Archive for the Architectural Features Category
The Royal 5 Project – Organic Architect Robert Oshatz
site for the Royal 5
The newest venture for Robert Oshatz, Portland’s famed organic architect, is a project titled the “Royal 5″. There are 5 view lots located at the intersection of NW Skyline and Royal Blvd which Oshatz plans to sell, design and build 5 custom homes for some very lucky buyers.
You might be wondering why Oshatz doesn’t just design, build then sell his homes but according to his design approach he must first understand the clients needs and the function the home must provide:
“The starting point of my work is the clients program, so my first step is to divide the program into its functional and spiritual components. The program is more than just a set of functional requirements, technical space allocations and relationships. It should embody the emotional needs of the client/user.”*
The term “organic architecture” was used by and to describe Frank Lloyd Wrights approach to design. The idea of organic architecture refers not only to the buildings’ literal relationship to the natural surroundings, but how the buildings’ design is carefully thought about as if it were a unified organism. Oshatz had worked for and studied under Frank Lloyd Wright Jr and is a very accomplished architect.
“Just as there is no one answer to life’s problems, due to its complex and changing nature, there is no single solution to an architectural design challenge. With a myriad of past experiences within me, I try to clear my mind of previous solutions and preconceived notions and approach design intuitively.”*
These factors guarantee that each of these homes will be artistically unique and I am excited to see this project develop. These yet to be constructed homes are available for purchase, contact me if you would like more info on purchasing one of the Royal 5 homes.
Posts about Robert Oshatz:
Photos of other residential projects by Robert Oshatz:
Wilkinson Residence
*from the Oshatz website
Leroy Setziol – Oregon Artist
Door Carved by Leroy Setziol at the Frank Shell House
As some of you know, I have been reporting on the progress at the Frank Shell house, from short sale to bank owned and now saved and being restored by a skilled contractor with an eye for the architects original vision. I was always very curious about the front door to the home (pictured above). It is obviously hand carved and very much an original piece of mid century art. While chatting with the current owner a while ago, he mentioned that the door was carved by a local artist friend of Shells that gave this door to the Shells as an anniversary gift and that artist had done carvings that were featured at Salishan. As luck would have it, I was at that very moment less than a 2 minute drive to the Salishan Lodge, so I grabbed my camera and went on a lodge tour. The lobby, restaurant and stairs leading to the lounge are filled with huge wooden panels that were hand carved by this artist whom I found out is Leroy Setziol.
“Recognized as the “most accomplished and respected wood sculptor in the Northwest,” Roy Setziol was born in Philadel phia and grew up in cosmopolitan Buffalo. After graduating with a degree in art from Elmhurst College he married Ruth Davis in 1940. In 1941 he completed a theological degree and then worked as a minister in Bennington, New York. During WWII he served as a chaplain with the U.S. Army 43rd Infantry in the South Pacific. Soon after the war he joined his family in Portland, Oregon.
With Ruth supporting the family Roy began his career as an artist. Setziol’s art has been influenced by his experience interacting with the immigrant communities in Buffalo, the art he observed in the South Pacific, his personal interest in European art, and his experience living in the Northwest. He is a “sculptor who happens to work with wood,” in part because of the ready availability of the material in Oregon. Long admired by the architectural community, his work has been described as monumental and intimate, symbolic and abstract, geometric and organic. It is rich in color and texture with many of his pieces employing a grid system he discovered nearly 40 years ago carving a piece for the Menucha Conference Center in the Columbia Gorge. Roy has been commissioned for an extraordinary number of public pieces including those that can be seen at the Salishan Lodge, the Salem Public Library, the Child Development Center in Portland, the Chevron Building in Lagos, Nigeria, and at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. His sculptures are also in the collections of the Salem Art Association, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery.”
From his Salem Art Association biography.
Now that I can identify Setziols work, I can easily recall having seen it before and that explains why the Frank Shell door was something that felt so familiar. See below for more photos of Setziols work and check out the Oregon Artbeat feature on the local artist from 2001.
Event – Kenneth Birkemeier Lecture – Artistry in Bricks
Birkemeier mid century home on Fremont in NE Portland
This Saturday, June 25th, 2011, is the encore presentation of the Kenneth Birkemeier lecture at the Architectural Heritage Center. I went to the first lecture last November and it was pretty fascinating, well worth the price of admission!
Details from the Architectural Heritage Center website:
The post-World War II building boom in Portland presented many opportunities for architects and builders to interpret the “modern” home. Ken Birkemeier was one such Portland builder, who designed and constructed completely original homes during this period. Though also credited with building Colonials and conventional Ranch Style houses, the Birkemeier Modern home remains his most identifiable house type. These brick (or partially brick) houses often incorporated avant-garde or whimsical features in their design and looked forward to an optimistic future filled with technological promise. Whether futuristic or conventional, the quality of construction in Birkemeier homes and his always pleasing designs have earned him legions of home-owning fans over the years. A real estate listing today with the name Birkemeier in the title always commands attention and respect.
AHC Education Committee member Jack Bookwalter will discuss the distinctive features found in all Birkemeier houses. You’ll also learn about Ken Birkemeier the man, whose remarkable career spanned the 1930s to the 1970s. Following his talk Jack will lead a short walking tour past several Birkemeier homes in NE Portland. (Transportation from the AHC not provided.)
This program is an encore of the sold-out lecture from November 2010.
Pre-registration is strongly suggested
Buy tickets here
Frank Shell House Update
entry atrium - one of three atriums
One of the first blog posts that I wrote here on the Modern Homes Portland site was a visit to a home that was on market designed by architect Frank Shell for his personal residence. Frank and his wife lived in this house until he passed away in 2003. The Shell house was then sold, a little bit of work was done to it then it was sold again. The home then went back up on market a short time after, that listing turned into short sale, a sale never happened so it went back to the bank. During the couple of years it took the bank to take it back and re-sell it, the property ended up suffering from a bit of deferred maintenance. I lost count on how many times I have showed this house but let’s just say that I know it quite well.
During the years that the property was in short sale/bank owned limbo, the fear for most mid century architecture preservationists was that a builder would see a good deal in the land/lots for development and raze the house to build something more “profitable” since it is in a desirable, close-in SW neighborhood.
The good news: I was contacted recently by the new owner, who is a contractor, and very much enamored with the form as most of us are. He is currently working on preserving the structure and updating the systems as necessary but is making an effort to keep many of the details intact and taking care to research the architects original vision for the home.
The owner let me take a look around the other day and take a few photos while they were working, slideshow below:
I can’t wait to see what it is like when he is done and we are so happy that the Frank Shell house will be here for many more years, thank you new owner….next stop, historical register?
Original post on the Frank Shell House.
Shell House – Frank Shell Architect
Photo slideshow of the Frank Shell house vacant prior to it’s most recent purchase and renovation.
More posts on the architect Frank Shell:
East County Mid-Century Historic Survey Project
Midtown Estates Advertisement from the Oregonian
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability recently completed a historic building survey in East Portland neighborhoods, as part of a small grant from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The focus was on “Mid-Century” residential areas developed from 1935-1965, a period when East Portland experienced considerable growth and change.
From the City of Portland’s website:
East Portland is a special and complex part of the city, and its history, landscapes, and development differ in many ways from Portland’s urban core and inner-ring neighborhoods. Much of East Portland was developed in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, when new architectural styles and building forms were introduced. Styles such as the Ranch House, Split-level, and “Mid-Century Modern” became popular, for example. Those styles and forms were the focus of this survey project.
A team led by a consulting firm, Historic Preservation Northwest (HPNW), photographed buildings to determine their age, style, and characteristic features. Approximately 600 properties were surveyed, grouped in clusters in neighborhoods. The clusters were selected to represent a range of development eras and patterns, architectural types and styles of construction that were prevalent from 1935-1965. The survey was selective due to the large size and diversity of the study area. Most of the properties surveyed were single-family residences, although some commercial buildings constructed during the 1935-1965 development period were also included.
Go to the City of Portland’s page here dedicated to the survey and click on the PDF marked Modern Historic Resources of East Portland and have fun looking at all of the mid century structures with detailed outline of architectural features and histories.
Modern Event – Watzek House Tour
John Yeon designed Watzek House
This months issue of Portland Monthly magazine features the 10 greatest homes in Portland (per a panel of judges). One of them being the Watzek House that was designed by John Yeon. Portland Monthly and the University of Oregon are hosting a first time ever public tour of the home next month.
John Yeon’s Watzek House is one of the most famous Northwest Regional Style home designs in the country. Designed in 1936 for Aubrey Watzek (local lumber baron), the Watzek House has been featured at MOMA twice and is to be an official National Historic Landmark this year. Yeon took possession of the home in the 70′s and it was later donated to the University of Oregon after Yeon’s death in 1994.
Tour details:
When – Saturday April 30th 2011 and Sunday May 1st, 2011 – there area specific time slots to book, 12 people per tour for a 90 minute tour
Where – Buy a ticket and you will get the location
Cost – Tickets are $60 per person for the standard tour option. There is an exclusive tour Saturday April 4th at 4pm with Richard Brown (an associate of Yeon) who lived in the Watzek House for more than 30 years, tickets for that tour are $150 per person. The tour is a benefit for the John Yeon Center fir Architectural Studies a the University of Oregon.
Purchase tickets and pick your tour time at the Portland Monthly site.
Modern Event – Lecture on the Speculative Houses of John Yeon
The Oregon Historical Society is hosting a lecture on John Yeons speculative house designs. RSVP to get a spot to what will be a fascinating lecture. More details below from the OHS website:
“The Speculative Houses of Portland Architectural Designer John Yeon”
Sunday, March 6 at 2 PM
This lecture will include a retrospective on Oregon architectural designer, John Yeon, focusing on his “Speculative House” series (1938-40). Leland Roth, Professor of Architectural History at the University of Oregon, will give a lecture on the life and career of one of Oregon’s most influential architectural designers. The presentation will highlight the nine “Speculative Houses” which Yeon designed after completing his internationally acclaimed Watzek House (1937). Featuring many innovative design elements, the houses helped to refine Yeon’s technique and to influence the Northwest Regional style of architecture. Robert Hinds, UO alumnus and owner of one of the Speculative Houses, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, will introduce the topic. Please call 503.306.5214 to RSVP or RSVP online
When: Sunday March 6th, 2011 at 2 pm
Where: Oregon Historial Society 1200 SW Park Ave Portland OR
Williams Five Condos by PATH Architecture
Williams Five Project by PATH - 1 unit left $279k
Williams Five by PATH
I finally had a chance to pop by and tour the very last Williams Five Condo unit for sale. The units are placed with 3 living spaces in the back/side of the building and 2 live/work spaces in the front. The front and main floor of each of the units have a large floor to ceiling glass sliding doors that would be amazing to throw open on a warm spring day. There are unique metal grates that make up a portion of the flooring between the first and second floors to allow air flow from the slider area and to allow heat from the concrete floors to flow upwards on cold days. The interior didn’t sound very large on paper but the high ceilings and the multi use spaces make it feel like it would live much larger. There is a lot of light pouring in, I visited on a rainy day (no surprise being in Portland) and it was still very bright despite the dark and stormy clouds. The top floor is the living space which is nice to have separated from the multi use areas and the dining areas. The units are off of the street so they are quiet. There is not much room between the front doors so it would be good to get to know the neighbors since you will most likely share outdoor space when it gets warmer.
Designed and built by PATH Architecture, Williams Five Condominiums were also the winner of the 2009 AIA Mayor’s Award for Design Excellence.
Located at 5226 N Williams this unit has 2 beds, 2 baths and 1,516 sq ft of living space with a walk score of 83. The current asking price is $279k.
To see more condo listings please visit my modern condos Portland page.
Williams Five
No listings found
master bath in the Williams Five project
Modern Event: Modern Views Screening at the Center for Architecture
Northwest Regional Mid Century Home - Saul Zaik
Thursday January 20th, 2011, the Center for Architecture will be hosting a free viewing of a new documentary titled Modern Views – A Conversation on Northwest Modern Architecture.
Description from the movies website:
“An insightful new documentary about mid-century northwest modern architecture, MODERN VIEWS illustrates how designers today can learn from sustainable and economic choices made as many as 50 years ago. Through the personal histories and insoghts of five prominent northwest modern architects, the film offers a deeper understanding of this unique style of architecture happening in the Pacific Northwest in a period that is often overlooked.”
Here is the trailer :
When – Thursday January 20th,2011 at 6pm
Where – Center for Architecture – 403 NW 11th Portland, OR
Details – Free screening of the documentary Modern Views
