PORTLAND, Ore. – A 136-year-old notable home located in downtown Portland will be moved to a location near Southwest Broadway and Grant Street, culminating a plan that has been talked about for six years.
The house, built in 1880 and commonly known as the Morris Marks House, is located at 1134 SW 12th Ave. Its 10,000-square-foot lot, which also includes a 1910 apartment building, sold to Doricourt Limited Partnership for $1.4 million in 2011.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
The house was included on the city’s 1984 historic resource inventory, which highlighted the building for its architectural features including its “low-piched hip roof,” “wide overhanging roof cornice with alternating large and small curvilinear brackets and decorative paneling,” “drop siding with quoins,” “two-story polygonal bay windows” and more.
A post on CafeUnknown includes a detailed history of the house as well as a number of historic photographs of the building.
The house was designed by prominent architect Warren Williams for shoe merchant Morris Marks, and is one of two homes Williams designed for Marks, according to Vintage Portland. The other home was built in 1882, is now located at 1501 SW Harrison St., and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
In 2010 The Oregonian reported an effort was underway to move the 1880 house at 1134 SW 12th Ave. to the prominent triangle-shaped vacant piece of land at Southwest Broadway and Grant Street near the Interstate 405 interchange. The newspaper reported demolition was likely by the end of that year if a move wasn’t arranged, although the demolition never took place and the house remains on Southwest 12th Avenue six years later.
Vacant parcel of land at Southwest Broadway and Grant Street. Photo credit: Google Maps
In its 2013 State of the City Preservation Report the city’s historic landmarks commission noted the Morris Marks House and its adjacent brick apartment building are “low scale buildings in an area zoned for high rises” and mentioned that “discussions of possible relocation have begun.”
Subsequent reports from the commission stated the building’s high-rise zoning “has placed significant development pressure on the site, causing the house to sit vacant for years without investment and placing it under constant threat of demolition.”
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
On July 22 the city received an application to move the 1880 house from its current location between Southwest Jefferson and Main streets to a plot of land at Southwest Broadway and Grant Street. The applicant was listed as Karen Karlsson of KLK Consulting LLC, while the contractor was listed as Keith Settle of Settle Construction Inc.
The latest permit to move the house and the location described suggests the plan described in the Oregonian article is now underway.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
The vacant property at Broadway and Grant is owned by Portland Parks & Recreation. The Oregonian article indicated parks officials had expressed interest in using the building for office space if a move was actualized.
Concurrent with the permit to move the house, the city also received an application to demolish the building’s foundation at its current location, a permit that is subject to the 35-day demolition delay period.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
There have not yet been any permits submitted indicating future plans for the site, or the fate of the neighboring 1910 Dori Court Apartments that sit on the same tax lot as the Morris Marks House.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor