Former JA Building Renovation

[Nitro]

the art deco details on this building are fabulous.

Nitro's school of architectural styling is now in session........

Art Deco Vs. Art Moderne.

This is an example of Art Deco architecture. Think emphasis on the vertical.

This is an example of Art Moderne architecture. Think emphasis on the horizontal, think streamliner, think diner, think long horizontal lines.

Similar but different. JA has styling that is Art Moderne. The confusion between these two styles is one of the most common mistakes people make when describing architecture.

[Allison Slater]

Maybe that's what it is about the pic from South Beach.. doesn't really seem vertical nor horizontal.. it's just sort of 'there'. And the curved corner of the building seems to be ignored by the rest of the building.

[joeDowntown]

So would it be proper to say that the South Beach building is Art Moderne with Deco influences (the tile work etc), or is it just straight Art Moderne?

I love both styles. They had to have been popular at about the same time?

Joe

[numstead]

Nitro, would you say that the Bauhaus would fit in with the Art Moderne category? I've always thought that the JA building looked Bauhaus-ish rather than Art Deco.

[Nitro]

So would it be proper to say that the South Beach building is Art Moderne with Deco influences (the tile work etc), or is it just straight Art Moderne?

I love both styles. They had to have been popular at about the same time?

No, I think I would still place your South Beach building in the Art Deco category. (This is where stylistically it gets a bit tricky) One of the defining characteristics of the Art Moderne style was inspiration from Machinery and the machine aesthetic. As a *really* bad comparison, the South Beach building is a bit more like wedding cake decoration then an airstream trailer. Art Deco was a bit softer in feel then Moderne. Color can sometimes be an indication, pastel type colors were more often used in Deco.

Nitro, would you say that the Bauhaus would fit in with the Art Moderne category? I've always thought that the JA building looked Bauhaus-ish rather than Art Deco.

No, I don't think I would. I think Bauhaus fits squarely in the International Style category. International covers the German crew like Mies, Gropius, Breuer, the Frenchies like Corbu, and American guys like Phillip Johnson.

Clearly, the machine aesthetic influenced both the Art Moderne and International. This is evident in Corbu's writings like Towards a New Architecture. The house is a machine for living in, The modulator proportion scale, yadda yadda yadda.

Stylistically, I think they are different enough to be classified separately but there is some cross over.

This picture is one my favorite architecture photos. You see it around quite a bit. I love the contrast between the automobile and the house. Corbu was way ahead of his time.

[Kib]

HOLY SMOKES !!!!!!

Dad, I had a hunch you were a man of impeccable taste, but as I was surfing this thread and saw the images on Post #95...

THAT'S MY BUILDING IN PORTLAND !!!!!!!

It really is a very nice structure. We have a corner unit, the view out the rounded wrap-around windows is pretty wowie-zowie at night. Very mixed occupancy, there are offices on the three floors of the boxy-looking part of rear of the building with thier own entrance. Three or four resturants on the ground floor/street level (Pizza, Thai, Moroccan, a wine bar, an espresso place) a couple of clothing shops, and some other oddish retail stores including a rug dealer,cowboy store,jeweler, home decor place.

The Portland Streetcar runs it's northbound tracks on the business entrance side of the building, southbound on the residential side.

If you see those Vontage telephone service ads being run lately, they were all shot within a block or two of the building.

Sorry 'bout gushing... nice to see we made it on the map, so to speak.

[destijl]

Nitro's school of architectural styling is now in session........

Art Deco Vs. Art Moderne.

Similar but different. JA has styling that is Art Moderne. The confusion between these two styles is one of the most common mistakes people make when describing architecture.

I agree. But doesn't the entrance on Division have (or had?) some chevron metalwork details flanking the door?

[GRDadof3]

HOLY SMOKES !!!!!!

Dad, I had a hunch you were a man of impeccable taste, but as I was surfing this thread and saw the images on Post #95...

THAT'S MY BUILDING IN PORTLAND !!!!!!!

It really is a very nice structure. We have a corner unit, the view out the rounded wrap-around windows is pretty wowie-zowie at night. Very mixed occupancy, there are offices on the three floors of the boxy-looking part of rear of the building with thier own entrance. Three or four resturants on the ground floor/street level (Pizza, Thai, Moroccan, a wine bar, an espresso place) a couple of clothing shops, and some other oddish retail stores including a rug dealer,cowboy store,jeweler, home decor place.

The Portland Streetcar runs it's northbound tracks on the business entrance side of the building, southbound on the residential side.

If you see those Vontage telephone service ads being run lately, they were all shot within a block or two of the building.

Sorry 'bout gushing... nice to see we made it on the map, so to speak.

Get out!! Glad I could help. A lot of the other buildings I've seen pictures of in that area of the Pearl District are all very boxy, and then there's the Gregory (?) with its turbo styling. Love it!

[Kib]

A lot of the other buildings I've seen pictures of in that area of the Pearl District are all very boxy, and then there's the Gregory (?) with its turbo styling. Love it!

Yeah, The Gregory is pretty unique. I was out there last week, and you couldn't count all the contruction crains within a 10-block radius on one hand, in fact one went up kitty-corner over the weekend. Most everything going these days are fairly boxy, lots of brick or glass. Many International style-types as well. They have managed to keep things somewhat in character as far as a former warehouse district look, and there are still a good number of true-to-life warehouse to loft conversions being done.

Most of the really large (multi-block) projects are happening at the parameter of the district, the new stuff going up in the middle of things right now are 1/2 to 1/3 block infills (although it's an adjustment in thinking to call a 12 to 16 story, 70 unit building infill..)

They are also considering reducing the size of the main east-west arterial street of downtown (Burnside) from a four-lane to two to make it more pedestrian-friendly, with the other two lanes being diverted as one-way's a block away on either side. There was a good deal of pushback on that until they decided to sweeten the deal with an additional streetcar line going up the middle of the old four lane. That was all it took to get the development community onboard (so to speak)

That said, I still have every confidence that if GR chooses it's dance partners right and works on the transit thing, there's nothing stopping downtown from being a really remarkable place.

[GRDadof3]

The old JA building is back on the city's docket for tomorrow's City Commission meeting. This time to just complete the current two story building into office space. They are seeking Brownfield status and are looking for that section of Division from Fulton to Weston to be rebuilt.

[Rhino6885]

The old JA building is back on the city's docket for tomorrow's City Commission meeting. This time to just complete the current two story building into office space. They are seeking Brownfield status and are looking for that section of Division from Fulton to Weston to be rebuilt.

Hey...I'll take it. That corner is just so disappointing that any progress is good progress IMO at this point.

[Allison Slater]

I wholeheartedly agree. I don't care what goes on inside it, as long as there's SOMETHING there and the building is cleaned up. There's broken and boarded windows all along the second floor facing Division. No tourist in their right mind will venture past that, and as a result an important developing part of the city -- Avenue of the Arts -- is perpetually being less than it can be as a result.

[Veloise]

... They are seeking Brownfield status ...

About five years ago I wrote up a Brownfield application (first and only, so far); my memory of the parameters is hazy. Not sure how an existing building can qualify for that; it's not like they are starting with bare ground or putting in single-family residential with gardens and playgrounds.

[GR Jackson]

About five years ago I wrote up a Brownfield application (first and only, so far); my memory of the parameters is hazy. Not sure how an existing building can qualify for that; it's not like they are starting with bare ground or putting in single-family residential with gardens and playgrounds.

I think that it has to do with the abatement of things like lead and asbestos that are in the building. The costs of removing those can kill a project.

[GRDadof3]

I think that it has to do with the abatement of things like lead and asbestos that are in the building. The costs of removing those can kill a project.

The application mentions "functional obsolescence" as the main reason.

[Rhino6885]

The application mentions "functional obsolescence" as the main reason.

Doesn't that basically mean that the facility is not able to meet the needs of potential users? In residential real estate terms, if I remember correctly, "functional obsolescence" refers to something like a home with a poor floor plan, inadequately sized rooms, etc. If so, Brownfield extends to areas that I had no idea about.

[grandrollerz]

...for some reason I want to say that the HR department of the regions largest health system is going to be moving to that location. Not positive though...

[Sailor]

We've often talked about how cool it would be to see a radio station move into the second floor of that building and have the studios right on the corner, looking out at the center of GR. Maybe in its next incarnation...

[GRDadof3]

...for some reason I want to say that the HR department of the regions largest health system is going to be moving to that location. Not positive though...

That wouldn't surprise me grandrollerz. In fact, I've been thinking that as Spectrum and St. Mary's grow, it would seem like they would have a need for more Professional Development space for employee training. Especially with the increase in Lean principles moving quickly into the healthcare industry and advancement in healthcare technology. Big companies like the office furniture makers, Foremost (Farmer's), Amway, Meijer, etc. have entire departments and facilities devoted to employee development. Most of the Steelcase Pyramid is devoted to that. I'm no expert, but it would make sense.

Apparently the city commission was not thrilled to be giving more tax credits to this project, especially increased tax credits for a scaled down version, including the developers seeking state tax credits to reimburse for improvements to Division Ave:

http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/inde....xml&coll=6

But I guess it never hurts to ask.

[Talking Up GR]

We've often talked about how cool it would be to see a radio station move into the second floor of that building and have the studios right on the corner, looking out at the center of GR. Maybe in its next incarnation...

I think that would be an awesome use for the second floor, provided some other activity starts around that corner. Otherwise, you've got an announcer describing traffic and not much else. But 'ground zero' is a nice, easy-to-describe location.

[GRDadof3]

The city has now approved the tax breaks for this project, on assurances from Tol that an upstart bank will take over the property, adding 30 - 38 employees:

More here at the GR Press

They talk about the fact that Tol won't receive any of the tax credits until the project is finished, but what about the proposed street rebuilding on that part of Division? No mention of how that went down.

[Floyd Z]

Well it's good that there will be more workers in downtown GR, but this is such a boring use for this building. It was an ok plan to add floors but why don't they just tear this down already?

Also, weren't there plans to build something in the parking lot directly behind (east) of this building?

[Josh]

Also, weren't there plans to build something in the parking lot directly behind (east) of this building?

The proposal from a few years ago was called Park Place, and it was a 10 story high-end condo tower. They originally wanted to tear down the JA Building for the tower but weren't allowed to, so they then created plans to incorporate it into the condo tower.

Nothing ever got past some nice sketches...

[Floyd Z]

That would have been awesome there, what a shame. I guess we can always hope something like that comes along in the future.

[Prankster]

The proposal from a few years ago was called Park Place, and it was a 10 story high-end condo tower. They originally wanted to tear down the JA Building for the tower but weren't allowed to, so they then created plans to incorporate it into the condo tower.

Nothing ever got past some nice sketches...

Wasn't it originally supposed to be 14 stories? And after that, became the incredible shrinking proposal.