Eichler Park
UPDATE PART 2:
Per Tualatin Parks and Recreation records, the 2.58 acres for Eichler Park was donated in May of 1992 by Oregon resident Alena Eichler who owned the last at least as far back at 1943. They named the park after her and not California builder Joseph Eichler. The land that Rummer donated to the city was turned into Taliesen Park in the Highland neighborhood where some of his homes were built.
*Even though this park now has nothing to do with Rummer, I am going to leave this post up since it is an interesting story/coincidence.
UPDATE: so I went to an event where Rummer was interviewed and he said that he dedicated this plot of land to the city of Beaverton for a park and the city named the park Eichler Park (which he did not seem very happy about). Maybe the city should be petitioned to change the name to Rummer Park? Just a thought…
Eichler Park is a small city park that is located 2 blocks north of where Bob Rummer built some of his famous modern homes. The park has a beautiful community garden space and play area for children.
Located in Beaverton:
4770 SW 139th
Beaverton Oregon 97005
Hi Marisa—
When I first learned of this park I smiled and thought “huh… that’s weird,” but assumed this was just a very odd coincidence.
Now that we know Mr Rummer actually donated the land to the City of Beaverton to be used as a park, I’m flabbergasted that they had the gall to name it after a different builder (Mr Eichler was NOT an architect) who originated this style of home but as far as I know has no ties with Beaverton.
Thanks for calling attention to this blatant show of ingratitude and disrespect to the Portland area builder of these much beloved & sought after homes.
I say bad form to the City of Beaverton and agree that the park should be re-named Rummer Park as soon as possible!
-Steve
looks like we need to start a petition, I will let you know what I find out…
Steve, Marisa:
I think it is poetic justice. Rummer himself admitted to have copied Eichler’s home designs, verbatim in some cases (read this: http://www.eichlernetwork.com/ENStry22.html). He also hired Eichler’s architect, A quincy Jones to help him design what he couldn’t copy from pictures and seeing it in person (the Walnut Creek home his wife visited and got the idea from) alone. His defense that “nothing is original”, or “Romans had atrium”, in the rejuvenation video, is weak to say the least.
Read the side bar of the link I provided, headlined: “Ruminating Rummer: Coincidence or Copycat?”It is a well known fact that Oakland and Imada’s lawyers looked into suing Rummer but intellectual property/ copyright laws weren’t strengthens until mid seventies. If this was happening now he would have been sued and made to pay for stealing someone else’s intellectual property.
No one is calling Eichler homes Rummer style, after all. Rummer homes, on the other hand, are known as copies of Eichler homes.
It is worth noting that Rummer also named his Beaverton development ‘Taliasen’ (2mins 24sec. into the Rejuvenation video) which is what Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio was named, albeit spelled ‘Taliasin’. I am not sure if Rummer misspelled or made the minor change so he can claim it wasn’t exactly a copy!
I should have left a space between the link and parenthesis
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/ENStry22.html
This one should work.
Also see the article in Dwell (Read paragraph starting with: “A perfect example of low-key mid-century modernism set in southwest Portland”):
http://www.dwell.com/articles/just-do-it.html#ixzz0p1lZb37o
Hi Chris, thanks for weighing in and for the links. I am a little behind in updating this page but Steve spoke with Tualatin Parks and it turns out that the 2.58 acres for Eichler Park was donated in May of 1992 by Alena Eichler who owned the last at least as far back at 1943. They named the park after her and not Joseph Eichler. The land that Rummer donated to the city was turned into Taliesen Park in the Highland neighborhood where some of his homes were built.