in Lake Oswego in 1951.
About Marylhurst University
Marylhurst University, a private liberal arts university located one mile south of downtown Lake Oswego on Highway 43, is regionally accredited and nationally recognized for innovation and academic excellence. Marylhurst’s small, seminar-style classes – offered weekdays, evenings, weekends and online – provide convenience and flexibility for students with busy lives seeking professional certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees
Belluschi
Belluschi House Oregon
More Preservation Stories:
Visual Acoustics – The Modernism of Julius Shulman
This documentary about the work of Julius Shulman, famed modernist photographer best know for his photos of the Case Study homes in California, is playing this week at the Living Room Theater in Portland, Oregon. I highly recommend seeing it before it is gone. I am on my way right now.
Summary:
Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, Visual Acoustics, celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California’s modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.
Green Hammer – Sustainable Modern Home Builders Portland Oregon
LEED Gold Home in Estacada - McCune Designinterior LEED Gold Estacada House
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet up with one of the designers at Green Hammer Construction, Jesse Schwartzberg, who was also kind enough to take me on a tour of their office/warehouse and tell me about some of their current projects. Green Hammer’s office is located close-in industrial SE Portland, where they have a bright open industrial space, with high ceilings and a loft work space. The offices are connected to a warehouse that houses beautifully handcrafted furniture and cabinets that they are custom building for clients. The back half of the warehouse is also home to the Urban Timberworks Project. The Urban Timberworks project takes trees that have been removed in the city of Portland and salvages the wood for building purposes, cabinets and furniture. There was quite an amazing assortment of pieces of wood that are waiting to be made into beautiful tables, handrails, door frames, counter tops …you get the picture.
Green Hammer utilizes cutting edge energy efficiency practices while maintaining an intelligent design sensibility in their projects. In their building philosophy they incorporate waste reduction, ecological materials, energy efficiency, water conservation, healthy air, diversity of design, longevity, and the economic support of all things local.
Another service that Green Hammer offer is home performance testing aka home energy performance diagnostic. The process tests your home systems to see how energy efficient your house is. The results are measured by a an overall score and they will show you where you can make improvements to your home to make it more energy efficient.
More examples of their work on their website here. And one of their projects for sale here.
Mid Century Modern Home Builder Rummer Speaking at Rejuvenation Benefit
Rummer Home
Rejuvenation is hosting a benefit in conjunction with the Street of Eames – Portland’s Modern Home Tour on November 4th at 6pm. The special guest speaker is going to be local legend mid century modern builder Robert Rummer! Becca Cavell of THA Architecture Inc. will also speak, introduce and interview Mr. Rummer at the event.
Important Info:
You need to RSVP for this event and I was just notified that they will be at maximum capacity by this weekend. This means you need to sign up right now….here!
There is a suggested donation of $20 at the door that will benefit the Street of Eames after school programs for homeless youth.
There will be light refreshments served.
For a list of all of the Rummer homes for sale in the Portland area visit the Rummer page where I will update listings as they hit market.
Located at:
1100 SE Grand
Portland, OR
Street of Eames Goes to Work Tour – Portland’s Architecture Showcase
Bside6 building
Thursday, October 29th, 2009 from 5pm-8pm, a handful of Portland’s top architecture and design firms will open their doors to the public and show off their own creative workspace in a fundraising tour put together by the same people that bring you the “Street of Eames – Portland’s Modern Home Tour”.
The Street of Eames Goes to Work tour includes the offices of architecture firms such as:
- BOORA Architects
- Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects
- Holst Architecture
- Vallaster Corl Architects
The tour will also include the new BSide6 building, the new Mercy Corps headquarters, and creative firms NORTH and Ziba Design.
Tickets are $30 and are only available at the Street of Eames website. Proceeds benefit the Center for Architecture and two Portland after-school programs for homeless elementary school students. This self-guided tour begins at the AIA’s Center for Architecture, 403 NW 11th Ave, the tour runs from 5pm-8pm.
Rummer Mid Century Modern Home – Portland Oregon
Rummer Home 13770 SW Bonnie Brae ~ $479,900 (SOLD -$410K)
atrium in the Rummer home
kitchen living space
mid century modern globe lights
This mid century modern listing found it’s way to my inbox via repdx (thanks for the tip!), the photos were amazing so I had to head out and see it for myself. The company that is selling the home, Phoenix Redevelopment Inc., buys and refurbishes properties all over Portland. I have seen a lot of their listings and they typically renovate older homes, this is the first time that I have seen a mid century modern home in their line up (I could be wrong). Usually one cringes when they see the words “renovate” when paired with “mid century” because a lot of people upgrade to a newer look instead of restoring the original concept. Phoenix did a good job restoring this Rummer, they have kept as much original detail as possible i.e. sliding doors, floor to ceiling windows, exposed beam ceiling, cement floors, radiant heat and have paired it with tasteful modern fixes where preservation was not possible. Some of the upgrades include: new roof, newer bath fixtures (dual flush toilets), on demand water heater, exterior window upgrade, new cork floors, recycled glass kitchen counters (sparkly!), updated electric more details here. If you are wondering what is a Rummer (rhymes with summer)? Here is the answer.
P.S. if you love all things Rummer, stay tuned, we will be announcing some fun Rummer events coming up in the next couple of months!
For a list of all of the Rummer homes for sale in the Portland area visit the Rummer page where I will update listings as they hit market.
Here is a video tour of the home:
Here is a tour of the neighborhood, working on getting my full face in the shot:
Another after I turned the corner (more extreme close ups):
Sustainable Modern Home – Portland Oregon
SIP's House -Seed Architecture Studio design- on market $635k
corten (weathered steel) siding
reclaimed cedar from barns in the Pacific NW
counters are made from cement, fly ash, and recycled glass combo
A couple of days ago, I received a call from Wendy Cohan inviting me to tour a new construction modern home they had recently put on the market. I love to tour all things modern, so we set up an appointment for the very next day. After I got off of the phone, I looked up the listing in the MLS curious as to why it had not crossed my modern homes detector, and I saw that it is not in a neighborhood that I usually scan for modern homes. There was one blurry photo in the MLS that looked like it could be an interesting home but I googled the owners name and stumbled upon a website for the house. The home is called the SIP’s House and it is the first approved residential structure made completely out of SIP’s. SIP stands for Structurally Insulated Panel, which are made from rigid insulation sandwiched between structural skins of OSB (Oriented Strand Board), basically the strongest, most energy efficient, and cost effective material you can build a home with. Upon further investigation, I found out that David Cohan works as a manager for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, which explains his investment into such a project, to make history in sustainable building in Portland, one of the most sustainable cities in America.
The SIP’s house is located in the Cully Neighborhood (recently featured in Sunset magazine however, I could not find a good link for it, if you have one feel free to shout it out in the comments). The house is stunning to look at from the exterior. The owner received a grant to get the home designed by Seed Architect Studio. The siding is a combination of reclaimed cedar planks from old barns around the Pacific NW and Corten (weathered steel) which, side by side they compliment each others colors and textures very well. The interior is lit very well by natural light and is very modern in design. There are 3 roomy bedrooms, with the master on the main, and 2.5 baths.
The owners have built the house to be LEED Platinum Certified (once it has been lived in for a year).
Additional sustainable features include:
- All electric home.
- Heat recovery ventilator to recover 80% of the heat from inside before it is ventilated outside.
- All appliances are Energy Star or better.
- Low flow, dual flush toilets.
- No garage.
- Native plant landscaping.
- Solar thermal hot water system.
- More info here.
Located at 6108 NE 45th Ave
Architect Feature: Robert Oshatz – Organic Architect
Oshatz's Skyland Circle Home built in 1975 - on market for $1.67M 18024 Skyland Cir Lake Oswego Oregon
Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world through the design approach. The site, building, furnishing and surroundings are creatively integrated into an interrelated composition. Frank Lloyd Wright is credited as having coined the term and his work encompasses this philosophy. The design approach of the organic architect begins with a site study to see how the structure will fit into the natural setting. The same materials used on the exterior of the structure are reflected in the interior so that when you are looking outside it is difficult to distinguish the difference between the two. The materials used in building the structure are typically from the areas close to the site so that it is the same as the landscape.
Oregon’s very own famed Organic Architect, Robert Oshatz, keeps away from all design theories (except the basic: composition, dominance,transition and identity) so that his process of design comes from simply solving a given problem. When presented with a problem, Oshatz clears his mind of prior solutions and uses intuition to solve each one, since all projects and problems are unique.The design approach is more along the lines of anything goes, as long as it works both functionally for the clients needs and with nature.
Oshatz has graced Oregon’s landscape with some of the most unique structures, ones that are difficult to find since he is so effective in achieving his goal of integrating the structure into the natural landscape. Photos from his own Elk Rock residence located in Lake Oswego, channels a 70’s sci-fi thriller set meets Frank Lloyd Wright atmosphere. I recently had the opportunity to tour one of his early designs that is currently on the market (a rare opportunity). I was told it was one of his first projects, built in 1975, and it is truly a breathtaking creation. The entry is hidden off of the driveway behind a stone column so it felt almost like the home was pulling you into it as you approach it. When you enter the home you are greeted by intensely high lit beamed ceilings, as you head to the right you enter into a communal living space with floor to ceiling windows that look out into the forest and a pool with a unique design. The living space also has a built in bar, built in wall seat that matches the wood on the walls, a huge stone fireplace that is circular and extends through the ceiling which mimics the trees outside. You can see from the exterior photos, the home starts low at the back and gradually becomes larger as it springs into the forest. As you walk through the interior from back to front it feels like you are emerging from a cozy comfy cocoon and into the middle of the forest. The design of the home in relation to the exterior environment evokes an emotional response, one that makes you appreciate nature and creates a heightened awareness of the beauty that comes with working with nature. This home is located at 18024 Skyland Circle, Lake Oswego and was purchased and restored by architect Dick Baty in 2008, with Oshatz on hand as an advisor.
Oshatz’s creations are among some of the higher end real estate in the Portland area (when/if they are ever on market). However, if you are on a budget and would like to own a piece of Oshatz’s work, there currently is one unit (3bd, 2ba) available in his Raleigh Woods apartments turned condos ($171k).
More Skyland Circle photos below and here:
interior loft bedroom overlooking living space
modern living space
exterior living space
More posts on Oregon’s organic architecture:
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