Historic Hood River
Telephone Building
8-16-2024
Notes
While preparing yesterday’s post I discovered I never shared this image of the old “Telephone Building” at the SW corner of 6th and State. Believe it of not, the bones of this building are hidden within the “Dean Building” at 601 State, which serves as the administration building for Hood River County. In 1959 it underwent a major renovation, and another one in the early 1970s. I recently discovered a set of photos which document this transition in the museum archive. I will share them when I have a chance to scan them.
This building housed this switchboard. I’m surprised the photograph doesn’t show all the wires leading into the building.
William C. Seaton
I walked by this building many times on my way to school.
Roger H Sheldrake
Aside from efficiency that new building is sterile and ugly; but that’s what we do!
Arthur Babitz
The 1970s were not a high point in American architecture. Hopefully one of our architectural historian readers will weigh in, but what I see is a total lack of ornament, no attempt to interact with pedestrians, no sense of history. As an adaptive reuse of an old building, this is a major fail in my book! I can’t pinpoint the style of the original building, but it added a lot more to the neighborhood than this one.
L. E.
Some of the schools built in the 1970’s look like prisons. Like the new telephone building……absolutely no character.
Now, the old telephone building…..that has character.
Ellen Shapley
R R Bartlett, architect on the 1912 Home Telephone Company Building. Local paper called the style “on the Colonial order” or Colonial Revival. Local A T Zeek supplied the brick.
Arthur Babitz
Thanks Ellen. I never would have guessed “Colonial”! It’s unusual to see such elaborate porch spaces for commercial space like this, but I like it.
Greg
It’s absolutely covered with antennas on the roof today