{"id":3633,"date":"2021-03-21T13:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-21T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celloexpressions.com\/photography\/?p=3633"},"modified":"2021-03-21T13:01:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-21T20:01:43","slug":"benson-polytechnic-high-school-1916-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celloexpressions.com\/photography\/2021\/03\/benson-polytechnic-high-school-1916-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Benson Polytechnic High School, 1916 – 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I first experienced Benson Polytechnic High School in 2007. I began working on its modernization project a decade later, then the 2017 Portland Public Schools (PPS) bond (partially) funded the reconstruction<\/a>. As the new design nears completion, and with construction including substantial demolition slated to begin later this year, I have explored the history of the school through its buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1916 Master Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Benson fills a six-block campus in inner northeast Portland. Extensive career-technical-education programs present a unique collection of building uses, from manufacturing shops to healthcare-education clinics. The original main building, boiler house, north shops, and foundry building date to 1916. The corresponding master plan envisioned a series of neoclassical brick building “units” separated by courtyards. Single-loaded corridors connected the units and defined a large eastern athletic courtyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
From PPS Archives: a 1917 construction photograph taken at the southeast corner of the campus shows the original buildings at various stages of completion. From left to right: the two-story administration building, the boiler house and stack, the single-story north shops with sawtooth roof, and the two-story shops (foundry building). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By 1930, a south shop wing, gymnasium, and auditorium building were completed to the general layout of the original master plan by F. A. Naramore. A 200-foot-tall school-operated radio broadcast tower was erected in that same decade. While the permanent structures maintained the original massing and circulation pattern, dozens of temporary learning spaces began to fill the open courtyards. Despite the expansive building footprints, usable space on the now-urban site became constrained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benson<\/a>
From PPS Archives: this 1930 composite first floor plan shows the complete extent of construction under the original master plan. Dashed lines envision three additional building units mirroring the proportion of the original foundry building: to the sites of the present KBPS, main gymnasium, and library buildings. Temporary structures fill many of the originally-designated open spaces, including an series of courtyards that originally reflected the proportion of NE 13th Ave between the main building and boiler house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Post-War Construction Boom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Demand for additional capacity spawned a flurry of school construction throughout Portland following World War II. At the Benson campus, two 1953 buildings dismantled the original parti of wings connected by single-loaded corridors and separated by open courtyards. The Library & Science building was placed far too close to the original administration building, whose east brick fa\u00e7ade was stripped of its wood windows and coated with paint. The Automotive & Aeronautics building and a parking lot filled the east athletic courtyard, turning the eastern half of the campus into an asphalt-filled sea of dark, auto-oriented, single-story structures. Inside, historic flooring and ceiling surfaces were covered throughout the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alterations by the same architect continued into the one-story shop wings in 1958 and 1960, where sawtooth roof trusses with skylights were covered or removed, heavy timber columns were replaced with steel and CMU, low dropped ceilings confined the spaces, and numerous original windows were infilled. The 1964 tilt-up gymnasium was the final significant project of the post-war era. In addition to its incompatible exterior that remains unsightly today, its construction literally stripped the original brick and terra cotta ornamentation from the east facades of the 1916 administration and 1925 gymnasium buildings to create a flat interior wall. However, it used the only remaining open space on campus that could fit this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
From PPS Archives: a 1953 rendering over an aerial photograph highlights proposed additions to Benson Polytechnic High School. The Automotive & Aeronautics Building (1) and Library & Science Building (2) were built, except for a second-story classroom addition over the 1916 boiler house and 1930 stock room addition. The proposed music building (3) was also unbuilt, eventually serving as the site of the 1991 library & health sciences building. The two remaining open spaces were eventually filled by the 1964 Main Gymnasium (4) and the 1991 KBPS radio broadcast building (5).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Late 20th-Century Evolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1977 renovations forever changed the 1916 foundry building’s interior, infilling double-height spaces, removing solid tongue-and-groove wood partitions, flattening sawtooth roof skylights, and restructuring the heavy timber floor and roof. The exterior remained historically-intact other than the addition of two CMU stair towers, later joined by an elevator and covered walkway, to the west fa\u00e7ade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
From PPS Archives: the original double-height foundry space featured a dirt floor, a concrete mezzanine, and a gantry crane. While the mezzanine was infilled in 1977, the space is still a working foundry and will continue to be with the modernization project.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The dozen present buildings were completed with the 1991 construction of a freestanding radio broadcast building and a library & health sciences wing, along with a small music room structure and minor alterations throughout the buildings. The library building features a timely postmodernist interior complete with glass block and clerestory atriums. But its massing is flawed, with a bizarrely-shaped basement, oversized first floor, and short, minimally-windowed upper level. Its design was surely driven by field conditions, many of which could have been avoided with a design following the original campus master plan calling for light courts between each wing. Instead, this addition covered two more original 1916 facades. The 1930 Auditorium building’s rear fa\u00e7ade was also obscured, as part of the new second story extended over its east low roof, a bay of the 1930 brick veneer was replaced with new brick to match a flush new wall, and the original organ was removed (and re-installed at Cleveland High School). Structural challenges and the library building’s inappropriate connections to no fewer than five distinct previous buildings, ultimately led to its planned demolition — a cost savings relative to a retrofit scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The library entry inside the 1991 addition features glass block and a postmodern aesthetic.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Present Condition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The modernization project team has spent more than two years studying the present condition of Benson’s buildings. Discoveries on site, in the as-built drawings, and through structural analysis have informed decisions from replacing the 1991 media center to structurally retrofitting the radio tower. Input from the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission influenced a final design that alternates new brick-clad buildings with historic facades around the full perimeter of the site. The following galleries, collected between 2017 and 2021, document the existing conditions that will soon transform with the modernization project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building Exteriors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Main entry steps to the administration building at dawn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n