Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: B

Baldwin Market Building (photos by me)

This is the second of my Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series of blog posts, the focus of each being a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:

1. The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
2. The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
3. Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).

This week’s selection begins with the letter B, for which the Baldwin Market Building is my selection.

Baldwin Market Building

Even though I’ve passed by the Baldwin Market Building numerous times I didn’t “know” it before initiating this series of posts. It isn’t architecturally stunning, nor is it historically prominent. That said, the building is of historic significance, by virtue of it being the last of its type in Eugene. Specifically, it is the last remaining, two-story, false-fronted commercial building in the City of Eugene.

The Baldwin Market Building is located at 765-781 Monroe Street, near the intersection of Monroe Street and Blair Boulevard and a short distance away from the Blair Boulevard Historic Commercial Area. During good times, the immediate neighborhood is lively and features an appealing mix of locally owned small businesses. InJoy Wellness Massage Center occupies the south portion of the Baldwin Market Building’s first floor. The soon-to-open, non-profit Acorn Community Café is the north side’s latest tenant. Once the State of Oregon suspends all limitations on indoor gatherings, I suspect the Baldwin Market Building and its neighbors will thrive once again.

It isn’t exactly clear when the Baldwin Market Building was built, nor who the designer and/or builder was. Available records indicate the Market served the community as a neighborhood store between 1920 and 1946. Since the exact date of construction is unknown, the year 1920 is considered architecturally significant as the first year that the building is absolutely known to have existed and the year that major additions led to the structure’s present configuration.

The building became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Architectural historian Lynn M. Josse submitted the nomination, which included a comprehensive narrative describing why the building warranted listing on the Register. The applicable National Register Criteria included the fact the property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history, and because the property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction.

The following is an excerpt from the nomination document:

The unusual building located at 765-781 Monroe is believed to be the last remaining two-story false-front commercial building in the city of Eugene. It existed on its present site by 1920, but the earliest part of the building was probably constructed at least several years earlier. The building is nearly square in plan, measuring approximately 44 by 45 feet. Its original main gabled volume makes up the southwest part of the building, with historic hipped and shed-roofed additions to the east and north. The most dominant feature of the building is the two-level false front which defines its street facade. This character-defining feature has high integrity.

The Baldwin Market building was constructed in several stages. The earliest part of the building is the two story gable-roofed volume that makes up most of the south side of the building. No definitive date has been established for this section of the building due to inadequate and sometimes conflicting physical and documentary evidence. It may have been constructed around or even before the turn of the century and moved to this location, but it is likely that the building was constructed on-site sometime between 1912 and 1920. This is the only part of the building that uses cut nails in its construction. Other evidence that this part of the building was constructed independently of the rest includes paint analysis evidence and the fact that Sanborn maps indicate that this section of the building still had a wood shingle roof in 1925, while the rest was roofed in a non-combustible material.

. . . Each of the surviving false-front buildings is a valuable remnant of a disappearing style, and each deserves to be preserved. As the largest wooden example known to exist in Eugene, and the only two-story example, the Baldwin Market building is of exceptional historical value. For its unusual architectural merit as a unique example of an early Eugene style and for its important place in the community life of the Westside and Whiteaker neighborhoods, the Baldwin Market is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

Too much of Eugene’s architectural heritage no longer exists, so I’m glad the Baldwin Market Building remains as an example of its type. Its listing on the National Register of Historic Places provides no assurance it will not one day be removed or irreparably altered, but it does mean the building is eligible for federal preservation tax credits and grants for historic preservation.