Weatherly Building

Weatherly Building

Weatherly Building and Oriental Theatre, December 31, 1927.
Location in Portland
Former names Crystal Ice & Storage Co. Office & Theatre building, The Weatherly
General information
Type Highrise[1]
Architectural style Beaux-Arts, modern[1]
Location Portland, Oregon
Address 516 SE Morrison Street
Coordinates 45°31′01″N 122°39′37″W / 45.517005°N 122.660382°WCoordinates: 45°31′01″N 122°39′37″W / 45.517005°N 122.660382°W
Current tenants Bank of America, Lensbaby
Construction started 1927
Completed 1928[1]
Cost 1.5 million USD (including theatre)
Client George Warren Weatherly
Owner Mayfield Investment Company
Landlord Mayfield Investment[2]
Height 53.34 metres (175.0 ft)[3]
Technical details
Floor count 12
Floor area 82,000 square feet (7,600 m2)[2]
Design and construction
Architect Sutton & Whitney, Lee Thomas
Main contractor Robertson Hay & Wallace

The Weatherly Building in Portland, Oregon is a 12-story commercial office building. It was built in 1926 by ice cream businessman George Warren Weatherly.[2][4]

According to a photograph dated December 21, 1927 held by the Library of Congress as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey collection (labeled "Stevens Commercial Photographers") the building was designed by architects Sutton & Whitney[3] and Lee Thomas, and was built by Robertson Hay & Wallace general contractors.[5]

Background

Weatherly's creamery business started with a second-hand freezer in a small candy shop in 1890 and grew to produce an estimated 90% of Oregon ice cream sales. He was "locally credited"[6] with inventing the ice cream cone[4] and to have been the "east side's leading citizen in the 1920 and 1930s".[7] The building helped develop the so-called "uptown district"[7] and had an ice cream shop on its ground floor.[2] An employee of Weatherly's, F. A. Bruckman, invented and patented the first successful cone manufacturing machine.[4]

Architecture

Weatherly building and Oriental Theatre) photographed September 17, 1927, before the brick and terra cotta facade were completed
Weatherly Building in 2009, almost 82 years after opening day photo in same location.

The Weatherly building has Romanesque brick and terra cotta embellishments, including an arcade of arches near the roof.[7] It "was among the first high-rise buildings east of the river, with 12 stories towering over the Morrison Bridge."[2] There are 3 elevators and two rooftop penthouses.[7]

Movie theatre operator Walter Eugene Tebetts convinced Weatherly to construct the Oriental Theatre adjacent to the Weatherly building. It was designed by Lee Thomas and Albert Mercier, who also designed many other movie palaces in the Pacific Northwest. The large and ornate theatre was the area's second largest, behind the Portland Theatre. It was torn down in 1970 to make way for a parking lot. The building and theatre cost $1.5 million.[8]

Ownership and occupants

The Weatherly sold in 2002 to Mayfield Investment in Palo Alto, California for $7.4 million. It was previously owned by Landmark Investments, who owned it since 1984.[2][3]

Tenants of the Weatherly have included Burns Bros. Inc., Bridget Pilloud,[9] Kerr Violin Shop, Bank of America,[10] Aqua Terra couples massage,[11] Grand Jete Café, the Portland Running Company, Lensbaby, Stand for Children,[12] Archscape Architecture.[2][10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 SkyscraperPage: Weatherly Building
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Stout, Heidi J. (2002-02-21). "Historic Weatherly Building sells quickly". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved 2009-12-25.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Emporis: Weatherly Building
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cone Pioneer Dies in Portland August 13, 1948 Eugene Register Guard
  5. ↑ See inset in the infobox image
  6. ↑ Potter, Elisabeth Walton; Elisabeth Walton Potter (State Park Historian, Salem, Oregon, January 1970), Lucy Pope Wheeler (Writer/Editor, HABS, 1976), Denys Peter Myers (Architectural Historian, HABS, 1979) (1979). Historic American Buildings Survey: The Oriental Theatre, HABS No. Ore-55.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Laura O. Foster Portland City Walks: Twenty Explorations in and Around Town
  8. ↑ Gary Lacher, Steve Stone Theatres of Portland, p. 58
  9. ↑ [http://www.intuitivebridge.com
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Stout, Heidi J. (2003-03-21). "Family building renovated for a Grand retail future". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved 2009-12-25.
  11. ↑ Aqua Terra Massage, Location
  12. ↑ "Real estate roundup". Portland Business Journal. 2008-11-10. Retrieved 2009-12-25.

External links