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Inventory Form

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:1875 SW Park Ave historic name:Portland State College Library West
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Branford P. Millar Library
assoc addresses:934 SW Harrison
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1S 1E 1
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):5.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status:
prim constr date:1968 second date:1991 date indiv listed:
primary orig use: Library orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Brutalism prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Concrete: Other/Undefined siding comments:
secondary siding: Brick:Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:Skidmore/Owings/Merrill
builder:Minden Construction Co.
comments/notes:
The library was completed in early 1968 by Skidmore Owings & Merrill. It is an intact example of Brutalism with pairs of full-height "clips" on each façade holding the mass of the building. A major addition was completed in 1991 by the same architects, with a curving glass curtainwall creating a semicircular "court" on the east side between two brick volumes at north and south. Another 5 floors vertically over the entire building was planned, but never constructed.
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   PSU RLS 2020 Survey & Inventory Project 2020
Farmstead/Cluster Name:Portland State College
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: N/A
ILS survey date: 07/02/2020
RLS survey date: 03/26/2020
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The library was initially constructed on a 100' by 200' site on the east half of the block bounded by SW Park Avenue, SW 10th Avenue, SW Harrison Street, and SW Hall. All of these streets are vacated and part of the Portland State University campus. The building has a partial subbasement, a full basement, and five levels above grade. The reinforced concrete structure was designed to support an additional five stories vertically. The building has a 17' ground floor and 12' floor-to-floor heights above that. The open space on the east side of the block, fronting the Park Blocks, was a well-used green space for years until the addition to the library broke ground in the late 1980s. The building is an excellent example of Brutalism, with sculpturally inset windows separated by vertical concrete fins and pairs of full-building-height concrete “clips” at each façade. Perhaps because there was so much concurrent construction on campus and in South Portland in general from 1967-1968, the library received only passing mention in the press. It may be one of Portland's best brutalist buildings, however. The addition to the library is respectful of the height of the original building, and extends two wings out to the east, at north and south ends of the block. These masonry wings are a very simple design, of brick with punched regular openings. In many ways they act as a foil to the more sculputral and expressive original design. At the east side of the building, a concave 5-story curtainwall spans between the masonry volumes, creating both a backdrop and a distance from a Heritage tree on the site, originally planted by the Watson family in the 1890s.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Sanborn map (1924 corrected to 1950) of the site shows an apartment building (the Queen Ann) in the NE corner of the block, and single-family homes on the remainder of the block. The initial building occupied only the west half of the block, and the apartment building was initially to remain until it developed serious cracking issues shortly after the library construction started. Portland State University took over the Vedanta Society's property at 1877 S.W. Park Avenue on March 15, 1966. The large single-family property occupying the SE corner of the block was also the location of a large tree, planted in the 1890s, which was retained even after the residence was demolished. The building's design was by the Portland office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill. The Portland office was SOM's fourth office, opened in 1951 after Chicago (1936), New York (1937) and San Francisco (1947). The Portland office, led by SOM partner David Pugh, closed in 1990. The structural engineer for the initial building was Cooper & Rose & Associates, and it was constructed by Minden Construction Company of Portland. The library was called "Library West" to differentiate it from the first campus library location, "Library East" which is now part of Smith Memorial Center. The PSC Library West was renamed the Branford Price Millar Library in 1975. The second phase of the building was completed in the spring of 1991. The design was also by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, out of their Portland, then San Francisco, offices. The contractor was Wildish Building Company of Eugene. The total budget for the project, which added 78.865 square feet to the existing structure, was $11 M. Direct construction cost was $8.2 M.The engineer for the second phase was Moffat Nichol & Bonney, Inc. The major feature of the addition was to work around an existing 100+ year old Copper Beech tree, so the design scribed an arc around it and the 5-story curved wall was finished with a glazed curtainwall. The decision to save the tree was a part of the initial programmatic scope for the addition.
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:Portland State University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
David-Paul B. Hedberg, "From Stumptown to Tree Town," undated (2015?) accessed at https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/hist_fac/19/ Lemman, W. T. "Bill" and O'Rourke, Michael, "Interview with W. T. "Bill" Lemman" (2010). Portland State University Oral Histories. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/rememberpsu_oralhist/3 [written transcript], 67. Oregon ACRL newsletter, September 1991, No. 61, 7. https://www.olaweb.org/assets/documents/ACRLOR_newsletter_61_1991.pdf "New PSC Library Bids Eyed," Oregon Journal, May 7, 1966, 2.