Keller Fountain Park
Encyclopedia
Keller Fountain Park is a city park in downtown
Portland
, Oregon
. Originally named Forecourt Fountain or Auditorium Forecourt, the 0.92 acre (0.37231112 ha) park opened in 1970 across Third Avenue from what was then Civic Auditorium. In 1978, the park was renamed after Ira Keller, head of the Portland Development Commission
(PDC) from 1958–1972. Civic Auditorium was renamed as Keller Auditorium
in 2000, but is named in honor of Richard B. Keller.
The central feature of the park is the concrete water fountain. Keller Fountain is often noted as a memorable feature of the public landscape in downtown Portland, and in 1999 was awarded a medallion from the American Society of Landscape Architects
. The fountain was designed by Angela Danadjieva using inspiration from waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge
located east of Portland. While the park is named Keller Fountain Park, the fountain itself is named Ira Keller Fountain. The fountain's pools hold 75000 gallons (283,905.9 l) of water, while the waterfalls pump 13000 gallons (49,210.4 l) per minute over the cascade.
run by Bud Clark, who was later to become a mayor of Portland. Clark purchased the tavern formerly known as "Dot Tavern" for $1,600, including acquisition of the lease for the building. Clark renamed it the Spatenhaus and it was reopened in October 1962. As the area was already part of the South Auditorium urban renewal
area, Clark lost the lease when the PDC acquired the block in May 1967. The firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
was then asked by PDC to draw plans for the park, which foresaw a fountain, a traffic turnaround, and underground parking for 150 cars. Protests were raised however, by Walter Gordon, the architectural adviser to the PDC, and in July 1968 the Lawrence Halprin
design firm was commissioned in to design the park, partly due to Gordon's advocacy.
Angela Danadjieva, a designer at Lawrence Halprin & Associates, was charged with the artistic conception. Danadjieva began her career in design with work on Constructivist
set designs for the Bulgarian State Film agency. In the early 1960s she defected to Paris and studied at the École des Beaux Arts, and then emigrating to the United States towards the end of the decade. She took her inspiration from a book on waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge
, which was given to her by Ira Keller at the design studio. It was built by the Schrader Construction Company for $512,000.
The plaza was dedicated on June 23, 1970 by Halprin who called for the people of Portland to come together, referring to the Portland State University protests, which had occurred only weeks previously, stating, "I hope this will help us live together as a community, both here and all over this planet Earth". As the water began flowing, Halprin waded into the water, dressed in a jacket and tie. Jane Jacobs
, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities
, mayor Terry Schrunk
, and PDC chairman Ira Keller attended the fountain opening. In 2003, an article by Randy Gragg in The Oregonian
summarized the moment, saying:
In 1988, the Portland Water Bureau
expressed their surprise at the cost of running the fountain,which at the time was consuming $34,000 in water and $13,000 in electricity each year. Also in 1988, a 26-year-old Vancouver
man was drowned when he attempted to swim through a small water pipe and got wedged under a concrete slab. He was taken to the Oregon Health & Science University
and was listed in critical condition. According to Portland police, he had been drinking alcohol.
In 1993, all city departments were requested by mayor Vera Katz
to identify areas where budgets could be reduced, and the Portland Water Bureau
suggested mothballing fountains, including the Keller Fountain. The Oregonian stated "administrator Mike Rosenberger said the fountains were not an essential service, but he conceded that he would probably be taken out and shot before the public allowed him to shut the water off". Since the late 20th century, parkour traceur
groups enjoy using the Keller Fountain.
Vandalism from "Soaping", putting dish detergent in the fountain, has been common, and the massive amounts of generated foam cause more than $1000 damage, due to the need to drain and clean the fountain. In the first "soaping" incident soap and green dye was placed in the fountain the night before it opened. Another incident happened in September 2002. In 2007, the Portland Water Bureau posted the name and photograph of a 19-year-old who placed dish soap in the fountain and received a misdemeanor criminal mischief
. The public shaming
of the teen caused the incident to be discussed in many places, including KATU
, The Oregonian, The Portland Mercury
("This is what happens when you screw with the Water Bureau"), and The New York Times
("Don't mess with the Portland Water Bureau"). The fountain was soaped at least four times in August 2007 alone.
From May to late August 1996 the park was closed for a $700,000 refurbishment that included repairs and upgrades to filters and pumps, automated chlorination, restoration of cement, and updating of the lighting system. The fountain was also shut down in 1997 and 1998 for 10 months while the water bureau replaced a 1930s-era pump. The piping was also relined with cross-linked polyethylene in the spring of spring 2000, a costly operation due to the original piping being cast into the concrete.
The Halprin Landscapes Conservancy was formed in 2001 and an article in the The New York Times in 2008 stated that Keller was a Portland "ensemble considered to be one of Mr. Halprin's masterpieces".
maintains the park, in 1988 the Portland Water Bureau
assumed responsibility for the fountain.
The park, which is known for its accessibility for allowing visitors to stand at the top of the waterfall, is designed according to construction code to prevent children or adults from falling down the waterfall; the top of the falls are actually 36 inches (91.4 cm) pockets of water, acting as a safety wall. City officials were worried about liability from falls and had wanted a fence put across the top.
Trees in the park include shore pines
. For many years, the park has been home to a popular food cart
serving bento.
played a piano solo in the park for a KGW
TV public service advertisement. In 1988, a parade and march of The Music Man
began at the fountain, walking to Pioneer Courthouse Square
with actors John Davidson
and Sally Spencer.
In September 2008, the Time-Based Art Festival
included the "City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin", held at the fountain. The Oregonian called the performance "a major event and brilliant achievement". The event included music by Morton Subotnick
.
said it "may be one of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance", comparing it to the Piazza Navona
and the Trevi Fountain
. An article for The New York Times by Ivan Doig
discussed how Portland's "livability" didn't contribute to its "visitability", pointing out that the Forecourt Fountain and lunchtime was "one more moment of Portland's showing some loveliness and then getting back to its self-assured routine of life". The Oregonian wrote that Halprin's parks "changed the way American landscape architects thought about city parks, and it sparked a Portland tradition of great urban plazas and parks". In 2003, New York's Thomas Balsley said, "I love the Lovejoy and Forecourt fountains" when asked what Portland open spaces stood out the most to him.
In 1999, the park was awarded a centennial medallion from the American Society of Landscape Architects
in a ceremony with Vera Katz
on July 29.
According to Steven Koch of the Halprin Landscapes Conservancy, the parks in Lawrence's Portland Open Space Sequence represent local geography: Source Fountain is above the timberline, Lovejoy Fountain
and Pettygrove Park
are in the middle, and Keller Fountain represents "the foothills with the roaring falls". A writer in the Oregonian said the fountain "is an abstraction of a mountain waterfall". Local architect Marcy McInelly said "they were the first full realization of a theory about reflecting forces of nature but not mimicking natural forms. People came from all over the world to see them". Bob Gerding, who turned the First Regiment Armory Annex
into the LEED
Platinum-rated performing arts center, said that in 25 years, "I hope [the Armory is] loved by the city. I hope people love to see plays there or have a meeting there or whatever, that it becomes just a cool thing in the city, like the Keller Fountain".
In 2006, Laurie Olin
said the Halprin's Portland sequence was "a huge influence on even becoming a landscape architect. I had gone off to Europe and saw them published there. They had to do with representation and meaning but also had an exuberance. They are landmark pieces. When Ada Louis Huxtable wrote in The New York Times that Forecourt Fountain (in front of Keller Auditorium) was the greatest civic fountain since the Renaissance, I knew she was right. They were also transformative for the field of landscape architecture, not all for the best, because there were a lot of bad copies and wannabes".
Downtown Portland
Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....
Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Originally named Forecourt Fountain or Auditorium Forecourt, the 0.92 acre (0.37231112 ha) park opened in 1970 across Third Avenue from what was then Civic Auditorium. In 1978, the park was renamed after Ira Keller, head of the Portland Development Commission
Portland Development Commission
The Portland Development Commission is the urban renewal agency created by the city of Portland, Oregon. It promotes development, housing projects and economic development within the city's eleven urban renewal districts....
(PDC) from 1958–1972. Civic Auditorium was renamed as Keller Auditorium
Keller Auditorium
Keller Auditorium, formerly known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium, the Portland Public Auditorium, and the Portland Civic Auditorium, is a performing arts center located on Clay Street in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts...
in 2000, but is named in honor of Richard B. Keller.
The central feature of the park is the concrete water fountain. Keller Fountain is often noted as a memorable feature of the public landscape in downtown Portland, and in 1999 was awarded a medallion from the American Society of Landscape Architects
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects, with more than 17,000 members in 48 chapters, representing all 50 states, U.S. territories, and 42 countries around the world, plus 68 student chapters...
. The fountain was designed by Angela Danadjieva using inspiration from waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge
Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south...
located east of Portland. While the park is named Keller Fountain Park, the fountain itself is named Ira Keller Fountain. The fountain's pools hold 75000 gallons (283,905.9 l) of water, while the waterfalls pump 13000 gallons (49,210.4 l) per minute over the cascade.
History
Prior to being a park, the block was the location of a popular tavernTavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
run by Bud Clark, who was later to become a mayor of Portland. Clark purchased the tavern formerly known as "Dot Tavern" for $1,600, including acquisition of the lease for the building. Clark renamed it the Spatenhaus and it was reopened in October 1962. As the area was already part of the South Auditorium urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
area, Clark lost the lease when the PDC acquired the block in May 1967. The firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...
was then asked by PDC to draw plans for the park, which foresaw a fountain, a traffic turnaround, and underground parking for 150 cars. Protests were raised however, by Walter Gordon, the architectural adviser to the PDC, and in July 1968 the Lawrence Halprin
Lawrence Halprin
Lawrence Halprin was an influential American landscape architect, designer and teacher.Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist architects on relatively modest projects. These figures included William...
design firm was commissioned in to design the park, partly due to Gordon's advocacy.
Angela Danadjieva, a designer at Lawrence Halprin & Associates, was charged with the artistic conception. Danadjieva began her career in design with work on Constructivist
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
set designs for the Bulgarian State Film agency. In the early 1960s she defected to Paris and studied at the École des Beaux Arts, and then emigrating to the United States towards the end of the decade. She took her inspiration from a book on waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge
Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south...
, which was given to her by Ira Keller at the design studio. It was built by the Schrader Construction Company for $512,000.
The plaza was dedicated on June 23, 1970 by Halprin who called for the people of Portland to come together, referring to the Portland State University protests, which had occurred only weeks previously, stating, "I hope this will help us live together as a community, both here and all over this planet Earth". As the water began flowing, Halprin waded into the water, dressed in a jacket and tie. Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, is a greatly influential book on the subject of urban planning in the 20th century...
, mayor Terry Schrunk
Terry Schrunk
Terry Doyle Schrunk was an American politician who served as the mayor for the city of Portland, Oregon, from 1957–1973, a length tying George Luis Baker who also served 17 years . Prior to becoming mayor, he had been the sheriff of Multnomah County since 1949. In his 1956 campaign for mayor, he...
, and PDC chairman Ira Keller attended the fountain opening. In 2003, an article by Randy Gragg in The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
summarized the moment, saying:
[T]he fountain's 1970 unveiling became a local legend. Held in the edgy days following a violent clash between Portland police and antiwar protesters, the dedication took on the mood of a Wild West drama as city officials gathered for speeches at the foot of the fountain and hundreds of youths assembled at the top. When the spigots released the fountain's 13,000-gallon-a-minute flow, however, any tensions quickly dissolved. While the officials politely applauded, the youths jumped in to the rallying cries of "Right on!"
"These very straight people have somehow grasped what cities can be all about," Halprin said, turning from dignitaries to revelers to emphasize the democratic spirit underlying his design. "As you play in this garden, please try to remember that we are all in this together".
In 1988, the Portland Water Bureau
Portland Water Bureau
The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the city and secondarily from the Columbia South Shore Well...
expressed their surprise at the cost of running the fountain,which at the time was consuming $34,000 in water and $13,000 in electricity each year. Also in 1988, a 26-year-old Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
man was drowned when he attempted to swim through a small water pipe and got wedged under a concrete slab. He was taken to the Oregon Health & Science University
Oregon Health & Science University
Oregon Health & Science University is a public university in Oregon with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland and a smaller campus in Hillsboro...
and was listed in critical condition. According to Portland police, he had been drinking alcohol.
In 1993, all city departments were requested by mayor Vera Katz
Vera Katz
Vera Katz is a Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City, she moved to Portland in 1962 and was elected to the Oregon...
to identify areas where budgets could be reduced, and the Portland Water Bureau
Portland Water Bureau
The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the city and secondarily from the Columbia South Shore Well...
suggested mothballing fountains, including the Keller Fountain. The Oregonian stated "administrator Mike Rosenberger said the fountains were not an essential service, but he conceded that he would probably be taken out and shot before the public allowed him to shut the water off". Since the late 20th century, parkour traceur
Parkour
Parkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping...
groups enjoy using the Keller Fountain.
Vandalism from "Soaping", putting dish detergent in the fountain, has been common, and the massive amounts of generated foam cause more than $1000 damage, due to the need to drain and clean the fountain. In the first "soaping" incident soap and green dye was placed in the fountain the night before it opened. Another incident happened in September 2002. In 2007, the Portland Water Bureau posted the name and photograph of a 19-year-old who placed dish soap in the fountain and received a misdemeanor criminal mischief
Mischief
Mischief is a vexatious or annoying action, or, conduct or activity that playfully causes petty annoyance. Young children, when they hear of mischief, think of practical jokes....
. The public shaming
Public humiliation
Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons .- Shameful exposure :...
of the teen caused the incident to be discussed in many places, including KATU
KATU
KATU, virtual channel 2, also known as K2, is an ABC-affiliated television station broadcasting on digital channel 43 in Portland, Oregon, USA. It has been owned by Fisher Communications of Seattle, Washington, which has been the owner of the Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, ever since it began...
, The Oregonian, The Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon. It serves to chronicle the ever-changing Portland music scene, and generally includes interviews, commentaries, reviews, and concert dates...
("This is what happens when you screw with the Water Bureau"), and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
("Don't mess with the Portland Water Bureau"). The fountain was soaped at least four times in August 2007 alone.
From May to late August 1996 the park was closed for a $700,000 refurbishment that included repairs and upgrades to filters and pumps, automated chlorination, restoration of cement, and updating of the lighting system. The fountain was also shut down in 1997 and 1998 for 10 months while the water bureau replaced a 1930s-era pump. The piping was also relined with cross-linked polyethylene in the spring of spring 2000, a costly operation due to the original piping being cast into the concrete.
The Halprin Landscapes Conservancy was formed in 2001 and an article in the The New York Times in 2008 stated that Keller was a Portland "ensemble considered to be one of Mr. Halprin's masterpieces".
Features
The park holds 75000 gallons (283,905.9 l) of water, pumping 13000 gallons (49,210.4 l) per minute through the waterfalls. While Portland Parks & RecreationPortland Parks & Recreation
Portland Parks & Recreation is the bureau of the City of Portland which protects the parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails of the city of Portland, Oregon....
maintains the park, in 1988 the Portland Water Bureau
Portland Water Bureau
The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the city and secondarily from the Columbia South Shore Well...
assumed responsibility for the fountain.
The park, which is known for its accessibility for allowing visitors to stand at the top of the waterfall, is designed according to construction code to prevent children or adults from falling down the waterfall; the top of the falls are actually 36 inches (91.4 cm) pockets of water, acting as a safety wall. City officials were worried about liability from falls and had wanted a fence put across the top.
Trees in the park include shore pines
Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...
. For many years, the park has been home to a popular food cart
Food cart
A food cart is a mobile kitchen that is set up on the street to facilitate the sale and marketing of street food to people from the local pedestrian traffic. Food carts are often found in large cities throughout the world and can be found selling food of just about any variety.Food carts come in...
serving bento.
Events
In 1987, Tom GrantTom Grant (jazz musician)
Tom Grant is an American contemporary jazz/jazz fusion pianist and vocalist.- Biography :Tom Grant was born in Portland, Oregon to a musical family – his father was a tap dancer who owned a record store in Portland, and his brother was an avant-garde jazz pianist. At a young age, Grant learned to...
played a piano solo in the park for a KGW
KGW
KGW is an NBC affiliate television station serving the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The station broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 8, from its transmitter in Portland. It also produces segments and serves as the Portland bureau for Northwest Cable News , which is also owned by...
TV public service advertisement. In 1988, a parade and march of The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
began at the fountain, walking to Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square, affectionately known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full 40,000 ft² city block in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States...
with actors John Davidson
John Davidson (entertainer)
John Hamilton Davidson, Sr. is an American singer, actor and game show host known for hosting That's Incredible!, Time Machine, and Hollywood Squares in the 1980s, and a revival of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991....
and Sally Spencer.
In September 2008, the Time-Based Art Festival
Time-Based Art Festival
The Time-Based Art Festival is an annual interdisciplinary art and performance festival presented by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art . It occurs over a ten-day period in September in Portland, Oregon in the United States...
included the "City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin", held at the fountain. The Oregonian called the performance "a major event and brilliant achievement". The event included music by Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick
Morton Subotnick is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch...
.
Reception
In June 1970, Ada Louise HuxtableAda Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable is an architecture critic and writer on architecture. In 1970 she was awarded the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for "distinguished criticism during 1969."...
said it "may be one of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance", comparing it to the Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...
and the Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres high and 20 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world....
. An article for The New York Times by Ivan Doig
Ivan Doig
Ivan Doig is an American novelist. He was born in White Sulphur Springs, Montana to a family of homesteaders and ranch hands. After the death of his mother Berneta, on his sixth birthday, he was raised by his father Charles "Charlie" Doig and his grandmother Elizabeth "Bessie" Ringer...
discussed how Portland's "livability" didn't contribute to its "visitability", pointing out that the Forecourt Fountain and lunchtime was "one more moment of Portland's showing some loveliness and then getting back to its self-assured routine of life". The Oregonian wrote that Halprin's parks "changed the way American landscape architects thought about city parks, and it sparked a Portland tradition of great urban plazas and parks". In 2003, New York's Thomas Balsley said, "I love the Lovejoy and Forecourt fountains" when asked what Portland open spaces stood out the most to him.
In 1999, the park was awarded a centennial medallion from the American Society of Landscape Architects
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects, with more than 17,000 members in 48 chapters, representing all 50 states, U.S. territories, and 42 countries around the world, plus 68 student chapters...
in a ceremony with Vera Katz
Vera Katz
Vera Katz is a Democratic politician in the state of Oregon. She was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and was the 45th mayor of Portland, Oregon's most populous city. Growing up in New York City, she moved to Portland in 1962 and was elected to the Oregon...
on July 29.
According to Steven Koch of the Halprin Landscapes Conservancy, the parks in Lawrence's Portland Open Space Sequence represent local geography: Source Fountain is above the timberline, Lovejoy Fountain
Lovejoy Fountain Park
Lovejoy Fountain Park is a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, U.S.Completed in 1966, the park was designed by American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin. The park was the first in a series of fountains and open space designed by Halprin in the South Auditorium District urban renewal area...
and Pettygrove Park
Pettygrove Park
Pettygrove Park is a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, U.S. It is the second park in a series of urban open spaces designed by American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin in the South Auditorium District urban renewal area...
are in the middle, and Keller Fountain represents "the foothills with the roaring falls". A writer in the Oregonian said the fountain "is an abstraction of a mountain waterfall". Local architect Marcy McInelly said "they were the first full realization of a theory about reflecting forces of nature but not mimicking natural forms. People came from all over the world to see them". Bob Gerding, who turned the First Regiment Armory Annex
First Regiment Armory Annex
The First Regiment Armory Annex, commonly known as the Portland Armory, is a historic building in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was built in 1891 by Multnomah County to house the Oregon National Guard. In 2000, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places...
into the LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
Platinum-rated performing arts center, said that in 25 years, "I hope [the Armory is] loved by the city. I hope people love to see plays there or have a meeting there or whatever, that it becomes just a cool thing in the city, like the Keller Fountain".
In 2006, Laurie Olin
Laurie Olin
Laurie Olin is an American landscape architect. He has worked on everything from private residences to large public parks. Olin grew up in Alaska, and earned his degree in Architecture from the University of Washington, in Seattle where he was mentored under Richard Haag. After graduating he...
said the Halprin's Portland sequence was "a huge influence on even becoming a landscape architect. I had gone off to Europe and saw them published there. They had to do with representation and meaning but also had an exuberance. They are landmark pieces. When Ada Louis Huxtable wrote in The New York Times that Forecourt Fountain (in front of Keller Auditorium) was the greatest civic fountain since the Renaissance, I knew she was right. They were also transformative for the field of landscape architecture, not all for the best, because there were a lot of bad copies and wannabes".
External links
- Images of the park taken in the 1970s and 1980s, from the University of Oregon Libraries