Historic Portland Discussion

[nomc]

It's somewhat like what happened to the Vendome building in Boston (1872), at 162 Commonwealth Ave. It got smoothed out a little and the crown was removed or altered. Boston in general, has done a great job with building preservation. I used to walk down this street often when I was in college. Gems all around. To live on this street now is nearly impossible, or unless you have millions.

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Too bad, what a mansard that was, wow.

 

[TC_zoid]

Can you find a pic like this when the Eastland built a pool on the top? Was it the tower or the low-rise end? Probably the latter. I talked to a bartender at Top of the East a while back and he told me that Ozzy Osbourne and his band, in the late 70s or early 80s, stayed at the hotel, got drunk (they can do that, rock bands) and threw some patio furniture off the roof to High Street. Soon after the pool was closed and filled it.

 

[Portlander]

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Credit: Q97.9 article.

True story TC and this post card photo is all I've been able to find. The pool was installed to the best of my knowledge in the late 60's after it became a Sheraton property. It was located on the northern portion of the roof closest to Cumberland Avenue (big umbrella in the left photo) and covered over during the early 80's after Ozzy's episode. When the Westin renovated the Eastland back in 2012-13, the pool basin was still intact under the 13th floor roof and had to be removed.

 

[mainejeff]

Bring back the Hawaiian Hut!

 

[markhb]

When the Westin renovated the Eastland back in 2012-13, the pool basin was still intact under the 13th floor roof and had to be removed

I asked them about it on Facebook back then, and they said that that's where the Presidential Suite is (its windows look out through the Eastland letters on the north side).

 

[Portlander]

Mark, is that you helping the lovely lady out of the pool?

 

[markhb]

Mark, is that you helping the lovely lady out of the pool?

Other than the timeframe, I think it's too close for comfort!

 

[Portlander]

 

[markhb]

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That arched doorway looks familiar, @Portlander !

 

[Portlander]

Portland has surely lost a few landmark buildings to urban renewal and parts of some neighborhoods have been eliminated due to the construction of Interstate 295, Spring Street and the Franklin Arterial. There are few other smaller examples but overall Portland escaped the massive demolition that other cities dealt with. These photos of Boston during the mid 50's and early 60's are stunning and even though it was 10X larger than Portland, the wrath of the wrecking ball is even more dramatic. Not even Bangor could escape urban renewal and there are some great photos showing the complete destruction of its rowdy, but bustling Exchange Street in a previous post.

 

[TC_zoid]

I don't have a problem with the wrecking ball, or much of it. But yes, kind of sad but maybe not. Change, or with buildings, is usually for the best. I'd much rather live in a new high-tech energy efficient design home than an older one like what's in the West End of Portland (look at what Kaplan Thompson builds now from their website portfolio). I was in Boston a few weeks ago and gained some more perspective on what is going on there. I travel to many of the larger cities in the U.S. for work and realized that Boston is perhaps the only city in the country building high-rises with substantial inclusions of office space (I can count five in the last 2-3 years). Austin, L.A., and even New York are primarily building higher end residential towers (condos, mostly) that will only be occupied for part of the time, if at all. There are no real dead spots in the core areas of Boston, or like the aforementioned has. Whether it's walking out of the North End after a perfect Italian meal and entering the gorgeous Rose Kennedy Greenway to come upon the towering and ultra cool new State Street building (all office space), or Back Bay at the Prudential Center for this dynamic area (Tesla store, Eataly, Newbury Street). The people walking around on the street here were mixed in every imaginable way, including many Europeans and Asians and I'm not talking middle class. They appear to have money but then are families too. Dad, mom, the kids, uncles, aunts, they're all walking together and having a great time. I sense a palpable excitement and optimism in Boston unlike any other city in the country. And the Seaport District, if you dissect this, is on its way to becoming the future center of the highest levels of office and lab tech in the nation. And then there is Cambridge with M.I.T. and Harvard and the related tech companies building there. New lab space is being built all over the city, including Back Bay. Boston has become a massive high-tech congregation of offices and labs supported with the greatest concentration of academia in the world. Add wonderful green space and great restaurants and sports teams, and what or where else can you find this? And don't get me started on the mass trans here (by far the best in the U.S.). Portland can and will benefit from it as it is (or can be) a mere 90-minute car/bus ride away--a de facto suburb, really. (Concord Coach from Thompson's Point to South Station hit the middle of the Tobin Bridge in 91 minutes time.)

 

[lunardinosaur]

For comparison, the way that area looks now:

 

[Portlander]

Excellent job matching up the photo lunar!

 

[TC_zoid]

The best wrecking ball accomplishment of all for Boston was removing the snaking 93 overpass that walled off the North End from downtown, then opened it back up by putting it underground to create the Rose Kennedy Greenway. "The Big Dig" was more like the "The Big Headache" for commuters. But it was worth it.

 

[Portlander]

Thought I'd add a few more classics to Cosakita's historic thread with this overhead view showing Union Station still intact. Photos from Portland Public Library Archives.

 

[Portlander]

The former west end reservoir that is now a parking lot and major expansion underway at the Maine Medical Center which has grown into the largest and most capable hospital in Northern New England. Was known as Maine General Hospital prior to 1951.

 

[Portlander]

I'm guessing around 1960 seeing that the two floors had not yet been added to the Chapman Building but the new Maine National Bank Building (1955) was completed across the street from the Masonic Building. Interstate 295 was in the early planning stages with construction not starting on the section through downtown Portland until the late 60's.

 

[markhb]

I'm guessing around 1960 seeing that the two floors had not yet been added to the Chapman Building but the new Maine National Bank Building (1955) was completed across the street from the Masonic Building. Interstate 295 was in the early planning stages with construction not starting on the section through downtown Portland until the late 60's.

If anyone else has tried to remember where Ballard Oil, with their German shepherd over the front door (and on the cab of their trucks) was located, now we know: where the Marginal Way Walgreen's is.

 

[Portlander]

Photo from around 1971 when downtown Portland was in a period of transition. Spring Street Arterial being extended from Center to Union, Holiday Inn wrapping up construction and Canal Plaza bottom left just getting started. Group of buildings in the center would eventually be razed to make way for the Cumberland County Civic Center which opened in 1977. Our friend Mark was a foreman for the project and is visible in the white shirt center left. Portland Public Library Archives