One of Pietro Belluschi’s landmarks faces demolition in downtown Salem. Despite its listing in the National Register of Historic Places, Pietro Belluschi’s First National Bank of Salem building will likely be demolished by September 6th. Constructed in 1946, the building’s design follows a mid-career trend in the work of Oregon’s foremost modernist and features the […]
Can a New Vision Save Salem’s Historic School for the Blind?
Four years after purchasing the former site of the Oregon State School for the Blind, Salem Hospital has submitted an application to demolish the last remaining building standing on its campus: Howard Hall. Originally built as a boy’s dormitory, Howard Hall served as a central part of the school from the 1920s until the school’s […]
What’s Next for Salem’s Dome Building?
One of Salem’s most prominent public buildings will be sold to a private developer if all goes according to a State-sponsored plan to divest the property later this year. Listed as a 2013 Most Endangered Place, the 1912 Dome Building was once part of the sprawling Oregon State Hospital campus in Salem, an institution made […]
Saving the Windows in the Historic Oregon Governor's Mansion to Create Energy Efficiency
Mahonia Hall, the Oregon governor’s mansion, was nicknamed Pneumonia Hall by past gubernatorial residents because of the building’s energy inefficiency. Built in 1924 for hop farmer Thomas Livesley by Ellis Lawrence, founder of the University of Oregon School of Architecture, it’s beautiful and grand. But also drafty and cold. Last year, First Lady Cylvia Hayes […]