Downtown Portland, Oregon
The Woodlark project involved the renovation of two historic buildings, the former Cornelius Hotel and the Woodlark Building. The resulting project connects the two buildings together to create a new 150-room boutique hotel, ground floor restaurant, ground floor bar, and special event space.
The original Cornelius Hotel was built in 1907, in the Baroque Revival style. The 7-story building originally held 80 hotel rooms, a grand lobby and “Ladies Reception Hall”, a ground floor café and a basement-level bar. The adjacent Woodlark Building was built in 1912, in the “new commercial skyscraper” style. The 9-story building held the Woodard & Clark Drug Store with offices above.
As architect of record, MCA restored existing elements of the buildings and reintroduced original historic features. MCA’s challenges included minimizing the design impacts of new code requirements, and creating elegant transitions between the interiors of the two buildings, whose original floors and ceilings did not align.
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