Architect Pietro Belluschi, one of Oregon’s most revered and decorated citizens, will be honored on Sunday, August 18, on the occasion of his 125th birthday in a fitting place: the Portland Art Museum. In 1931, Belluschi was a young, unknown architect who designed a modern plan for the museum. His approach was endorsed by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and changed the architecturally conservative city forever.
The reception and program of Pietro Belluschi’s Portland Legacy from 4 to 6:15 p.m. in the museum’s Mark Building downtown concludes the Restore Oregon Modernism 2024 program. A ticket ($75, restoreoregon.org) includes wine and appetizers, and experts discuss the life and work of Belluschi, the only Oregonian to receive both the National Medal of Arts for lifetime achievement and the American Institute of Architects’ highest award, the Gold Medal.
“One hundred and twenty-five years after his birth and three decades after his death, Pietro Belluschi is still Portland’s greatest architect,” said Brian Libby, an architecture and design critic who will speak at the event.
“He was a master of so many different types of buildings,” continued Libby, who lives in Portland and writes for national publications. “The country’s first modernist office tower is in Portland: his 1947 Commonwealth Building. He and architect John Yeon were pioneers of the Northwest Modern architectural style. And yet perhaps Belluschi’s best buildings are churches.”
Born on August 18, 1899, over the course of his long career, Pietro Belluschi designed 42 modern, light-filled churches and synagogues built in Oregon and across the country. Like the imaginative homes and office towers he created, his religious buildings continue to be praised for their elegantly simple aesthetic.
The event will also feature Pietro’s son, architect Anthony Belluschi, who will share stories about his father’s personality and professional connections. The two have collaborated on about 20 new projects, and Anthony and his wife Marti restored and now live in Pietro’s famous last home, the 1948 Burkes-Belluschi residence in Portland’s West Hills.
Historian William Willingham, whose books “Classic Houses of Portland Oregon 1850-1950” and “Collegiate Architecture at Willamette University” examine the work of Pietro Belluschi, will provide insight, and KOIN 6 news anchor Jeff Gianola will discuss his documentary “No Perfect Answers: The life and architecture of Pietro Belluschi.”
Ticket sales support the nonprofit Restore Oregon Modernism, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon, the Portland Art Museum and the Architectural Heritage Center. The Oregon Historical Society brought the organizations together for the special celebration.
Tickets for young professionals and students can be purchased for $40.
“We hope Oregon will benefit from promoting the importance of regional modernism in the Pacific Northwest and Pietro’s influence on mid-century modern architecture,” said Anthony Belluschi. “The goal of my wife Marti and I is always to inspire and educate everyone, especially the youth.”
Anthony Belluschi told The Oregonian/OregonLive, “Growing up, I was too young to truly understand what it meant when architect Buckminster Fuller gave me a geodesic dome puzzle or when I spent a night in architect and designer Alvar Aalto’s house in Finland in the 1950s. It wasn’t until my father gave a speech at a graduation ceremony at the Rhode Island School of Design, where I studied, that I was able to appreciate the genuine respect many people had for him. Today, I am very grateful for his leadership and life’s work as a role model.”
When you leave: Reception and program for Pietro Belluschi’s Portland Legacy, August 18, 4:00-6:15 p.m., in the Mark Building, Portland Art Museum, 1119 SW Park Ave., Portland. Tickets are $75. Early career artists and students may purchase tickets at a discounted rate of $40.
—Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072
