Shattuck Hall

Now home to Portland State's architecture department, Shattuck Hall was originally built in 1915 as an elementary school, and in 2008 received a LEED silver certification for its modern renovation. Moreover, the modernization won both an Honor Award and a Sustainability Award from the American Institute of Architects. If you follow the link, you'll see a photo of an interior whose sleek modernity isn't even hinted at by the century-old exterior. But you will see where the redesign incorporated areas which expose the years of updates and structural morphings, making this a real learning laboratory for the students who study there.

Best bit of trivia for you art lovers out there: this was Mark Rothko's elementary school, which he transferred to from Failing School. His Jewish family lived on Lincoln and later on SW 2nd, in one of the tightly knit ethnic communities which was lost to the urban renewal projects of the mid-20th century. His parents moved a couple of blocks into the Shattuck district because it was in a slightly more affluent neighborhood and offered their son a better education. Some things never change. Rothko wasn't at Shattuck long, though; after a year at Failing where he started as speaking no English, he was placed in third grade at Shattuck, and then skipped to the fifth grade the following semester. Apparently, he was a bit of a quick study. See Mark Breslin's Rothko: A biography for more information.