PORTLAND, Ore. – A house built in 1892 by a prominent architect for a notable Portland resident has been torn down to make way for new development.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Located at 1500 SW Taylor St., the house was first reported on by this publication last spring when the city received a demolition application for the building. Some sources indicate it was built in 1892, while a few list an 1890 construction year.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
At the time of the demolition application the property owner was listed as KHK LLC, registered to Christopher Kent. This LLC had purchased the property in 1997 for $692,500 and had operated an office out of the building.
On March 4 the Bureau of Development Services received an application to demolish the 1892 structure. The applicant was listed as Mike Doran of Skanska, which also serves as the contractor. The permit was issued the same day as the building was partially classified as a commercial structure.
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A month later the county recorded a $2.8 million sale of the property to OPC 1500 Taylor Street LLC, which lists only business registrant service RWPA Service Company LLC on state registration records.
Subsequent land use applications list Liam Thornton of Trinity 3 Investment as the developer of a future project on the site.
In May the city received an early assistance application describing a 10-story, 150-unit mixed use building to replace the Holman House. A subsequent design commission hearing to discuss the development in September was cancelled, rescheduled for October and cancelled again.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
A current PortlandMaps listing of the property indicates that in early October the proposal changed and the development is now described as an 11-story building on the site.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
According to the University of Oregon digital library, the now demolished 124-year-old building was constructed by Edgar Marks Lazarus, a prominent architect who also designed the Vista House on Crown Point.
The Taylor Street house was owned by Frederick V. Holman, another well-known Portlander who practiced law and was involved with rewriting the Portland city charter multiple times, according to a history of Portland by Joseph Gaston published in 1911.
Gaston also writes that Holman “gave Portland the name of the Rose City.”
“He has left the impress of his individuality upon municipal affairs, upon the political and economic situation and upon the social life of Portland, which honors him as one of its pioneer residents and as one whose efforts have been most effective and resultant factors in the promotion of public progress,” Gaston concludes.
Holman died in 1927.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Architectural salvage company Aurora Mills reclaimed some of the interior woodwork in the house before it was demolished, according to the business’s website. The site includes some interior photographs of the house before it was torn down.
Photographer Scott Tice extensively documented the interior of the house before it was torn down.
Photo credit: Scott Tice