PORTLAND, Ore. – A house built 136 years ago and a former bar and restaurant will be torn down to make way for an 88-unit apartment building in the Northwest district.
Located at 1526 NW 19th Ave., the house was built in 1880 and sits on a 5,000-square-foot lot.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
To the south, the restaurant and bar building is located at 1502 NW 19th Ave. It was built in 1947 and sits on a 12,500-square-foot corner lot.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Both structures are planned to be demolished following permits applied for in the past couple weeks.
Quimby’s At 19th was the most recent tenant of the restaurant building, until it closed in December. Development on the site had been in the works since the previous spring, and on Nov. 15 the restaurant property sold to Quimby19 LLC for just shy of $2 million, while the house property sold to the same buyer for $950,000.
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Quimby19 LLC is registered to Urban Asset Advisors LLC, which in turn is registered to Tim O’Brien.
On April 18 the city received an application for new construction of a six-story building with 88 residential units and ground-floor commercial space. The project previously went through the design review process and was approved by the design commission in March. The design review applicant was Kurt Schultz of SERA Architects.
The proposal before the design commission noted that the building will include 46 automobile parking spaces, 36 of which will be mechanized. Parking for 120 bicycles is included as well.
3D image of the site from Google Maps. 19th at Quimby building is at the bottom right, with the 1880 home to the left. At the far left of the block is the Sniff Dog Hotel dog daycare, which will not be demolished.
Drawing of the proposed building from design review application. Sniff Dog Hotel is at the far left, for reference.
On April 27 the city received an application for demolition of the restaurant building, while on May 2 the developer applied for demolition of the single-family home and a garage adjacent to the house. The applicant on the demolitions was listed as Zac Horton of Faster Permits, while the contractor is Bremik Construction.
All three permits are technically under review, although there is no mandatory delay for commercial building or garage demolitions, and the single-family home is exempt from the 35-day demolition delay because it is not in a residential zone.
There are several issues with how the demolition permit information from the city is presented. The restaurant demolition application has not appeared on the weekly reports from the Bureau of Development Services; and the 1880 home demolition states on its intake record that it is subject to the 35-day demolition delay, while a closer inspection on PortlandMaps indicates it is not.
The single-family home demolition application also lists the address of the restaurant building rather than that of the house itself.
Portland skyline image appears on the side of the restaurant. Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
Photo credit: Portland Chronicle contributor
The 1880 home was included on the historic resource inventory conducted in Portland in 1984, noted for its architecture.
The inventory gives a construction date of 1890, rather than 1880 as described by city records.
Image from Historic Resource Inventory
The inventory survey form relates that the house, known as The O’Brien House, “was designed with elements of the Queen Anne style” and “is a good example of a small working class cottage.”
The house was given an HRI rank of III, which according to city code means it “may be eligible for listing in the National Register as part of a Historic District.” Ranked resources are also subject to demolition delay review, which requires a 120-day delay period.
However, historic resource designation is voluntary, and a property owner can remove listed properties at any time. The 1880 home has apparently been removed from the inventory, as no delay has been triggered by the demolition proposal.
Demolition plan from city records, showing the restaurant, garage and house to be demolished. This plan is associated with the restaurant demolition file, likely the reason the upper lot is crossed out.