Claussen and Claussen was an architecture firm based in Portland, Oregon, that designed several prominent buildings in the first half of the 20th century. Some of the buildings have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, including the Roosevelt Hotel, the Park Heathman Hotel, the Loyalty Building, Ira Powers Warehouse, and Portland Van and Storage.

Claussen and Claussen
IndustryArchitecture
FoundersWilliam Emil Claussen
Hans Fred Claussen
FateDissolved
HeadquartersMacleay Building,

History edit

William Emil Claussen (January 27, 1878 – November 10, 1953)[1] and his brother, Hans Fred Claussen (January 26, 1880 – April 1, 1942),[2] moved from Chicago to Portland in 1908 and formed the architectural firm, Claussen and Claussen. Reasons for the move are speculative, although Portland had sustained a period of record growth from 1890 to 1900 and at the time had the largest area of any city on the Pacific Coast.[3] Moreover, after the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905, Portland experienced another period of rapid growth that placed enormous demands on architects and builders.

Claussen and Claussen took its place among established Portland architectural firms in 1908 and immediately began designing the E.C. Fety Building (demolished) at SW Second and Main Street at a cost of $7,500.[4]

In 1915 the firm submitted plans for a remodel of Portland City Hall that featured a conversion of balcony space above the city council chamber into offices.[5]

In the 1930s, the firm designed several retail outlets for the Fred Meyer company, including the Hollywood location at NE 41st and Sandy that featured innovative roof parking.[6] In the 1920s, businessman Fred Meyer and his wife had lived in a building designed by Claussen and Claussen.[7] Meyer had purchased the Music Box Theater, formerly the Pantages, in 1928 and had hired the firm to redesign the block for office and retail space that would become the Alderway Building. Claussen and Claussen had been able to preserve the steel frame of the Pantages in planning the four-story structure.[8]

Many Claussen and Claussen structures have been demolished to meet the changing needs of the community, for example, the First English Evangelical Church at SE Sixth and Market[9] and the Turnverein building at SW 13th and Madison.[10] And some structures were never built as in the case of the Machinery Building, a $600,000, seven-story industrial proposal bounded by SW First, Ash, Second, and Pine.[11]

The architects worked nonstop until the death of Fred Claussen in 1942,[12] but Claussen and Claussen continued until the death of William Claussen in 1953.[13]

Partial list of surviving buildings edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "William Emil Claussen". United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. FamilySearch. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  2. ^ "Hans Fred Claussen". United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. FamilySearch. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  3. ^ MacColl, E. Kimbark; Stein, Harry H. (1988). Merchants, Money, and Power: The Portland Establishment 1843-1913. Athens, Georgia: The Georgian Press. pp. 336–337. ISBN 978-0960340842.
  4. ^ "All Kinds of Buildings Go Up". The Oregonian. Portland. April 20, 1908. p. 15.
  5. ^ The Oregonian, November 14, 1915, p. 12
  6. ^ The Oregonian, July 19, 1936, p. 16
  7. ^ Leeson, Fred (2014). My-Te-Fine Merchant. Portland: Irvington Press. pp. 115 (iBook). ISBN 978-0996062602.
  8. ^ The Oregonian, April 8, 1928, p. 21
  9. ^ The Oregonian, August 15, 1909, p. 10
  10. ^ The Oregonian, June 1, 1913, p. 10
  11. ^ The Oregonian, December 24, 1911, p. 6
  12. ^ "Death Takes City Builder". The Oregonian. Portland. April 3, 1942. p. 16.
  13. ^ "William Emil Claussen". Oregon, Death Index, 1903-1998. FamilySearch. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  14. ^ The Oregonian, May 28, 1922, p. 8
  15. ^ The Oregonian, December 21, 1924, p. 37
  16. ^ The Oregonian, April 8, 1928, p. 21
  17. ^ "Bonneville Dam Historic District". Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  18. ^ The Oregonian, October 27, 1912, p. 10
  19. ^ The Oregonian, May 3, 1914, p. 10
  20. ^ The Oregonian, June 6, 1926, p. 24
  21. ^ The Oregonian, January 21, 1923, p. 64
  22. ^ The Oregonian, October 6, 1940, p. 8
  23. ^ The Oregonian, December 31, 1922, p. 8
  24. ^ The Oregonian, June 7, 1914, p. 12
  25. ^ The Oregonian, May 17, 1925, p. 29
  26. ^ The Oregonian, February 25, 1922, p. 9
  27. ^ The Oregonian, April 4, 1926, p. 26
  28. ^ The Oregonian, July 13, 1908, p. 13
  29. ^ The Oregonian, February 4, 1923, p. 6
  30. ^ "Buyers Building". Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  31. ^ The Oregonian, July 16, 1911, p. 10
  32. ^ The Oregonian, February 20, 1910, p. 9
  33. ^ The Oregonian, November 12, 1916, p. 7
  34. ^ The Oregonian, January 9, 1910, p. 11
  35. ^ The Oregonian, July 8, 1929, p. 6
  36. ^ The Oregonian, October 4, 1925, p. 33
  37. ^ The Oregonian, May 28, 1922, p. 8
  38. ^ The Oregonian, August 22, 1925, p. 10
  39. ^ The Oregonian, December 18, 1910, p. 9
  40. ^ The Oregonian, February 5, 1922, p. 8
  41. ^ The Oregonian, April 9, 1924, p. 23
  42. ^ The Oregonian, February 5, 1939, p. 21
  43. ^ The Oregonian, June 10, 1923, p. 42
  44. ^ The Oregonian, September 3, 1939, p. 14
  45. ^ Seigneur, Cornelia Becker (January 19, 2009). Images of America: West Linn. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-0738558509.

Further reading edit