History of Harrison East

Our Harrison East is part of the landmark trio of three high-rise towers at the heart of the 1950’s 55-block urban renewal area that transformed the skyline and character of southwest Portland. The newly established Portland Development Commission identified South Auditorium Project as its first urban renewal endeavor.  A consortium of investors teamed up with the renowned architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to build a “city within a city.” They called it Portland Center.  SOM designed three mid-century modern apartment towers surrounded by plazas, fountains, and parks.

The residential towers celebrated simple modernist ideals:  efficient floor plans and balconies for all units. The evolving concrete technology of the time, which employed inventive European forming systems, facilitated functionality and affordability. The towers created the population density needed for the neighborhood to thrive and became a visual exclamation point on the skyline of southwest downtown.

The careful renovation and re-positioning of the Harrison towers as condominiums and apartments in 2006-2008 have honored the modernist spirit of the original architecture, while adding distinctive new graphic colorations, a state-of- the-art window wall system, and appropriate updates of public and private interior spaces. 

Harrison East has made further enhancements that acknowledge the design excellence of the building with landscape, lighting, and interior interventions. Classic modern wall lights (in production since 1957) grace the entry, while a completely contemporary chandelier hangs from a ‘”John Yeon blue” canopy, that gives even gray days a bit of blue sky.  A photo art program was commissioned to appoint the lobby and halls with black and white images that capture the details of the Halprin landscape, thus tying Harrison East once again to our historic site.

Harrison East Amid the Halprin Sequence

The goal of ‘bringing nature back to the city’ was an equally strong vision for the landscape surrounding the three new urban towers. Under the enlightened leadership of Portland Development Commission Director John Kenward and Chair Ira Keller, the Portland Open Space Sequence was conceived.  The brilliant young landscape architecture firm, Lawrence Halprin and Associates, was commissioned to bring this vision to life.

In the unlikely setting of the city’s first scrape-and-rebuild urban renewal project, the experimental and collaborative genius of Lawrence Halprin and his pioneering choreographer wife, Anna Halprin, created what is today known as the Halprin Sequence. This redevelopment endeavor became the success story of urban renewal in America in large part because of the quality and artistry of the Halprins’ landscape architecture as it gave poetic form and texture to the urban spaces between the towers.

Anchored by four nodes stretching from the Source Fountain through Lovejoy, Pettygrove and Forecourt (renamed Ira Keller Fountain) the Sequence includes powerful concrete allusions, land forms, sculptural elements, and lush greenery that tie the sequence together from south to north.

In creating this work, Halprin defied the conventions of both American urban renewal and mid-century modernism. Scholars commented that this kind of inviting, exuberant public space had not been seen since Renaissance Rome’s Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navonna.  Today the Halprin Sequence (halrpinconservancy.org) is a renowned pilgrimage site for designers and urbanists from around the world. The Halprin Conservancy continues to work with the City of Portland to keep this important public space true to its history and respectful of its legacy.

Thanks to Louise Roman and Will Bruder, FAIA, for their assistance with this brief history of the Halprin Sequence. In 2010, Harrison East owners Louise and Will, and neighbor/interior designer Jane Irvine, worked on the Harrison East lobby improvements, enlisting Portland photographer Christopher Onstott to shoot the Halprin Sequence for the art program in our common areas.