Press and Media

Attorney Merrill Schneider restores old Portland City Water Office to its former glory

Not long after attorney Merrill Schneider bought an old building at 626 SE Alder St, the century-old structure started giving up its historical secrets.

Schneider Caver Law Offices in Restored Old Portland City Water Office

by Fred Leeson,  Special to The Oregonian

The exterior of the City Water Office has been restored to how it looked in 1909, with terra-cotta lions peering down from the parapet and entrances framed by flattened Gothic arches

Architect Lorraine Guthrie found chutes from the second floor to the first, which presumably delivered hay to horses on the first floor. When it was built in 1909, the City Water Office had yet to convert its service vehicles to internal combustion engines.

Later, renovators discovered a slug in one basement beam and several scars on others, suggesting that the basement contained a shooting range sometime during its tenure as a police precinct from 1938 to the early 1970s. Steel bars also indicated the presence of a temporary lockup.

Story continued at OregonLive.com