| The G. G. Gerber Building was constructed in 1919 as an automobile repair and parts manufacturing shop for George Gordon Gerber in Portland’s downtown Auto Row, centered along Burnside. The Gerber Building represents a specific building type for related, yet ancillary, enterprises in the automobile industry in Portland. The resource is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, Community Development, for its association with the advent of the automobile and the boom of an auto-related business cluster north of downtown along Burnside. The resource is also eligible under Criterion C, Architecture, as a specific early building type in Portland.
HISTORY OF THE RESOURCE
On December 7, 1919, the Oregonian featured the enterprise of G. G. Gerber in a large article in the automobile section. “Another baby industry growing to big-town proportion. Speaking of Portland as a motor car center. Did you know that this city now has the most modern and up-to-date enameling and fender plant west of Chicago?” George Gordon Gerber was born on July 7, 1881 in Albany, New York. At the age of sixteen he struck out on his own and pursued the sheet metal trade. In 1900, he arrived in Portland and was employed with Hirshchberger’s sheet metal plant. To gain further sheet metal experience he went to San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. In 1907, he returned to Portland and worked for Burness and Martin, a sheet metal business that specialized in cornice fabrication, warm air heating, and roofing. In 1913, Burness and Martin began offering automobile repair services. The following year, Gerber was promoted to foreman, and in 1915 manager. Gerber was a noted auto body fabricator. “The body of the Chervrolet bug that ran rings around Mount Hood in record time last year…was manufactured by Gerber. He has since filled orders for eight others like it.” Among the Oregon Historical Society photo collection is a sketch Gerber’s shop created for a custom limousine-style automobile.
His experience gave Gerber the confidence to break off on his own and open Auto Sheet Metal Works. His first business location was at Ninth Avenue and Davis Street. He specialized in the repair and fabrication of radiators and fenders, and the operation quickly outgrew the small building. Gerber partnered with the Value Trust Company for funding and commissioned a new “plant” at the corner of 11th and Davis in early 1919 as the Great War (World War I) came to a close. Following the rationing of sheet metal in the Great War, demand after the war exploded and the auto industry experienced radical growth. By the 1920s, the automobile service industry constituted a new entrepreneurial domain, and Portland boasted eight-hundred filling stations and garages which gave work to 2,400 men. Another 4,000 men managed trucking and transfer companies or worked as chauffeurs and truck drives. Gerber’s business experienced this growth. Upon constructing the new building he had developed his one man operation into a business that employed thirty workers in a small-scale plant.
Gerber’s success was based on a personal theory of what sells is not how cheaply a piece of work can be done, but rather that satisfied customers are the best advertisement. His high standards paid off as he gained vast experience with sheet metal fabrication that made it possible to offer expanded services in the new plant. Gerber’s customers could now receive newly fabricated sheet metal fenders, body parts, and radiators. Repair services were also offered for fenders and bodies:
In the plant was a fender machine which manufactured crown fenders…This remarkable contrivance is fitted with a series of roll dies by which crown fenders can be made that are exact duplicates in pattern of almost any automobile fender made. The shop also contained an automatic power hammer which could hammer out dents in auto body panels or fenders.
Sheet metal was a key component of the automobile industry. “Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes…It is characterized by its thickness or gauge of the metal.” Due to sheet metal’s ability to be formed in to several shapes it was the ideal material for the automobile. During the 1920s, sheet metal comprised the body, the fender, and parts of the working machinery of the automobile. Because it was the main material of the automobile, it became imperative to have the ability to repair and fabricate it. Additionally, automotive technology evolved quickly and a variety of car makes and models were on the market. The parts for all autos were not necessarily readily available to auto repair shops. Sheet metal fabricators became necessary to the repair of autos because they could fabricate the part that was needed.
The new service that made Auto Sheet Metal Works further stand apart from competitors was the sheet metal enameling. Enamel provides a durable protective layer for the sheet metal, offering protection from elemental issues like rust. The plant boasted three enameling ovens “the only ones of their kind west of Chicago.” Prior to opening the shop at 11th and Davis, there was no modern sheet metal enameling plant on the west coast. Once a piece of sheet metal was fabricated or repaired it could be enameled, giving the metal that sought after “factory finish.” The process was lengthy and required an expert to accomplish a high quality finish. The first step was a three part cleaning process that entailed sand blasting, a water wash, and drying. The next step was spraying a primary coat, followed by two cycles of baking and coating, in preparation for the final layer. The final step was the application of varnish and a final baking to produce the shiny “factory finish.”
The new building was designed to suit the needs of the modern machinery for the auto shop/plant. Auto Sheet Metal Works now offered expanded services, including radiators, fenders, and bodies for repair, fabrication, and enameling. The machinery required tall ceilings and an open floor plan. Motor belt systems, which kept the machinery running connected to the rafter system and open space, were occupied by a collection of machinery that included a fender molder, a sheet metal press, drill press, and wood working tools for custom interior finishes. The enameling ovens enabled the shop to give the “new car” look for the custom fabrication of any sheet metal item.
Gerber occupied this building from 1919 until 1928 when, due to a growing demand, it was necessary to expand. He moved within the auto district to a new location at 418 N.W. 11th Avenue. Presumably, his high quality work and referrals gave him a large customer base in Portland. He ran his business as president and manager until his until his death in 1949, when he passed away from a heart ailment at the age of sixty-seven.
Following Gerber’s departure, the Gerber Building continued to be occupied by transportation-related businesses. After Gerber, the first occupant was the Oregon Kenworth Company, a commercial truck dealer. In 1931, a trucking company, Elks Transfer and Storage Company, moved in. Three years later, Elks divided the space using the northern half of the building while Ammer E.G. Inc Auto Repairs occupied the south. These two businesses occupied the building into the late 1940s. Since that time, the building has been occupied by various auto-related businesses, some utilizing the whole space and others dividing the building in half for two occupants. The Gerber building is the last remaining building that Auto Sheet Metal Works occupied. The two others have been demolished.
THE AUTOMOBILE IN PORTLAND, 1885-1930
Few inventions revolutionized day-to-day life as did the automobile. At first, it was a tinker’s toy. Usually the product of wagon makers and bicycle shops, it ran on steam, electricity, or gasoline. The first practical car is credited to Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz in Germany in 1885. Charles and Frank Duryea of Chicopee, Massachusetts are often credited with the first American gasoline automobile, a 1-cylinder, 4-horsepower engine mounted underneath a carriage body. The first outdoor test was conducted on September 20, 1893, and the car traveled 200 feet.
While Duryea may have built the first functional car, the spark to the American automobile industry was Alexander Winton. Winton emigrated from Scotland in 1884 and settled in Cleveland. In 1891, he established the Winton Bicycle Company and five years later, when the bottom dropped out of the bicycle market, he built a 1-cylinder car. The following year, he organized the Winton Motor Carriage Company and by spring built his second car, with a 2-cylinder. On Memorial Day, he drove it at an astonishing speed of 33.64 mph around Cleveland’s Glenville Horse Track. That fall, he drove a circuitous 800 mile trip from Cleveland to New York in thirty-eight hours, timing his arrival to coincide with the Automobile Show at Madison Square Garden. Moving into production, by the end of 1898, Winton produced and sold twenty-two cars. He established a formal production process and the following year manufactured and sold 100 cars. The next year, Winton took another trip to New York and the publicity surrounding the trip solidified the horseless carriage nomenclature as an “automobile.” Winton’s sales grew steadily from 700 cars in 1901, to 850 in 1903, and 1,100 in 1907.
Between 1901 and 1910, the automobile became a primary component of American culture. In 1898, there were fifty automobile manufacturers in the country, a decade later, there were five times that. Production rose from 7,000 in 1901, to 181,000 in 1910. By 1916, motorcar production topped 1.2 million, a 50 percent growth over 1915 sales. In total, by 1915, there were 2.4 million cars registered in the United States against an estimated population of 100 million. By the end of the 1920s, production reached four million cars and nationally one in five households owned a car. In Portland, by the end of the 1920s one in four households owned a car. Driving had become a potent form of mass entertainment, and the automobile was elevated to a much-sought-after cultural icon. Next to a home, a car was a family’s most expensive purchase. The number of registered cars nationally more than tripled during the 1920’s, to an astonishing twenty-three million by 1930.
The car that catapulted auto sales in America was Henry Ford’s Model T. In 1906, Ford produced 8,000 vehicles, making him the largest auto manufacturer in the country. Two years later, he introduced the Model T, a model that he continued to refine and develop until 1927. In the first year, he produced 1,000 cars. This car featured a twenty horsepower, four-cylinder engine on a 100-inch wheelbase with dogged reliability. It could travel up to forty-five mph and get twenty-five mpg. By 1913, Ford introduced an assembly line production, thereby cutting production time from twelve and a half hours to one and a half hours. Sales prices ever decreased from $850 to $290 by 1924. In 1908, Ford had 8 percent of the marketplace, while ten years later, he controlled 48 percent. By 1914, the company had west coast assembly plants in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland. Portland’s Ford assembly plant started production in 1914 with ten cars per day. The automobile had definitely established a share in America’s culture.
“The development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufactures competing to gain the world’s attention.” Due to the variety of auto manufactures, parts were not interchangeable from car to car. It was not until the late 1920s that manufacturing became more streamlined and interchangeable parts became available. By 1924, the American automobile market was beginning to become saturated and Alfred Sloan of General Motors (GM) created the concept of a yearly make and model to drive sales, which revolutionized the auto industry. This move to create different makes and models made it possible to have shared/interchangeable parts between models. Interchangeable parts made for a higher volume of mass production for the manufactures. Ultimately, it made it possible to make more affordable automobiles. An example of how parts became interchangeable is the 1930s LaSalle; a brand of GM sold by Cadillac used mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile to keep costs down.
The first car appeared in Oregon and Portland on November 3, 1899. Henry Wemme was a German-born tent and awning merchant who arrived from the East in 1882. Much of his business success was from selling tents to Alaska-bound miners. When the Klondike gold rush boom went bust, he was hopelessly overextended with considerable raw material and no market. The sinking of the Maine in February 1898, and the subsequent Spanish American War, however, prompted an order of 32,000 tents from the federal government. Wemme ordered a car at the end of 1898. Upon arrival, he drove it at ten mph along Sixth Avenue, and five mph on the cobblestones of Front Avenue. It was a Stanley Steamer, one of 100 produced in Watertown, Massachusetts. By 1906, there were an estimated forty cars in Portland, including open air buses transporting visitors to the Lewis & Clark Exposition.
The city government became increasingly automobile aware. Planners recognized that the layout of Portland was not meeting the needs of the motorist. In 1913, the city completed the Broadway Bridge to relieve cross-river traffic and contemplated a licensing requirement for cars. At the same time, the city enacted the first comprehensive code for automobile and pedestrian traffic. The city had strong roots in the Good Roads Movement, a movement that was popular in the United States between 1880 and 1916 in which participants advocated for the education of road building and the improvement of roads in rural areas between cities. In 1914, under the Good Roads Movement and leadership of John Yeon, Rufus Holman, C. S. Jackson, and others, the scenic Columbia Gorge Highway opened. In 1918, due to the expense of expansive road development, Oregon became the first state in the nation to impose a gasoline tax for highway construction.
“Portland was more dependant than the average city on personal transportation.” In 1916, automobile registration in Multnomah County was 8,800, or one for every twenty residents. Fourteen years later, in 1930, that number rose to 88,000, or one for every four residents. By the late 1920s, Portlanders spent as much on automobiles as they did on food: $42 million to buy new cars and keep them running, and $100 million on automobile related expenses in total. Eight thousand local workers made their living selling, servicing, or driving cars and trucks. One 1927 report noted that Oregonians annually consumed more gallons of gasoline per motor vehicle registered than any other northern or western state. By the third decade of the twentieth century, over thirty percent of the city’s land related to automobile uses. New improvements in the road systems in the 1920s promoted automobile usage, notably the reconstruction of the Burnside Bridge and construction of Sellwood and Ross Island Bridges.
AUTOMOBILE REPAIR IN PORTLAND, 1903-1920
Before long, American cities saw the birth of a new kind of commercial district: the auto row. Dealerships, repair shops, parts suppliers, gas stations, and other automotive establishments gathered here typically just outside a city’s downtown core. Despite the competitive nature of operating similar businesses, these clusters thrived, as they had a more powerful draw to the automotive consumer being located together. At first, these businesses were typically based off of another trade and due to the rising popularity of automobiles evolved into providing automotive services. But as the automobile took hold in the United States and Portland, businesses were converted wholly to the automotive trade and some, like Gerber, built entirely new structures for this purpose.
The first reference to an automobile-related business listed in Portland’s city directories was the Fred T. Merill Cycle Company in 1903, located on 6th Avenue, a bicycle based business that evolved to offer automotive services. “In 1898, Merill sold 8,850 bicycles making him the biggest bicycle operator west of the Mississippi.” By 1903 the bicycle craze was slowing down and to diversify business Merill began to offer automotive services. The first business to open solely for automobile repair was McCartney and Son opening in 1905 it was located near downtown on Stark Street. The auto industry grew, responding to the local demand. In 1916, the year Gerber opened Auto Sheet Metal Works in its first location, there were a total of 186 auto related businesses in Portland, and sixty-five were specifically auto repair shops.
By 1920, in the economic boom that followed the Great War, the auto industry experienced radical growth. In part, this growth was due to the end of wartime rationing of sheet metal, and automobile makers were no longer limited in production. The number of automobile-related businesses ranging from sales, parts, repair, service stations, supplies, and storage, flourished, expanding from 186 in 1916, to 473 in 1920. As the amount of motorists grew, the needs of servicing an automobile became more obvious and the auto service industry responded. More specialized commerce for the automobile was developed and there were thirty-four businesses dedicated to automobile repair. Approximately half of the automobile repair shops, including Gerber’s, were located within the area north of downtown. The blocks bounded by the N.W. Park Avenue to the east, W. Burnside to the south, N.W. 14th Avenue to the west, and N.W. Everett to the north, made up downtown Portland’s auto row. Additional auto-rows were located in East Portland at Grand and Burnside, 82nd Avenue, and Hawthorne.
THE G.G. GERBER BUILDING CONSIDERATION FOR LISTING UNDER CRITERION A
The G. G. Gerber Building is eligible for listing in the National Register for its association with the advent of the automobile and the boom of an auto-related business cluster in the early industrial area north of downtown Portland. A variety of auto-related businesses located in the neighborhood, ranging from repair, sales, supplies, parts, storage, and trucking companies, created Portland’s auto row. The G.G. Gerber building is the earliest extant structure in the neighborhood, which was constructed specifically for automotive repair and sheet metal fabrication. It stands apart due to the caliber of business which it held, a successful sheet metal operation which was the only one of its kind providing auto sheet metal enameling services on the West Coast at the time it opened.
The G. G. Gerber Building was constructed during a period of transition for the northwest neighborhood positioned within Couch’s Addition to the city of Portland. In the nineteenth century, Couch developed the neighborhood as residential, but the city soon experienced exponential growth and the industrial area on the riverfront expanded out. The section northwest of downtown was a natural expansion area for industry because of its close proximity to the river, the railroad, and downtown.
In 1919, the block on which George Gerber built was residential. Within a decade, however, most of the town homes on the block were demolished to make way for small-scale industrial buildings. By 1944, when Richard Sundeleaf’s Bearing Service Company was constructed, the block was completely transformed for auto-related businesses. The auto-related businesses flourished in this area north of downtown Portland and by the 1950s the area surrounding the Gerber building was predominantly auto-related. The 1969 Sanborn Map shows that the auto-cluster expanded in the area, and the Pacific Biscuit Factory directly across the street from the Gerber Building had been adapted into a parking garage. The blocks bounded by N.W. Park Avenue to the east, W. Burnside to the south, N.W. 14th Avenue to the west, and N.W. Everett to the north were clearly an auto district with most blocks hosting predominately auto-related businesses. In the mid-1990s, the neighborhood began to be redeveloped as a high-density, mixed-use neighborhood, primarily occupied with condominiums and retail. As a result, only a handful of small-scale industrial buildings remain in the area.
ROLE OF THE G.G. GERBER BUILDING IN THE COMMUNITY: Comparative Analysis of Automobile-Related Buildings in the Area North of Downtown Portland, 1913-1944
The G.G. Gerber Building is significant and worthy of being listed in the National Register as it represents the earliest extant building constructed specifically for the automobile repair industry and more specifically sheet metal fabrication and repair. It facilitated the establishment of an automobile repair industry-related cluster in the area north of downtown Portland. In 1920, approximately half of the automobile repair shops in Portland listed in the city directory were located within this area north of downtown. Of these some fifteen businesses, only four remain and the Gerber is the earliest resource. Portland’s Inventory of Historic Resources and related sources identify a handful of remaining resources from the auto cluster that related to auto repair in this neighborhood of these none are identified as being related to sheet metal fabrication or repair.
Raymond Guy (12th N.W. Eighth Avenue; 1920):
This one-story brick utilitarian structure was designed by MacNaughton and Raymond, Inc. The automotive repair garage has a simple massing with an open plan. The brick shell has tall brick piers with bays of industrial garage doors and modern windows.
Automotive Garage (322-324 N.W. 10th Avenue; 1920):
This one-story reinforced concrete utilitarian structure was designed as an automotive repair garage and retail. The garage has rectangular massing and a simple open plan. The exterior has a pier-and-window system with a single industrial garage door. This building has a moderate level of integrity, as the industrial windows have been replaced with plate glass.
Beryl Investment Company (229-235 N.W. 10th Avenue; 1920):
This two-story reinforced concrete utilitarian structure was designed by the owner as an automotive repair garage. The design is similar to the Gerber Building, with the exception of the second-story transom and stepped parapet.
Armory Automotive (100 N.W. 10th Avenue; 1922):
This one-story reinforced concrete utilitarian structure was designed as an automotive repair garage. It has a brick-pier and industrial steel-sash window wall system with an industrial garage door on the main facade. This building has a moderate level of integrity, as the industrial windows have been replaced with plate glass.
Pacific Coast Biscuit Company Garage and Warehouse (1140 N.W. Everett Street; 1925):
This one-story streetcar-era commercial structure was designed by Strong and MacNaughton as a garage and warehouse. The type of garage it was designed for is not specified. The building has a brick pier-and-sash wall system. The industrial steel-sash windows and industrial garage door bays are in the rear of the building.
The Royce Brothers (624-628 N.W. 6th Avenue; 1928):
This two-story, concrete frame, California Mission Style, utilitarian structure was designed by Charles W. Ertz as an automotive garage with retail space. The type of garage it was designed for is not specified. It has a more stylistic design than a standard garage due to the dual retail and garage purpose. The central entrance has a three-bay wide parapet-pediment that extends over the tile roof line.
Bearing Service Company (1040 N.W. Everett Street; 1944):
This one-story reinforced concrete streamline moderne structure was designed by Richard Sundeleaf as an automotive machine shop. The defining design feature of the building is the streamline fenestration comprised of a concrete pier and industrial steel sash window system. Although it was built over a decade later than the G. G. Gerber Building, in a different style, it is located on the same block and completed the block as the final piece in its automotive-related purpose.
The Historic Resource Inventory was a city-driven effort with extensive public input. However, the automobile-related buildings listed represent only a minimum number. The buildings listed on the inventory were recorded through a windshield survey, where only the high style architectural gems stood out in Portland’s landscape. Typically, small industrial buildings, like the G.G. Gerber Building, were overlooked. Additional and targeted research may identify existing resources of the era not previously associated with the automobile industry. The area north of downtown Portland has been highly redeveloped and most of the small industrial resources that once dominated the neighborhood have been demolished. The G. G. Gerber Building now stands as the earliest extant building constructed specifically for the automobile repair industry and more specifically the only one identified as a sheet metal fabrication shop.
THE G.G. GERBER BUILDING CONSIDERATION FOR LISTING UNDER CRITERION C
The G. G. Gerber Building is eligible for listing in the National Register as an exceptional example of one of the earliest structures specifically constructed for automobile repair in Portland. As a building type, the G. G. Gerber Building embodies the characteristics and features of the early automotive repair shop. Automotive repair buildings are distinguished by simple massing, open floor plans, large industrial steel-sash windows, durable materials, high ceilings, and a lack of ornamentation. Typically commissioned by small business owners, these buildings are spaces of economy, as well as function.
The Gerber Building was constructed as a “house of work” with spacious rooms divided only by the function of the space, making the work easy to organize and oversee. The basic design of the shell’s main elevations along the west and south is a pier-and-sash wall system, which allows the work space to be bright with natural light. In addition, this feature has the economic benefit of being less expensive than artificial light. The industrial steel multi-paned sash windows were installed for function, featuring pivoting awning sections in each sash, the awnings were dispersed at different heights throughout the building to aid in air circulation. These industrial steel sash windows provide a vast amount of light and natural air circulation that the shop required. The large industrial door bays in the pier system permits ultimate accessibility, allowing the automobile to be driven directly into the building. The high ceilings, trussed roof, and open plan provided the work space for large mechanical systems required in Gerber’s operation. Brackets were attached to the truss roof and walls, and in turn attached to the shafting and belting in the group drive motor that powered the fabrication machinery. The mezzanine provided storage space and a clear view to oversee employees. The concrete and wood are durable materials to withstand the heat, chemicals, and vibrations of the factory operations.
Gerber’s Auto Sheet Metal Works had multiple facets, including sheet metal fabrication and repair, enameling, woodwork, and general repair. The building was designated into quadrants to facilitate the needs of the auto business. The northwest quadrant held woodworking, general installation, and repair equipment. This is also where the cars where worked on and stored. The northeast quadrant held three enameling ovens, the only three of their kind west of Chicago when the business opened in 1919. The northwest and southwest quadrants held the sheet metal fabrication and manipulation machinery, the heart of Gerber’s business.
In the G. G. Gerber Building, the total design scheme speaks of its original automotive-repair purpose. It is an exceptional example of one of the earliest structures built specifically as an automotive repair and manufacturing garage found in Portland.
THE G.G. GERBER BUILDING AS A BUILDING TYPE: A Comparative Analysis of Automobile-Related Buildings in Portland, 1913-1926
The G. G. Gerber Building is eligible for listing in the National Register as it represents one of the earliest known remaining resources to be specifically constructed for automobile repair in Portland. While the design and construction of automobile dealerships has been recognized, this category of the automobile industry has long been overlooked due to the simple industrial nature of the design type. The building not only embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type and period of construction, it also possesses a high level of integrity. Portland’s Inventory of Historic Resources and related sources identify only a handful of extant automotive-related buildings in the City of Portland. These auto-related buildings are similar in design and form as a building type. The Gerber Building is the only building identified as being constructed for auto sheet metal fabrication and repair.
North Pacific Auto and Wagon Works (910 N.W. Hoyt Street; 1913):
This two-story reinforced concrete utilitarian garage was designed by John Larkin of Oregon Architectural and Engineering Company. This building was originally built as a carriage and wagon repair shop and later adapted to repair automobiles.
Ford Motor Assembly Plant (2505 S.E. Eleventh Avenue; 1914):
This three-story reinforced concrete brick utilitarian style building was designed by A. E. Doyle for the Ford Motor Company. It was designed as a factory to assemble automobiles.
J. M. Llewellyn Garage (6464 N. Greeley Avenue; 1919):
This one-story reinforced concrete structure was designed by W. W. Lucius as an automobile garage. It has rectangular massing with a simple open plan. This building, although built as an automobile garage, is not known to have been specifically built as an automotive repair shop. It served as a neighborhood garage in a north Portland residential neighborhood.
Autorest Garage (925-35 SW 10th Avenue; 1917):
This two-story brick utilitarian structure was designed by Jacobberger & Smith as an automotive showroom for the Stutz and Columbia automobile lines. The decorative features include a stepped parapet and cast-stone corbels. It is listed on the National Register.
Lind Warehouse and Garage (508 N. Tillamook Street; 1925):
This one-story reinforced concrete utilitarian building was designed by Ernst Kroner as a warehouse and garage (type unspecified). The brick clad exterior has a pier-and-sash wall system. The building is located in north Portland.
Gibstein Automotive Repair Garage (2076 N.W. Marshall Street; 1926):
This one-story streetcar-era commercial style building was designed by Lucius and Cash as an automotive repair garage. The garage served as a neighborhood garage in northwest Portland residential neighborhood.
CONCLUSION
The 1919 G. G. Gerber Building is locally outstanding and largely intact and is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A and C. It is one of the earliest buildings constructed specifically for use as an automotive repair shop. The building was built during a time when commercial and industrial building design wa |