This story required some detective work on our part, to find historic photographs of the building in its prime. We searched historical archives. We reached out to Emerick Architects for architectural drawings. We read William J. Hawkins III’s book, The Grand Era of Cast Iron Architecture in Portland, for inspiration and clues.
We documented several aspects of the restoration process. But the real visual opportunity revealed itself when we traveled to Silverton, Oregon to film the cast iron pour of the building’s design elements. The pour was a dirty, smelly, and hot, but oh, so worth it for the images we captured!