Reconfiguring the David Campbell Memorial
Apr. 15, 2024
By: Fred Leeson
Potential renovation (David Campbell Memorial Association)
Occasionally, someone with no preservation expertise steps forward to make a huge difference is protecting an important piece of Portland’s built environment.
For Don Porth, devoting countless hours to protecting and repairing the David P. Campbell Memorial at 18th Ave. and W. Burnside is a no-brainer. “All I’m acting on is passion and duty.”
A retired firefighter, Porth is president of the non-profit David P. Campbell Memorial Association, named in honor of the Portland fire chief who was killed while saving other firefighters from a terrible waterfront conflagration in 1911. At his funeral, tens of thousands of Portlanders turned out to honor the well-known citizen and athlete.
The memorial plaza was erected in 1928, based on the design by Paul Cret, a Pennsylvania architect who was a national master of Beaux-Arts design of that era. Over time, the names of other fallen firefighters were added to the memorial, although many other names were not.
The memorial has taken a horrible beating from vandals and graffiti taggers in recent years. Working with retired preservation architect William J. Hawkins, Porth has devised a plan to add a plaza that would include an interpretive description and honor all 76 firefighters killed in action to date.
A historic view before the triangle was enlarged in 1963
Given the attention and effort Porth has contributed, “It’s amazing what one person can do with the will and tenacity to do it,” Hawkins told the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission recently. Porth is appreciative of Hawkins’ help, as well. “I’m just a retired Portland firefighter,” he said. “This is way above my pay grade, let me tell you.”
The biggest design challenge at this point is how to protect two large bronze electrified lanterns that formerly graced each of the memorial’s two wings. The elegant fixtures have been vandalized and their glass panels broken many times. The lanterns have been removed and are currently being restored at a cost of $48,000.
Porth’s idea is to raise them on three-foot pedestals to make them less accessible to harm. Hawkins isn’t keen on altering Cret’s original design. He said Cret was one of the nation’s most highly-regarded architects at the time, and that “Portland was lucky to get him.” As for the lanterns, Hawkins said, “There is no easy solution,” he said. “All of them are problematic.”
Ultimately, the Landmarks Commission will be asked to approve a final design. At an informal hearing, Commissioner Kimberly Moreland offered another potential solution for the lanterns. She suggested that they should be retired to the Fire Bureau’s museum where they could be protected but still be available for public viewing. “They are so beautiful it would be great to see them saved and preserved.”
Indeed, one solution might be to craft bronze lanterns similar to the originals, but without lights or glass panels, while the originals retire to a secure setting.
After more than two years of work and planning, Porth will return with a final proposal sometime in the next few months. In the meantime, this devoted preservationist will be thinking….and thinking... about lanterns. The rest of us can ponder the famous quotation from C.E.S. Wood: "Good citizens are the riches of the city."
Fred Leeson is a former president of the Bosco-Milligan Foundation and a member of the foundation's Board of Advisors.