Reed College

Reed College, Portland, Oregon

Reed College Page with Report (Website)

Founded in 1909, Reed College is situated on the scenic former Crystal Springs dairy farm. The two original 1912 buildings are Collegiate Gothic, and subsequent building throughout the 1930s and 1940s continued in this style. Unique at Reed is the natural landscape, featuring over 1,000-planted trees of over 100 different species. Grant aid will allow Reed to survey all buildings constructed before 1967 and to study the evolution of the landscape in order to develop planning guidelines for the maintenance, restoration and use of campus assets.

Reed College received a Getty grant in 2004 for $140,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: The grant proposed to survey all buildings constructed from 1911 through 1967, the years between the inception of the college and the end of the post-war building boom. It systematically studied the evolution of the landscape in order to develop planning guidelines for the maintenance, restoration, and use of campus assets.

Architects whose work is examined include A.E. Doyle, Pietro Belluschi, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (originally in partnership with Belluschi); Harry Weese and Associates out of Chicago; and Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership. Notable landscape architects include E.T. Mische, Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver with significant contributions by H.E. Davis, groundskeeper (1911-1948).

Historic Designation(s): Eliot Hall and Old Dormitory Block (City of Portland Historic Landmarks).

Planning Process: The college assembled a project team of architects, landscape architects, a landscape architectural historian, preservation consultants to work in conjunction with selected faculty and staff that included representatives from facilities operations, corporate and foundation relations, humanities faculty, alumni, and library/ special collections. The project identified historic resources of the 24 buildings and 11 landscape areas of the college that evolved in the period cited, analyzed these resources, and offered recommendations about the management of them.

The historic context of the resources is provided where each phase of campus history is laid out in relation to a timeline of world events and also college developments (including land acquisition, curriculum and program changes). The landscape is recognized as both process and product, subject to the human and ecological processes that have made them.

After identification of historic resources, the methodology was to organize a hierarchical ranking of them in relation to a two-part process: 1) identification of historic significance through associative and physical/aesthetic values and 2) assessment of the resource’s integrity. The four levels of ranking are: landmark, primary, secondary, and tertiary, each with its own criteria. Recommendations for action were guided by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties.

Outcomes—Products: The main outcome of the grant is the “Reed College Heritage Master Plan,” which offers guidelines to address the protection and preservation of historic resources of the college. An appendix of buildings that have been demolished is also included to help heighten awareness of properties that have been lost.

Outcomes—Strategies and Goals for the Future: The college hopes that the preservation plan that resulted from this project will provide a baseline series of actions for protection of significant sites. It is also hoped that historic preservation has been identified as an important value to be considered in the planning process, particularly with the approach of the institution’s centennial.