Foster School (Portland, Oregon)

Title: Foster School (Portland, Oregon)
LC Subject: Architecture, American Architecture--United States
Alternative: Steele Site Facility (Portland, Oregon) Phillip Foster Elementary School (Portland, Oregon) Foster Elementary School (Portland, Oregon)
Creator: Dukehart & Kinne Dukehart, John K. Kinne, Elizabeth P.
Creator Display: Dukehart & Kinne (architecture firm, 1953-1968) John Kistner Dukehart (architect, 1908-1968) Elizabeth Pinnock Kinne (architect, 1908-1995)
Description: This image is included in Building Oregon: Architecture of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, a digital collection which provides documentation about the architectural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. Oregon Historic Site Form. Prepared by Iris Eschen.
Provenance: University of Oregon Libraries
Temporal: 1960-1969
Style Period: Northwest Regional
Work Type: architecture (object genre) built works views (visual works) exterior views public schools (buildings) rooms (interior spaces) architectural drawings (visual works) plans (orthographic projections) plans, floor
Latitude: 45.485373
Longitude: -122.575076
Location: Portland >> Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Oregon >> United States United States
Street Address: 5205 SE 86th Avenue
Date: 1962
View Date: 2009
Identifier: OR_Multnomah_Portland_Foster.pdf
Rights: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Type: Image
Format: application/pdf
Material: Wood
Set: Building Oregon
Primary Set: Building Oregon
Institution: University of Oregon
Citation: PPS Historic Building Assessment 2009
Note: Oregon Historic Site Form Foster Facility 5205 86th Ave Portland, Multnomah County block nbr: SEC lot nbr: R99 tax lot nbr: R33581 township: range: section: 1/ 4: LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME elig. evaluation: not eligible/ non- contributing primary orig use: School secondary orig use: primary style: Northwest Regional secondary style: primary siding: Wood Sheet secondary siding: plan type: School ( General) Portland historic name: Foster Facility primary constr date: 1962 secondary date: height (# stories): 1 total # ineligible resources: 2 ( optional-- use for major addns) current/ other names: Steele Site Facility, Phillip Foster Elementary School ( c.) ( c.) orig use comments: prim style comments: sec style comments: location descr: assoc addresses: vcnty address: ( remote sites) siding comments: PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS farmstead/ cluster name: zip: total # eligible resources: 0 apprx. addrs resource type: Building NR status: RLS survey date: 6/ 26/ 2009 external site #: 367 ( ID# used in city/ agency database) survey project name or other grouping name comments/ notes: ILS survey date: 6/ 26/ 2009 Gen File date: SHPO INFO FOR THIS PROPERTY NR date listed: GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS Optional Information 5205 SE 86th Ave Multnomah County ( former addresses, intersections, etc.) architect: Dukehart & Kinne builder: NR date listed: ( indiv listed only; see Grouping for hist dist) 106 Project( s) PPS Historic Building Assessment 2009 Survey & Inventory Project Foster Middle School Printed on: 10/ 14/ 2009 Page 1 of 4 Oregon Historic Site Form Foster Facility 5205 86th Ave Portland, Multnomah County ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION ( Include expanded description of the building/ property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings, and alterations) HISTORY ( Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period [ preferably to the present]) Summary Description The Foster Facility is situated in southeast Portland at 5205 SE 86th Avenue. The school campus consists of a primary L- shaped classroom and an administrative building ( 367A). A detached portable ( 367P1) is located at the south end of the property. The dominant architectural feature of the building is the multiple gable roof with a dramatic overhang that covers an exterior walkway, a characteristic of the Northwest Regional style. The fenestration is comprised primarily of grouped metal frame windows. Architectural Description The Foster Facility is situated in southwest Portland at 5205 SE 86th Avenue. The 3.60- acre rectangular parcel is surrounded by a mixture of single family residences, commercial buildings, and recent multi- family residential developments. Buildings on the campus include a detached portable building, an L- shaped classroom, and an administration building. Playfields and an asphalt covered parking area occupy the north and east portions of the campus. The Foster Facility features an L- shaped version of the finger plan. The primary school building is a single story wood frame structure that rests on a poured concrete foundation. Cladding consists of plywood siding with narrow battens covering the joints between the panels. Intersecting gable roofs cover the two wings of the L- shaped building. The fenestration is comprised primarily of grouped metal frame windows with louvers. The building features characteristic elements of the Northwest Regional style including broad roof overhangs, plywood siding, fixed windows with louvers, and expressed structural system. The principal entry to the building is from the north, which proceeds from the doorway into a lobby flanked by the office and the cafeteria. A double loaded corridor extending north to south provides access to the classroom and community spaces. An exterior walkway covered by the overhang of the gable roof connects the classrooms in the south end of the building. The primary community spaces for the school are provided in the cafeteria and playroom. The classrooms are primarily rectangular with built- in cabinetry lining an interior wall. The beams that support the gable roof are visible in the classrooms. Several of the classrooms have been subdivided with interior partition walls. Many classrooms also feature blonde wood paneling and moldings. Ventilation for the classrooms is provided either through an operable awning panel or a louvered ventilation panel in the metal frame windows. Univents provide heat for the classrooms. Tubular fluorescent light fixtures are suspended from the ceiling. Alterations Minimal alterations have been made to the building and campus since the construction of the school in 1962. In response to the need for classroom space, the portable was added in 1966 ( Facility Profile). Several of the spaces have been subdivided to provide additional classroom and office spaces. Some rooms contain partition walls with one way windows to facilitate the building’s use as an alternative school ( Mt. Scott Learning Centers Website). Most of the original finishes, including classroom built- ins, are intact. Statement of Significance Built in 1962, Foster Elementary School was one of the later buildings constructed during a period of modernization and new construction initiated by Portland Public Schools ( PPS) after World War II. In 1945, the citizens of Portland approved a ballot measure that provided $ 5,000,000 over five years to construct, improve, and rehabilitate its public school buildings ( Portland Public Schools 1945: 2). The ballot measure enabled PPS to respond to the explosive growth in school- age children that had occurred in the city as a result of the arrival of defense plant workers and their families, as well as the deferred maintenance arising from the lack of funds during the depression ( Portland Public Schools 1945: 2- 3). Beginning with this initial bond measure, PPS embarked on an effort to improve its school facilities through renovations, additions, and new construction of over fifty schools between 1945 and 1970. For the new building program, PPS schools adopted the call of architects and school planners across the country for new types of schools. Nationally known architects including Richard Neutra, the Walter Gropius led Architects Collective, and the Perkins Will architectural firm promoted new school types that reflected both evolving educational practices and design philosophies ( Ogata 2008: 567- 568; Perkins and Cocking 1949: 238- 246). Emphasizing the need for economy and rapid construction, the designers adopted new materials that were standardized and mass produced including steel, plywood, glass block, and aluminum. In many buildings, architects achieved flexibility through the building’s structure by employing non load- bearing partition walls and zoned ventilation and heating systems. Folding walls and moveable cabinets provided additional flexibility intended to enable teachers to rearrange rooms based on lesson plan and activities ( Ogata 2008: 568). Although many of the architects for schools in Portland continued to design their schools to be extensible, designers turned away from the two- story schools with centralized massing popularized by Naramore and Jones. Instead many architects adopted the principles of the Modern movement and its regional variant, the Northwest Regional style, choosing to express functional areas through massing and materials to create innovative forms ( McMath 1974: 628). Classrooms featured extensive built- ins that included sinks, slots for bulky rolls of paper, and coat storage. Many buildings incorporated interior courtyards which facilitated access to the outdoors and expanded the opportunities for passive ventilation and daylighting, a hallmark of the Northwest style. Printed on: 10/ 14/ 2009 Page 2 of 4 Oregon Historic Site Form Foster Facility 5205 86th Ave Portland, Multnomah County RESEARCH INFORMATION Title Records Sanborn Maps Obituaries City Directories Census Records Biographical Sources Newspapers Building Permits Property Tax Records SHPO Files State Archives State Library Local Histories Interviews Historic Photographs Local Library: Mulnomah County Library University Library: Portland State University Library Historical Society: Oregon Historical Society Other Repository: PPS Archives Bibliography: Bibliography McMath, George. “ A Regional Style Comes to the City.” In Space, Style and Structure: Buildings in Northwest America. Ed. Thomas Vaughan, 467- 499. Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1974. Mount Scott Learning Center - Middle School. http:// www. mtscottlearningcenters. org/ centers. htm. Accessed August 20, 2009. Ogata, Amy F. “ Building for Learning in Postwar American Elementary Schools.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 67, no. 4, December 2008: 562- 591. Oregonian “ Portland Schools Saving $ 599, 190 with 4 closures.” 12- 31- 1982. Perkins, Lawrence B and Walter D. Cocking. Schools. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1949. Portland Public Schools Chronology Binder. Portland Public Schools. Repairing, Rehabilitating and Modernizing the School Plant. Portland: Portland Public Schools. Office of the Superintendent, 1945. _______. Foster Elementary School. Facility Plan.. _______. Foster Elementary School. Facility Profile. Ritz, Richard. E. Architects of Oregon. A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased – 19th and 20th Centuries. Portland: Lair Hill Publishing, 2003. Sanborn Map Company 1924- 1928, 1908- Dec. 1950 Sanborn Maps, Multnomah County Public Library, Portland, Oregon. Available at: ( Check all of the basic sources consulted and cite specific important sources) In response to the significant growth experienced in southeast Portland in the second half of the twentieth century, the district acquired land at 5205 SE 86th Avenue for $ 23,000.00. Named for Philip Foster, a pioneer settler from main who owned a well- known farm east of Portland, the school was constructed for $ 179,377.77 ( Snyder 1979: 238; Portland Chronology Binder). To meet the demand for additional classroom space, the portable was added in 1966. However, by the mid 1980s enrollment at many schools in Portland was declining. In 1982 the Foster School, along with Adams, Washington, and Sacajawea, was closed as a cost savings measure ( Oregonian. 12- 31- 1982). The building is currently leased to Mt. Scott Learning Centers as an alternative School ( Mt. Scott Learning Center Website). The architects of the Foster Facility, Dukehart & Kinne, had substantial experience in the design of public buildings in Oregon. The practice Dukehart & Kinne was formed by John Kistner Dukehart and Elizabeth Pennock Kinne in 1953. Born in Portland in 1908, Dukehart attended Portland Public Schools throughout his childhood, followed by Reed College. He obtained a degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1931. From 1924- 1926 Dukehart worked at the firm A. E. Doyle as a draftsman, followed by the office of Johnson & Wallwork, where he eventually became a partner. Elizabeth Pennock was also born in Portland in 1908. In 1926 Pennock entered the Architecture program at the University of Oregon where she became one of only 6 or 7 women studying architecture. Although the Great Depression forced Pennock to withdraw from the program before obtaining her degree, she found work as a draftswoman in the Portland firm of Johnson, Wallwork & Johnston. Pennock continued in her position after Johnston left the partnership. Pennock and Dukehart met at Johnson & Wallwork and continued to work together once Dukehart made partner in 1934. In 1939, Pennock married Bruce Kinne, another architect employed in the firm. Elizabeth Pennock Kinne continued to work with Dukehart after he established his own firm in 1947 - John K. Dukehart & Associates. In 1953, Elizabeth Pennock Kinne became partner in the new firm Dukehart & Kinne. Elizabeth Pennock Kinne and John Dukehart worked on many significant Portland buildings including the Town Club, buildings for Reed College, and the Binford Apartment complex in Portland. Other experience with educational facilities came from the design of the Harvey Scott Memorial Library and the Jefferson School of Optometry at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon ( Ritz 2003: 116- 117, 226- 227). Despite the retention of its finger plan and many exterior and interior finishes, the Foster Facility is recommended as not eligible for the NRHP. The school was built in response to the residential development in southeast Portland during the PPS program of post- war construction, but its role in that expansion was not significant. It is therefore not eligible for the NRHP under Criterion A. Although designed by a successful architecture firm in Portland, archival research does not indicate that the school was a major commission. However, the building is a good example of the use of finger plan schools to facilitate rapid construction. Furthermore the building’s expressoin of the Northwest Regional Style is not distinguished when compared to other schools constructed during the same period. The school building is therefore not eligible for the NRHP under Criterion C. Printed on: 10/ 14/ 2009 Page 3 of 4 Oregon Historic Site Form Foster Facility 5205 86th Ave Portland, Multnomah County https:// catalog. multcolib. org/ validate? url= http% 3A% 2F% 2F0- sanborn. umi. com. catalog. multcolib. org% 3A80% 2F. Accessed June 16, 2009. Snyder, Eugene E. Portland Names and Neighborhoods. Their Historic Origins. Portland: Binforrd & Mort Publishing; 1st edition 1979. Printed on: 10/ 14/ 2009 Page 4 of 4 East elevation facing southwest North elevation facing southwest West elevation facing east East elevation and roof overhang Portable facing southwest Foster Facility Exterior Photos ENTRIX 2009 Gymnasium facing west Classroom built- ins Interior portable Classroom facing north Corridor facing south Foster Facility Interior Photos ENTRIX 2009 Foster Facility 5205 SE 86th Ave, Portland OR, 97266 Building Periods 1. Main Building ( 367A), 1962 2. Classroom Add ( 367P1), 1966 Aerial photo © 2009 Metro, Portland OR Imagery Date: July 12, 2007 SE Insley St SE 85th Ave 2009 photograph of the Foster roofline. View Site in Google Maps Historical Significance and Building Integrity Contrib: High Significance Contrib: Moderate Signif. Non- Contributing 0’ 50’ 100’ 200’ N sandy Blvd Lombard st powell Blvd 82nd ave MLK jr b lvd 1 2