Karen Karlsson and Rick Michaelson have a plan to cut a 137-year-old house in half, carefully load it on a pair of trucks and drive through downtown Portland.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. Oh, and there’s a deadline.
But the Morris Marks House, a rare Portland example of Italianate architecture at 1134 S.W. 12th Ave., appears set to move later this month to a vacant lot near the Interstate 405 interchange at Southwest Broadway and Sixth Avenue.
The city and Portland State University – through which the house would have to cross – have agreed in principle to the move. The City Council is expected to consider a suite of zoning changes and regulatory approvals that would clear the way for the move later this month.
If all goes according the plan, the move is set for Sept. 30.
“Nobody’s trying to stop this,” Michaelson said. “Everybody’s trying to make it happen. It’s wonderful.”
That’s not to say it’s been easy. Officials originally believed the proposed site for the house belonged to the Parks & Recreation Bureau, but it turned out to be a Water Bureau property.
Karlsson and Michaelson expect to buy the site for about $100,000, and they’ll lease it until the sale is finalized. The city also is waiving development fees.
PSU officials had been concerned the move might damage the university’s tree canopy. It also recently said that a campus construction project would begin Oct. 1, blocking the route.
“With a deadline like we have,” Karlsson said, “It’s now or never.”
The Morris Marks House has been on preservationists’ minds for decades. It’s been empty, fenced off and boarded up for years as new apartment buildings have sprung up nearby.
A demolition permit application set off alarm bells last year, but it turned out to be a precursor for the move.
Steven Blindheim, whose family has owned the house and an apartment building on the same lot since the early 1990s, had agreed to sell it to Karlsson, a consultant and former city project manager, and Michaelson, a longtime developer, for $1 if they could come up with a plan to move it.
They worked to secure permits, acquire the new site from the water bureau and gain permission to cross PSU’s campus.
The house will be cut into two large pieces, mostly through corners where the cuts wouldn’t be apparent or compromise the structure. It will be carefully pieced back together at the new site atop a new foundation.
Despite sitting empty, the house is still in good condition, said Richard De Wolf, the owner of Arciform. The design firm is responsible for disassembling and reassembling the house.
“Structurally, it’s very good,” De Wolf said. “The interior finishes are a bit worn, but … we’re putting emphasis on the things that are worth saving, like the floor.”
Oxbo Mega Transport Solutions, a Portland firm that moves large equipment, will relocate the house.
The house was designed by Warren Williams, a prolific Portland architect whose work includes The Old Church and several cast-iron commercial buildings that still stand in Old Town. The first owner was Morris Marks, a Polish shoe merchant.
The move alone will cost about $400,000, and renovating the house for use as offices more than that. For now, Karlsson and Michaelson will bear the cost, and they’ll likely launch a fundraising campaign after the move is complete.
“It’s that important a house in Portland that I’m willing to take on that risk,” Michaelson said.
— Elliot Njus
Derek Goude 