The Crowning Jewel, A Campus for the Pearl District

Portland is a model of sustainability and the Pearl District is its jewel, the flashpoint of the city’s renaissance. Having given new life to a desolate industrial area, the New Urbanist neighborhood literally defines renaissance: taken from the Old French word “renaistre” to be born again.  At the same time, the Pearl is a work in progress, a place struggling to create a civic identity.  Its landmarks and architecture pay homage to the past, but that is not enough. A renaissance celebrates history to illuminate a common destiny that elevate the public realm.

Fortunately, Portland’s civic foundation is rooted in the American Renaissance, the early 20th century movement that ordered the industrial city on classical lines and around nature.  The North Park Blocks, the Pearl District’s only historic public space, were established in this era.  In 1906 Portland’s first playground was placed here, providing an enlivening experience in a heavily populated area.  Between 1920 and 1940 industry displaced residential uses and, with a dwindling population, the North Park Blocks fell into decline.  By 1990 they were forlorn and forgotten, used primarily by transients and plagued by crime.

North Park Blocks, ca 1906

At the same time, the downtown’s revival spurred interest in the linear greens.  A 1988 plan envisioned extending the North Park Blocks to a new riverfront park. The decision to create an open space system (Jamison Square, Tanner Springs Park, and Fields Park) in the Pearl District put this idea to rest.  Today the North Park Blocks remain underutilized, the unknown variable on the edge of a real estate juggernaut.  The redevelopment plans for the Post Office site has changed the equation, as the parking lot west of Pacific Northwest College of Art will become an extension of the North Park Blocks.

North Park Blocks Extension, 1988 Central City Plan

Establishing such spaces is rooted in Portland’s history.  It is “particularly desirable,” the Olmsted Brothers noted in the 1903 Report to the Portland Park Board, “that a city should have several of its principle public buildings facing upon a large public square.”  Ideally, urban squares would terminate a system of linear greens to highlight public buildings that, in turn, exerted an “ennobling influence” to generate “action for the public good.”  The prototype was Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece, the University of Virginia.  The library, a half-size adaptation of the Pantheon, centered the campus.  Jefferson had it overlook a linear green to symbolize the flow of knowledge from the university into the wider community.

University of Virginia, library overlooking linear green

Classical values, nature, and crisp geometry energized Jefferson and the American Renaissance: can they do the same in the Pearl District? The North Park Blocks offer the ideal setting to update history. A “campus” centered on a public square terminating the North Park Blocks would give the Pearl district a distinct civic identity.  The North Park Blocks might once again be a focus of civic life in Portland.  Then, the Pearl District would truly experience a renaissance.

Interested in Jefferson's influence on the American Renaissance? Consult John Nolen: Landscape Architect and City Planner http://lalh.org/john-nolen-landscape-architect/