The AHC Hard Hat Tour of the Salvation Army Industrial Home, #1

An artifact, not so very old from the looks of it, which I found on a second-floor windowsill in the southernmost, older section of the building.

The AHC Hard Hat Tour of the Salvation Army Industrial Home, #1

About the Hard Hat Tour, found at Community NonProfit Resource Group--Portland: This Salvation Army building was the District Headquarters for Men's Social services for the state of Oregon, Eastern Washington, and all of Montana. Architecturally it is a GREAT building, designed by Frederick Manson White who came to the US in 1888. With the firm McCaw & Martin, he worked on downtown Portland's First Presbyterian Church, Dekum Building, and the Armory. In his own practice, he designed the Sherlock Building, Imperial Hotel, and the Auditorium Building. Actually, White did not design the whole building. In 1930 he designed the remodel which added the northern building to the southern building. In another post, I've got a special treat of a photograph which supports the fact that the southern building was a Salvation Army building, prior to the 1930 remodel. Our "hard-hat tour" will allow attendees to see the building before all of its restoration is complete. It is an opportunity for a behind the scenes look at the challenges, conditions, and innovative approaches for a superb adaptive reuse project. We're standing inside the southern most section of the Salvation Army Industrial Home building which is actually two buildings remodeled into one. This part, erected in 1893, started as a hay and feed business. It's great that those huge, first-floor windows remained open, allowing the sun the illuminate the huge room for us. Our first speaker, Morgen from the Architectural Heritage Center, set the historical stage for the tour. Then a woman from Venerable Properties spoke of what had been here up to this point in time and about Venerable's plans for the building. One view of the stairs we did not take to the second floor. The staircase is in the southern most section, too. Looking up the staircase. I held the camera out across the red tape, knowing not to put my foot over there on that part of the floor. Wonder what sort of lives were led by the men who laid these bricks back in 1893? This is the exterior, southernmost wall. One of my favorite items found on the Hard Hat Tour, this sign leaning against the wall which separated the newer portion of the building, the northern part, from the older, southern section. The remodel by Frederick Manson White took place in 1930 and gave the Salvation Army just what it needed, much more space to perform their services for Portland. And I don't mean chapel services, but the many ways in which they helped those in need. Here is the photo as altered at Picnik, HDR-ish. You may remember my lament about the April 19 closing of Picnik. I'm still not happy at all about it's disappearance from my photo/blogging toolbox, but I have found Ipiccy and PicMonkey, both of which give me great hope. See yesterday's post for evidence to their effectiveness. Here's the same photo, altered in Picnik with the special effect Gritty. And here it is, altered at Ipiccy, HDR Picture. Seems to me a decent tool, although I will take me some time and some playing around with the tool to get used to this muted look. After April 19, I'll have to be happy with it, unless PicMonkey comes up with something more like Picnik's HDR-ish. Ipiccy's Gritty special effect. I'll bet you're looking forward to April 19 when I won't have all of these alternatives to shower on you! Ha, ha!

Salvation Army Industrial Home Building, four versions of the same image, plus two others

Which version pleases you most? I myself cannot make a decision. Unaltered Picnik Ipiccy PicMonkey A black and white photo, from the 1930's I think, which was on display at the Hard Hat Tour. Fletcher Farr Ayote, Inc.--Industrial Home Rehabilitation Design, also on display at the Hard Hat Tour. Here's some information about the Salvation Army Industrial Home Building: Message from the Architectural Heritage Center: Hard Hat Tour: The Salvation Army’s “Industrial Home” Building, Saturday, March 3, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. Please Meet at the Industrial Home building – 200 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. @ SE Ash Street Sturdy shoes are recommended as this is a construction site. This is what was written in the AHC (visitahc.org) newsletter: The Salvation Army is a venerable national institution, serving people in need for more than a century. Throughout the US (and Portland) there are many fine buildings that housed their programs and provided housing. In Portland’s Central Eastside, the Salvation Army’s “Industrial Home” building will be getting a new lease on life, with an adaptive re-use project by Venerable Properties. This 26,000 square foot structure, built in 1893 for a hay and feed business, was acquired by the Salvation Army in 1913. The building was doubled in size in 1930, as part of architect Frederick Manson White’s “face lift” of the building’s entire façade. The Industrial Home model provided jobs and housing for the homeless under one roof. Workers collected and repaired second-hand goods and a thrift-store sold those goods to the public. The building included a workers dormitory, dining facilities, and a chapel—keeping with the Salvation Army’s focus on the “whole person.” Several remodels removed or concealed many of the building’s historic features, but that’s about to change. This is your chance to see the transformation in progress, as original materials are uncovered and historic features are wonderfully restored. The afternoon program will cover the project’s vision, building history, and a top to bottom tour. Our own Education Committee Chair, Morgen Young, will place the Industrial Home building in context with Portland’s other Salvation Army facilities. Fantastic to see the three floors (we didn’t go into the basement) and to hear the history of this building which is actually two buildings and to hear about the plans that Venerable has for a whole lotta square footage. Blogger is changing in April, which as we all know is just a few days away. I made the MISTAKE of clicking on the announcement earlier this evening, and now I'm STUCK there. Rats. I cannot get my previous method of putting links on my posts to work! I cannot figure out how to use what appears to be a link tool on this new method. RATS. So, here's what I read on Venerable Properties Web site about the Industrial Home Building: Venerable’s new development project is the 26,000 sq ft Salvation Army Industrial Home located on Martin Luther King Boulevard and Ash Street. The project will offer approximately 10,000 square ft of ground floor retail/restaurant space to serve the Central Eastside neighborhood. Features will includes large expanses of storefront glass, multiple sidewalk entries, high ceilings, exposed heavy timber structural elements and an oversized skylight for a unique one-story 2,000 square ft addition on Ash Street. The second and third stories will offer 16,000 square ft of office space with huge, new operable windows, high ceilings, exposed structure and light well. As a bonus, the views of Downtown Portland are outstanding. Finally, Industrial Home will offer parking on a contiguous 9,000 square ft lot accessible by both MLK and Grand. This redevelopment will be executed by the same team that resurrected White Stag—Venerable Development, Fletcher Farr Ayotte Architects and Bremik Construction. Architectural planning has being and construction is expected to commence in mid-2012. Brief Building History The building appears to be one building from the exterior; however, the south half was constructed in 1893 and this structure was then expanded and remodeled in 1930 by architect Frederick Manson White, giving it the uniform appearance it has today. While the 1893 building first had a hay-and-feed use, it was later owned and used by the Salvation Army as their Industrial Home in 1913. Industrial Homes were more common in major American cities during this time as the Salvation Army was growing and spreading their mission to help the poor. The purpose of the Home was to provide work and shelter for homeless, unemployed men. They would collect, sort and resell recyclable items such as rags and paper and collect, repair and sell second-hand merchandise such as clothes, shoes, furniture and household items. As was typical for these complexes, Portland’s Industrial Home included a retail thrift store, sorting and repair rooms. The building also contained a dormitory, large washroom, kitchen, dining room and chapel for the workers. In addition to its significance related to the Salvation Army’s work in Portland, it is notable that this building housed the longest running second-hand shop in the city from 1913 to 2010 and probably also housed Portland’s first organized recycling effort.