Name: Portland Garden Club
Address: 1132 SW Vista Avenue
City: Portland
Year of Construction: 1954
Architect: John Storrs
Original Use: Recreation (Garden Club Headquarters)
Status: In Use
National Register of Historic Places: Listed (05001151)
Description: The ‘L’-plan headquarters of the Portland Garden Club, standing on a corner lot at the intersection of SW Vista Avenue and SW Kings Court, has an unassuming simple design character that defers to the established residential neighborhood surrounds the building. However, its modest street presence belies the influence of the building, which helped launch architect John Storrs’s career and contributed to the development of the Northwest Regional Style. The Portland Garden Club’s horizontal orientation, naturalistic material palette, and artful composition of roof forms and windows express an architectural vocabulary reappeared on countless residences throughout the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s and 1960s.
In contrast to the predominantly solid façades that are visible from the public right-of-way, the north and west façades are extensively glazed and face the expansive landscaped garden that spreads across the remainder of the lot.
Further Information
• The Portland Garden Club [new window]
• 1954 Photographs, University of Oregon Libraries [new window]
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