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NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:126 NE Alberta St historic name:Mallory Avenue Christian Church
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Church of Christ at Mallory and Alberta; Alberta Abbey
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:building height (stories):3.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1925 second date:1949 date indiv listed:02/25/2021
primary orig use: RELIGION: General orig use comments:Social:Civic; Recreation and Culture:Auditorium; Commerce/Trade:Business
second orig use: SOCIAL: General
primary style: Modern Period: Other prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Multi-Color Brick siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: architect:Walter E. Kelly (church); Robert Hall Orr (basement)
builder:Robert M. Robson (church)
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   African American Resources in Portland, Oregon from 1851 to 1973 MPS 07/01/2020 2020
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 02/25/2021
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Federal Tax Program
Status Start Compl
Complete 01/01/2019  2020
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Mallory Avenue Christian Church is an early postwar modern church located at the corner of NE Alberta Street and NE Mallory Avenue in Portland’s Albina neighborhood. Although only four blocks from NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd—a major commercial thoroughfare—the immediate blocks surrounding the church are characterized by single-family residential homes. The church’s basement was built in 1925 and the two-story, above-grade building was built in 1949. With approximately 24,000 square feet of building area, the building is square-shaped in plan. It has a tall concrete foundation wall and the concrete structure is clad with multi-tone brown brick on the primary elevations. Almost all of the windows on the building are original “Trim-Set” metal windows. The church has a gable roof form with an east-facing cross gable and a three-story corner tower with copper spire. The main entrance is within the corner tower and the sanctuary is identified by the large gable front on the primary (north) elevation which includes a two-story vertical grouping of windows with colored glass. The east elevation is arranged with “hyphens” between each of the prominent building masses—the corner tower, the center gable, and the small chapel at the rear. The church’s interior has much of its original character intact including the spatial arrangement of most of the character-defining spaces and circulation paths. These include the entry stair, narthex, parlor, and sanctuary. The original plaster walls, doors, wood paneling, and the sanctuary seating are also intact in the building. The character-defining features that make the church a noteworthy modern design include the absence of revival style features, the lack of applied ornamentation, the clean articulation of the façade, the use of colored panes in simple metal windows rather than pictorial stained glass, and the minimalist interior with surfaces articulated in plaster and wood paneling. The basement includes a gymnasium with stage, kitchen, classrooms, and other ancillary spaces. The building retains a high level of integrity. Changes made to the building include covering the stuccoed secondary elevations with aluminum siding, the addition of solar panels, the replacement of doors at the building’s secondary entries, demising the chapel into two rooms, and removing the pulpit and other built-in items at the chancel to create an open stage.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Mallory Avenue Christian Church is locally significant under Criterion C for architecture as an outstanding example of an early postwar modern church and under Criterion A for ethnic heritage as a church that provided meaningful programming and outreach within Portland’s African American community. As it relates to architecture, the post-World War II building boom resulted in a remarkable increase in churches through the country. This also prompted a major stylistic shift in church design. No other building type sparked such strong debate within the design community and church leadership regarding the merits of revival styles versus modernism. Similarly, the creativity and inventiveness with which architects approached church design in the postwar years was marked and wide-ranging. Designed by architect Walter E. Kelly, Mallory Christian reflects the trends in postwar ecclesiastical design. It maintains the traditional form of the church with a tower, spire, and gable-front sanctuary; however, the church is stripped down to simple forms and employs no ornamentation or iconography. Kelly relied on the relationship of forms and surfaces, the thoughtful use of brick reveals, subtle repeated design themes, and a minimal yet cohesive palette of readily-available materials to achieve a harmonious design aesthetic. The design is aligned with what postwar church scholar Jay Price terms “Mid-Century Traditional” in that the building is recognizable as a church, but is otherwise a radical departure from the revival styles and vernacular frame churches that characterized most houses of worship in America up to the postwar period. The Mallory Avenue Christian Church further reflects the priorities of the postwar era in creating up-to-date, comfortable, and family-friendly places of worship to attract and retain members. The period of significance for Criterion C is 1949, which is when the church’s construction was completed. With respect to Criterion A, the building is nominated under for its significance related to Portland’s African American history. While historically a church with a White congregation, the King neighborhood in which Mallory Christian is located transitioned to a predominantly African American neighborhood by the 1960s. As the neighborhood changed, the church membership became interracial. Portland’s Black community had increased substantially in the 1940s due to available war-time jobs; however, long-time discriminatory housing practices segregated most African Americans to the Albina area of inner north and northeast Portland. Barriers to upward mobility driven by systemic racism heightened Black Portlander’s socioeconomic struggles and, by the 1960s, civil rights activism and social unrest surged. Churches during the era took notice and began community-based “reconciliation” programming to improve race relations and to mitigate the effects of poverty, particularly with the youth. Mallory Christian is believed to be the first historically White church to hire a Black community minister in Portland in the 1960s. The church also became the new location of the northeast YWCA and started the People Are Beautiful program in the 1970s. For several decades, Mallory Christian offered afterschool sports, classes, and events that brought the community together. The period of significance for Criterion A runs from 1967 to 1984, which is the timeframe that the church had its deepest impact. This period captures the change in the congregation’s racial makeup, the shift in their outreach focus to one that was neighborhood-based, and the partnerships with other community initiatives to uplift Black youth.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:Alberta Abbey
Bibliography:
Conover, Elbert M. The Church Builder. New York: The Interdenominational Bureau of Architecture, 1948. Eberting, Bessie D. "New Spires in the Sky." The Sunday Oregonian, October 3, 1948: 3. Gravelle, Kim. "Article, 84, Won't Quit." The Capital Journal, October 26, 1964: 6. "History and Growth: The Story of Our Church." Mallory Avenue christian Church, c. 1960. Kilde, Jeanne Halgren. When Church Became Theatre: The Transformation of Evangelical Architecture and Worship in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Loveland, Anne C., and Otis B. Wheeler. From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003. Mills, Edward D. The Modern Church. London: The Architectural Press, 1956. Price, Jay M. "When Traditional Could Be Modern." Kansas Preservation, March-April 2004: 5-13. —. Temples for a Modern God: Religious Architecture in Postwar America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Scott, Hugh A. "Modern Homes for Old Faiths." The Sunday Oregonian, January 10, 1954: 4-5. Statesman Journal. "A New Look at Retirement." September 12, 1963: 25. Statesman Journal. "Noted Architect Walter Kelly Dies." December 22, 1967: 1, 20. The Eugene Guard. "Church of Nazarene Expands with Stately New Building." September 4, 1954: 2. The Oregonian. "Architecture Speech Topic." August 24, 1952: 10. The Oregonian. "Baptists Plan Grant Park Church." March 9, 1946: 7. The Oregonian. "Church Gothics Archaic As Devout Raise Roofs." May 13, 1955: 11. The Oregonian. "Cornerstone Rites Sunday." May 8, 1948: 6. The Oregonian. "Cornerstone to be Laid." May 14, 1925: 6. The Oregonian. "Dedication Held for New Church." March 19, 1949: 5. The Oregonian. "Life Has Picture of Local Church." April 27, 1951: 14. The Oregonian. "Local Churches a' Building; Dedication Services Set." May 8, 1949: 7. The Oregonian. "Mallory Avenue Christian to Have New Church Home." June 19, 1948: 7. The Oregonian. "Mallory Church Approves Plans." November 15, 1947: 4. The Oregonian. "Moreland Congregation to Building." March 13, 1948: 4. The Oregonian. "New Church Buildings Scheduled." May 14, 1949: 3. The Oregonian. "Rites Launch New Church." July 28, 1949: 12. The Sunday Oregonian. "Faith Evident." June 25, 1950: 24. The Sunday Oregonian. "Smithwick Haydite Blocks Advertisement." September 14, 1952: 14. The Sunday Oregonian. "The Rodney and Woodlawn Christian Church have merged their interests." August 1, 1920: 6.