Poultry Building, Incubator House reunited as office, residential complex

By Bennett Hall
Gazette-Times business editor

A long-delayed historic redevelopment project is back on track downtown.

In 1997, Endex Engineering bought the old Poultry Science Building from Oregon State University for $1 at auction. OSU had been planning to tear it down. Endex had the structure moved across campus to property it owns at 800 S.W. Washington Ave., where it has sat ever since.

Now the building's interrupted journey is about to be completed.

Last week, after being temporarily moved to one side, the 112-year-old structure was repositioned atop a new foundation, where it will begin the next phase of its life after extensive renovations.

So what took so long?

"We were keeping busy with some other projects," said David Livingston, business manager of Endex Engineering, which specializes in rehabilitating historic properties.

Plans for the Poultry Building also went through some revisions during that time, including getting the structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"We wanted to make sure we had the best solution for that building and that property," Livingston said.

There was another, more surprising benefit to the eight-year delay. By chance, it reunited the Poultry Building with a single-story, 20-foot-by-30-foot structure that once stood beside it on campus.

The Incubator House, as it's known, was moved to OSU's South Farm on Brooklane Drive in 1927. There it fell into disuse until Livingston, following a paper trail of archival documents, discovered it hidden under a mass of blackberry bramble and poison oak. Endex bought the building for $10 at an auction and moved it to the Washington Avenue site in February.

Both buildings were designed by John V. Bennes, a prolific and highly regarded architect who produced a number of important buildings in Oregon during the early 20th century. Among Bennes' better-known designs are Weatherford Hall at Oregon State University and the Hollywood Theater in Portland.

Even on humbler commissions such as the OSU Poultry Building, Livingston said, Bennes' talents are evident. Essentially Italiante in design, it also has elements of the Prairie style popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the front porch is capped by a Roman pediment supported by round columns.

"The last thing you expect to see on a little building like this is a classic Roman entry," Livingston said. "It's an interesting mix."

The two buildings will be renovated into a mixed-use office and residential complex to be called Washington Hall.

The Poultry Building will have 1,000 square feet of professional office space on the main floor, two one-bedroom apartments on the second floor and a studio apartment in the basement. The Incubator House will be converted into a wheelchair-accessible studio apartment.

Rents have not been set yet, and none of the space has been leased.

In accordance with their National Register listings, both structures will be restored with historical accuracy, down to their original shades of paint.

"We're going to find the original colors by gently sanding down through the layers," Livingston said. "If it's purple, they're going to be purple."

Endex did all the engineering work on the project, and its construction division acted as general contractor. Chris Schoap Building Movers of Eugene, which moved the Poultry Building across campus in 1997, did the repositioning work.

The $400,000 project is expected to be finished in November.

The curb has been extended into Washington Avenue in front of the Poultry Building, prompting some citizens to wonder why the street was being narrowed. As it turns out, the south side of the street extends several feet onto the Endex property, as city planners discovered when the subdivision was created.

"What we found was all of that right-of-way in that area was actually on private property," said Kevin Young, who works with the Corvallis Community Development Department. "As the development occurs along that street, what we'll see is that the street will narrow."

In both use and design, Washington Hall will complement an adjacent Endex project to the east, the Corvallis Depot. Endex renovated the historic Willamette Valley & Coast Railroad station for office and apartment use.

A third development had been planned for the west side of the property. Plans initially called for upscale condominiums ranging up to 2,500 square feet and selling for up to $400,000 apiece, but the project failed to win favor with potential buyers.

"There's no plan at this point," Livingston said. "That large development, called Washington Yard, failed to materialize."

Bennett Hall can be reached at 758-9529 or

bennett.hall@lee.net.