Durbin Bros. Livery & Barn, January 20, 1895, Commercial Street [Photos: Salem Online History] August 1, 2019 Episode.
Historic preservation is alive and well in Salem, Oregon. The City of Salem's Historic Preservation Officer and Staff Archaeologist Kimberli Fitzgerald joined us to tell us about current and future projects going on all around us.
The Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) recently reviewed several proposals for alterations and new construction in our Downtown Salem Historic District. One that many of us are following is the project at 120 Commercial Street NE, formerly the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant and Alessandro's before that. Back in 1867, this was the site of Durbin Bros. Livery & Barn, as shown in the photograph above, followed by Minto & Lowe Livery in 1888, a hardware and stove shop in 1890, YMCA Rooms in 1895, and an electric painting company and photo shop in 1926. [For a photo history of the building, click here.] Current plans call for a restaurant on the ground floor with other uses on the upper floor. To read the entire staff report, click here.
Historic preservation is alive and well in Salem, Oregon. The City of Salem's Historic Preservation Officer and Staff Archaeologist Kimberli Fitzgerald joined us to tell us about current and future projects going on all around us.
The Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) recently reviewed several proposals for alterations and new construction in our Downtown Salem Historic District. One that many of us are following is the project at 120 Commercial Street NE, formerly the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant and Alessandro's before that. Back in 1867, this was the site of Durbin Bros. Livery & Barn, as shown in the photograph above, followed by Minto & Lowe Livery in 1888, a hardware and stove shop in 1890, YMCA Rooms in 1895, and an electric painting company and photo shop in 1926. [For a photo history of the building, click here.] Current plans call for a restaurant on the ground floor with other uses on the upper floor. To read the entire staff report, click here.
Pomeroy-Keene Building, 379-383 State Street c1980 [Photo: Salem Online History] Another character-defining resource in the Downtown Historic District is the Pomeroy-Keene Building at 379-383 State Street, just west of the Gray Building. This 1860s building began as a boarding house and was renovated into retail spaces by Charles Pomeroy and A.A. Keene in 1926, adding the marble and wood storefront. They used one half of the building from 1926-1994 for their jewelry and optical business. The west portion was later renovated for the Ma Valise store we know today.
Although the marble and wood storefront was not original to the building, it has become a significant defining element that is certainly worth restoring. We applaud the current owners for being such responsible stewards of this lovely building that has been such a part of our downtown landscape. You can check out the HLC decision here.
Although the marble and wood storefront was not original to the building, it has become a significant defining element that is certainly worth restoring. We applaud the current owners for being such responsible stewards of this lovely building that has been such a part of our downtown landscape. You can check out the HLC decision here.
| Kimberli mentioned that other projects were also underway. The demolition of the Marion Car Park, designed in 1950. by Pietro Belluschi (who also designed the First Interstate/Wells Fargo Bank Building and the Marion County Courthouse) has been completed. Although this structure signifies the impact of the automobile to the Salem area, its previous history as the site of the Holman Building has more attraction to most of us Salemites. The Holman Building was the site of the Oregon legislature from 1855 to 1875 while the second Capitol Building was being constructed. The new owners are tentatively planning to name their new boutique hotel the Holman Riverfront Hotel, after its former namesake. For more information, check out the HLC decision here. |  1855 Holman Building, corner of Ferry & Commercial Streets SE, c1900 [Photo: Virginia Green]  Marion Car Rental & Park, Built 1950 |
Additionally, the City is continuing the project of daylighting Pringle Creek with the section on the west side of the Commercial Street bridge, an area formerly known as the Boise Cascade property, which will extend the pedestrian connection to Minto Island. Because the area along the waterfront from the Mill Creek on the north to Pringle Creek on the south has been a pre-history gathering area for Kalapuyan tribal bands, the City and three area tribes will be providing oversight to determine any archaeological impacts.
As part of the city's long range planning efforts, staff will be working on the periodic review of the Comprehensive Plan. A component will be a review of the ten-year-old Historic Preservation Plan and subsequent recommendations to the historic preservation building code. The first part is a very important public survey to gather input from the public on how it perceives and values its historic resources. Stakeholder and technical advisory committees will be established to work on points garnered from the survey. This survey as well as a description of the full process for this update project can be accessed by this link.
1880 Gilbert/Polaire House, 1970 Water Street NE, c2009 [Photo: TN Green, Jr.] Ending her report on a most positive note, Kimberli related that a buyer has come forward for the A.L. Gilbert/Zero Polaire house at 1970 Water Street NE. This home was built by A.L. Gilbert (no relation to the Gilbert Children's Museum family) in 1880 and was later purchased in 1926 by Zero Polaire (aka Martin Baker) who then lived in the house until 1950. The Salvation Army is the current owner and has recently sold the house to a couple who have expressed intentions to restore the home to its original form. We hope to have these new owners on our show in the near future.
We are so lucky in Salem to have city staff who are passionate about our history and interpreting that story for future generations. To hear more of what Kimberli had to tell us about what's happening now and what's planned for the future, check out the podcast of this episode.
~~Posted by Deb Meaghers
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