Willamette Valley Lodging

Find yourself in the past......The Historic C.J. Howe Building Vacation Loft

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The building stands at the southeast corner of the major intersection of Main and Spaulding Avenue. Its major downstairs entrance faces north while the upstairs entrance faces west. This placement emphasizes the importance of the building, and the orientation is common in small town commercial districts of Oregon, where storms often come from a southwesterly direction.

 

The building exists today within the central business distinct of Brownsville. The towns leading commercial establishments stand next to, or across from the building. These include a bank, pharmacy, museum, auto parts and more. Its commercial importance in the past is emphasized by its location today.

 

The walls of the two-story structure are made of brick, which was sandblasted in the early 1970s to remove the whitewash applied in the previous decade. It has a full, unfinished basement, and its foundation is built of local stone. The roof is conventional tar paper, concealed on three sides by a 4 foot high, free-standing parapet. The building is 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 26 feet high.

 

The entire exterior is brick masonry. It is almost entirely in tact and appears much as it did 100 years ago, with a few exceptions. An additional entry way and display window occur at the Northeast corner, fire escapes and a small upstairs window was added at the same corner to accommodate the occupants when the building was converted to apartments during World War II.

 

The interior is brick, with wood lath and plaster removed to expose the original brick. It has retained all of the beams, trusses and load-bearing walls, but new walls have been added for various space planning reasons. Original wood floors remain an important focal point. The first floor retains most of its original spatial organization. The second floor however, was altered during its conversion to apartments. There was originally an elevator connection the two floors, but it has been removed.

 

The West wall is framed by simple brick pilasters and is organized as a long panel, separated at the first ceiling level. Segmented arches occur above the second-story windows and decorative brick coursing denotes the obvious transition between the first and second stories. This checkerboard effect is repeated in the parapet coursing, which also has a saw tooth pattern. Photographs show that much of the glazing is original. Additional decorative elements show iron cylindrical posts at the main entry, and a transom divided into five parts, surrounded by wood.


Copyright © 2009  C. J. Howe  Vacation Loft | 360 North Main Street, Brownsville, Oregon 97327 | 541-466-3331

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