A Committee of the
Bosco-Milligan Foundation
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Quick Links Story of Saving the Carriage House |
The Story of Saving the Ladd Carriage HouseWhen First Christian Church first considered re-developing their block back in 2005, it seemed there was no hope for either the Rose Friend Apartments or the Ladd Carriage House (LCH), which shared the block with the Church, to be saved. The development concept included a high-rise condominium tower covering most of the north half of the block. Further, part of the plan for the expansion of Church facilities was a new Fellowship Hall that would serve for major events to which their sanctuary was not suited. In the design of the redevelopment project, this Fellowship Hall was planned to be in a 2-story building attached to the condominium tower base and extending along Broadway. Early plans showed this configuration. While it was understood that the Rose Friend Apartments could not be moved and would have to be demolished, the Church approached interested parties about moving the Ladd Carriage House from its site at Broadway and Columbia. The Friends of Ladd Carriage House (FOLCH) stepped up to screen potential buyers/movers and help build a case with city authorities and community preservationists for the relocation and preservation of the building. The Friends set about this process, and considered a number of proposals for moving the building and re-purposing it at various sites around town. The most promising of these proposals was one involving a move to the Lair Hill area and the use of the building as a local pub. However, as the FOLCH members looked closely at this best option, it appeared to be fraught with problems. The route from the LCH site to the proposed location in Lair Hill involved moving across two street bridges, one crossing I-405, both of which would likely have required expensive shoring up to support the 350 tons of the LCH. Further, there would have been a very steep drop from Macadam Street down to the final site... posing real safety concerns. But the most troubling problem with the option was the necessity of crossing the route of the Portland Streetcar at two locations. The LCH would have been much too tall to maneuver under the overhead wires. Cutting the wires would have been possible, but this would have necessitated substitute bus service. This problem might have been surmounted with enough money, but the final blow was the discovery that cutting the wires would void the entire warranty on the overhead wire installation for the Portland Streetcar. This, the city and operators of the Streetcar were understandably not willing to do. At this point, John Carroll, whose Carroll Investment Company had been called in by Opus NW to help market the high-end condominiums planned for the Ladd Tower (the name has since been shortened to "Ladd"), asked the architects Ankrom-Moison if there wasn't a way to accommodate the Carriage House on its original site while still providing the First Christian Church its required meeting space. Creative architects at A-M set about finding a solution. What they proposed was a daring alteration of the plan. Their design would move the Fellowship Hall into the base of the condominium tower. This cleared the space for the Carriage House to sit on its original site, but it presented a significant engineering challenge. The Fellowship Hall required a clear span -- no columns were allowed. Yet above it would be more than 20 stories of residential tower, with supporting columns needing a foundation, rising directly above the Fellowship Hall. The solution was a system of structural supports in the ceiling of the Fellowship Hall that carry the tremendous weight of the tower above and transmit the load to columns on either side of the Hall. The second part of the plan was to move the Carriage House off its site for at least a year while the multi-level underground parking garage was dug beneath it. Then a pad would be constructed in the reinforced ceiling of the parking garage to support the Carriage House on its return... albeit without its basement. While this bold plan could save the Carriage House, it would cost significantly more money than the original design, partly for the complex construction above the Fellowship Hall, and partly for the costly move of the Carriage House to and from temporary storage. Faced with the alternative of destroying the Ladd Carriage House, one of Portland's most distinctive and important historic buildings, or spending the additional funds, with the enthusiastic blessing of the Friends of Ladd Carriage House, Opus NW, First Christian Church and Carroll Investments made the right decision as good community citizens and approved the new design. The Ladd Carriage House would be saved. And the Ladd block would gain a beautifully restored jewel when the Carriage House returned to its newly configured courtyard site next to the Church and Ladd Tower. But we weren't in the clear yet. The success of the plan rested on the ability to store the Carriage House a reasonable distance from its site such that its travel would not take it across either MAX or Portland Streetcar tracks. There is very little undeveloped land in central Portland, where could the Carriage House be stored? The solution to that question came from the 6th Church of Christ Scientist, across the South Park Blocks from First Christian Church. 6th Church is the owner of a parking lot at the corner of 10th and Columbia, and offered to allow the Carriage House to take up nearly half of the lot during its exile from home. A deal was quickly worked out with that Church, and the final piece had fallen into place. What remained was the complex execution of the plan, and obtaining the necessary approvals from City of Portland planning agencies, including the Bureau of Planning and the City of Portland Landmarks Commission. After much discussion and strong lobbying by the Friends of Ladd Carriage House in favor of the plan, the approvals were granted. From there, Opus NW began the job of vetting moving companies and contractors to prepare the building and clear the route for the move. Months of work were required for this preparation. Meanwhile, as demolition of extraneous modern extensions to the Carriage House proceeded, members of FOLCH documented elements of the foundation and newly uncovered structural elements that gave clues to the original appearance of the building before its 1920's remodeling into retail spaces. Finally, on June 16, 2007, the incredibly complex move was pulled off without a hitch by Opus NW and their contractors Settle Construction. Thousands of local residents turned out for the spectacle, and The Oregonian documented the process with an amazing time-lapse video that remains a favorite on You-Tube! For 16 months the Carriage House sat surrounded by chain-link fencing and watched over by dozens of eyes: Opus NW employees, 6th Church members, and volunteers from the Friends of Ladd Carriage House. The occasional graffiti was quickly painted out, and close watch was maintained for possible break-ins or other vandalism. Yet, for all those months, the building was never harmed by intruders. Now, as this is written in October a few days before the Carriage House returns to its new foundation on top of the parking garage dug under its original site, challenges remain. Opus NW and its preservation partners Venerable Properties, LLC, and Carleton Hart Architects, have developed a very fine plan for the building's restoration. It will be restored very closely to its original appearance -- at least so far as the state of our research permits (and the near total lack of a photographic record from the 1880's). Still, the issue remains: who will buy the building? Will its use be compatible with the neighborhood and its historic character. We have great hopes, but in these financially troubled times nothing is certain. Friends of the Ladd Carriage House, October, 2008 |
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