The Guts of Our City, Our State

Last week Matt White and I attended a lecture at the Portland Art Museum on the actual building as a work of art. The people, the politics, the use of natural light--fascinating stuff. We went home and pulled out Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon: 1850 - 1950 and read some more.

Today gave me pause for a new appreciation of Portland.

We have hundreds of historic buildings. Wrought iron, craftsman, deco--all easily identifiable by their outside traits and, most of the time, by their inside traits. But what about the guts?

You know--the guts. The pipes, the mail chutes, the inner workings. I've thought about it since at our house we've taken out lathe & plaster, lead pipes, etc. etc. But here's a new one:

The elevator.

After having lunch today with my little bro, Matt, he wanted to show me his job site. He's an elevator mechanic specializing in the modernization, or upgrading, of elevators. This is where Big Sister learned something new. Water powered elevators. New York City took out their last one in 1999 where it had run for 97 years in an apartment building. The city hall in Providence, RI, had one that could hold up to 50 people, run by 4 coal fired boilers--50 hp each. Even Oregon City had one downtown in 1915. (http://www.orcity.org/public-orks/OregonCityMuncipalElevator.html)

Matt thinks what's left is probably one of the last in Portland, except for some of the sidewalk elevators used for freight, etc. downtown. I think he might be right, and I think it's pretty damn cool. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Next, I headed down to our state Capitol to see the guts of our government. I added a new pressed penny to my collection of the Oregon Pioneer, the gold guy on top of the building! Yay! Again, the pic isn't that fab and it's turned the wrong way.... maybe later....

I had a fabulous, personalized tour, from the Christmas Tree District Representative. The session is almost over, but there was still a lot going on.

At the end of a fabulous day of history, the count is 139 to go!

And here's another fun "guts" story from The Oregonian on 6/25/09:
The goal of the Sandy River Crossing Project in Sandy, Ore., is to reduce the vulnerability of two main water conduits that bring the Portland area its water by burying the conduits in a tunnel that runs beneath the Sandy River. The project is directed by the Portland Water Bureau, which hired Kiewit Pacific Company to complete the project by August 2010. The project ensures that the integrity of the pipes, which carry two-thirds of the bureau's total capacity, is secure for at least 100 years.