History - 1926-2021
Stratford was designed by the architect Charles Walter Ertz (1887-1979) in 1926 as an apartment complex for Paul R. Spath for a cost of $85,000. The building and its then adjacent vacant lot was acquired by Portland State in 1962/63 for a combined cost of $72,500 with the intention to remove it. Instead Stratford was re-purposed as on-campus housing for Portland State students and overseen by Portland Student Services (later called College Housing Northwest) beginning in 1969. It continued as a campus residence until July 2017, then served as temporary office space during the Fariborz Maseeh Hall renovation, and is now scheduled for demolition.
Demolition - 2021
Methods: Manual removal of electrical devices; machine-assisted demolition in the remainder of the building to avoid asbestos exposure.
Community benefits: Portland Fire and Rescue conducted a training exercise in the empty building in Summer 2021.
Design status: Woofter Bolch Architecture has prepared the demolition design drawings
Construction status: Beginning on September 29, 2021
General Contractor: Skanska
PSU Project Manager: Mark Fujii, Senior Project Manager (fujiim@pdx.edu)