Dads' Gates | |
 The gates in 2011 | |
   | |
| Location | 11th Ave. E. bet. Kincaid St. and Franklin Blvd., Eugene, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°2′52″N123°4′35″W / 44.04778°N 123.07639°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1938 |
| Architect | Dawson, O.B.; et al. |
| NRHP reference No. | 04000829 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 11, 2004 |
Dads' Gates, located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. [2]
Oregon's Dads' Gates are large wrought iron gates that are located on 11th Ave. E. between Kincaid St. and Franklin Blvd. in Eugene, Oregon at the entrance to the University of Oregon campus. At their beginning, Dads' Gates were supposed to offer one of the most spectacular entrances to a campus found anywhere in the country. The construction of Dads' Gates began in 1938 as an art project funded by the Works Progress Administration in order to help create work for skilled craftsmen due to the recent Depression. Dads' Gates historical and current functions can be described as a "work of art" and as a "landscape object."
The Gates are decorated with a commemorative plaque that helps identify its significance to those curious enough to investigate them. The plaque reads, "These gates and enclosures are dedicated to the memory of the forty-seven University of Oregon men who died in the service of their country in 1917-1918" showing their dedication towards the University's former soldiers. Dads' Gates were created with a collaborative effort from Henry Abbott Lawrence and Orion Benjamin Dawson.
Dad's Gates are 8 feet tall and 120 feet long with each door being 10 feet wide allowing for a 20-foot entry. Both doors are mirror images of each other and each contain the bronze University seal. Dad's Gates have a very intricate design to them that combine both linear and curvilinear elements. Design elements such as a scroll, cross, flower, lyre, and spear motifs can be seen throughout the wrought iron. Above each gate is written "Oregon Dads 1940" and on top of each pylon there are large glass lanterns similar to those outside of Knight Library on the University of Oregon campus. However, when Dad's Gates were originally dedicated in 1941 the lanterns were not in place. It is unclear as to when they were installed but photos indicate somewhere after 1946 and before the University Theater was built in 1949.
Orion Benjamin Dawson produced Dads' Gates with design help from Henry Abbott Lawrence. Dawson learned the blacksmithing trade through an apprenticeship in high school and while in World War I he was in charge of shoeing horses. It was in France where he met another blacksmith that showed him how to make gates and decorative elements out of wrought iron. Many believe that Dads' Gates were a collaborative effort between Dawson and Abbot more than anything. Dawson wrote in his unpublished autobiography that he felt the design was beautiful and unlike anything he had ever see. He stated, "[T]hey are somewhat modern and yet designed in such a way that every part had to go through the fire and be forged…[w]hen I saw Abbott's design I knew we had something, something that could make these gates the most beautiful campus entrance to be found anywhere in the country." [3]
During the Depression, Dawson acquired work through the Works Progress Administration for various art projects. His first project was designing and producing the wrought iron gates inside of the new University of Oregon Library. He then received commissions to work at the Oregon State University campus as well as being assigned the task of producing all of the wrought iron work at Timberline Lodge. He also produced the Howe Memorial Gates for the University of Oregon, which have a striking resemblance to the ones he produced for Dads' Gates.
O. B. Dawson began production on Dad's Gates in 1938 and they were funded by the Works Progress Administration. Burt Brown Barker, who at the time was unpaid President of the University and also an Oregon dad, heavily funded the gates. Barker was head of the WPA Department of Art in Oregon and he was approached by Ellis Lawrence to build the gate and was told that the federal government would pay for the cost of labor while the Dads were to take care of material costs and expenditures incurred while shipping and installing the gate.
While initial costs were estimated to be around $1,500 with Barker paying $500 and the Dads raising $1,000, however, costs continued to rise and in the end Barker poured in over $1,600 of his personal funds along with the Dads bringing the total cost to about $5,000. Including the WPA grant, the total cost of Dads' Gates came to be $25,000. Donors were promised by Barker that, "[W]hen you look through the Dad's Gate along the mall to the library building, you will have an unobstructed and inspiring vista, the like of which may not be found on any other western campus." [4]
One of the reasons for Dads' Gates being produced was that "the working of iron for ornamental uses was rapidly becoming a lost art until the federal government revived it as a means of providing work for skilled craftsmen during the recent depression." The dedication of Dads' Gates came on February 8, 1941 during Dad's Weekend. President Donald M. Erb and Joseph F. Reisch presented them with the slogan "The Gates are Open Dad." However, Barker was quoted saying that "[B]y the time the ceremonies were concluded the marching through the open gates was that of a rain soaked crowd seeking shelter. Because of the heavy rain very few of those present took time to study the gates carefully so as to appreciate their beauty." [4]
In the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form it states that certain criteria must be met for something to be qualified as a "historic place." One of the criteria that must be met is that, "[P]roperty is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history" [3] and Dads' Gates easily qualify for this criterion. Dads' Gates are significant to Oregon's history because they are associated with the Great Depression and the Works Progress Administration which are both events that have made significant contributions to the broad patterns of the history of Oregon and University of Oregon.
Another criterion that must be met under the Historic Places guidelines is, "[P]roperty embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction." [3] One can easily see why Dads' Gates meet this criterion because there is an incredible amount of artistic quality and expert craftsmanship involved with Dads' Gates because of O. B. Dawson. Dads' Gates are a stunning example of the old wrought iron methods of construction used during this era and the Gates fall into both the "art" and "landscape architecture" areas of significance.
The Gates are also of local significance because of the small number of Works Progress Administration art projects that were actually completed in Eugene and because they are so intrinsically linked with the famous Oregon architect Ellis Lawrence and the University of Oregon.
Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon, about 60 miles (97 km) east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, it was built and furnished by local artisans during the Great Depression. Timberline Lodge was dedicated September 28, 1937, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Gutenberg College is a private, four-year Great Books college in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1994, the school currently has 20 students as of 2018.
Knight Library is the main facility of the University of Oregon's (UO) library system. It is located on the university's campus in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The library design is emblematic of the architecture of the university's older buildings, and it serves as a hub of student activity. As of 2008 it has a collection of more than 3 million volumes. The library also holds collections of primary sources such as photographs and manuscripts on various topics at the Special Collections & University Archives. It is also a depository for the Federal Depository Library Program. The library was previously known as the Main Library and it was renamed the Knight Library in 1988, in honor of the family of Phil Knight.
Jean Tijou was a French Huguenot ironworker. He is known solely through his work in England, where he worked on several of the key English Baroque buildings. Very little is known of his biography. He arrived in England in c. 1689 and enjoyed the patronage of William III and Mary II where he was titled as England's Best Wrought-iron Designer. He was employed at St Paul's for twenty years. Not only did he work for royal destinations, but he also worked for estates and other private homes located on the countryside. He left England for the continent c. 1712. He was father-in-law to the painter of decorative schemes Louis Laguerre who married in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Tijou had a wife named Ann Tijou as well as a daughter. She was married in the church of St. Martin's. Both wife and daughter were buried there as well.
Ellis Fuller Lawrence was an American architect who worked primarily in the U.S. state of Oregon. In 1914, he became the co-founder and first dean of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts, a position he held until his death.
The campus of the University of California, Berkeley, and its surrounding community are home to a number of notable buildings by early 20th-century campus architect John Galen Howard, his peer Bernard Maybeck, and their colleague Julia Morgan. Subsequent tenures as supervising architect held by George W. Kelham and Arthur Brown, Jr. saw the addition of several buildings in neoclassical and other revival styles, while the building boom after World War II introduced modernist buildings by architects such as Vernon DeMars, Joseph Esherick, John Carl Warnecke, Gardner Dailey, Anshen & Allen, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Recent decades have seen additions including the postmodernist Haas School of Business by Charles Willard Moore, Soda Hall by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the East Asian Library by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
The Phoenix Iron Works, located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a manufacturer of iron and related products during the 19th century and early 20th century. Phoenix Iron Company was a major producer of cannon for the Union Army during the American Civil War. The company also produced the Phoenix column, an advance in construction material. Company facilities are a core component of the Phoenixville Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site that was in 2006 recognized as a historic landmark by ASM International.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) is an art museum located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. The original building was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence as part of his "main university quadrangle," now known as the Memorial Quadrangle. Its first Director, Asian art collector, and female museum specialist Gertrude Bass Warner, also influenced the building's design, particularly its innovative climate control measures. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The campus of the University of Oregon is located in Eugene, Oregon and includes some 80 buildings and facilities, including athletics facilities such as Hayward Field, which was the site of the 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials, and McArthur Court, and off-campus sites such as nearby Autzen Stadium and the Riverfront Research Park. An online guide to the university's built environment, Architecture of the University of Oregon, published by the University of Oregon Libraries, describes campus buildings and provides timelines of key architectural events linked with campus history.
The University of Oregon College of Design is a public college of architecture and visual arts in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1914 by Ellis F. Lawrence, the college is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, off the corner of 13th and University streets, and also has programs at the historic White Stag Block in Portland, Oregon.
Johnson Hall, located in Eugene, Oregon, is the main administration building of the University of Oregon. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building was constructed in 1914–1915 from plans submitted by Oregon State Architect William C. Knighton in the American Renaissance style. The building's name was changed in 1918 to honor John Wesley Johnson, the first president of the university.
Christopher W. Werner (1805–1875) was a nineteenth-century wrought iron manufacturer, artisan, and entrepreneur based in Charleston, South Carolina, US. He was one of three noted German-American ironworkers in Charleston, who created most of its high-quality wrought iron. He had immigrated from Prussia in his late 20s, already an accomplished businessman. In Charleston he married a young woman from England, another immigrant, and they had a family.
Frederick Alexander Cuthbert was an American landscape architect who worked primarily in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Chapman Hall is an academic building located on the University of Oregon campus. It was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence and was built in the late 1930s. It is made of concrete and brick. Today, it houses the Robert D. Clark Honors College.
The Pioneer Mother is a sculpture formerly located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon. Burt Barker donated the six-foot-tall bronze sculpture, created by artist Alexander Phimister Proctor, to the university. Barker's daughter, Barbara Barker, introduced the sculpture to a public gathering of hundreds on May 7, 1932, during Junior Week and Mother's Day festivities.
Gerlinger Hall is a historic building on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon as part of the Women's Memorial Quadrangle. For the first time, enough women were attending the University that they could occupy their own full quadrangle.
The Hayden RR Bridge, is a truss bridge located in Springfield, Oregon, spanning over the McKenzie River. It initially served as a traditional railroad bridge, starting as part of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah, before moving to its current location as part of the Marcola line, whose primary use was the distribution of lumber. It later closed alongside the area's lumber mills, and became a pedestrian bridge in 2019. It is one of the few remaining wrought-iron, Phoenixville bridges still standing, and the oldest intact bridge in the state of Oregon.
Cyril Colnik was a metalsmith originally from Austria sometimes called "The Tiffany of wrought iron".. He emigrated to the United States to attend the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where he won a gold medal for his entry to the exposition.
Zimmerman Library is the historic main library of the University of New Mexico, located near the center of the university campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is one of the largest and most notable buildings designed by New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem and is the centerpiece of the UNM Libraries, the largest library system in New Mexico with almost 4 million print volumes. It was built in 1936–38 with funding from the Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration, with further additions completed in 1966 and 1973. The building was named for former university president James Fulton Zimmerman in 1961. It was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Burt Brown Barker was a lawyer, arts advocate, university administrator, federal program administrator, regional historian and preservationist. Over the course of his long life he extensively researched the people and places of his home state and was described as the "grand old man of Oregon history."
Media related to Dads' Gates at Wikimedia Commons| Topics | |
|---|---|
| Lists by state |
|
| Lists by insular areas | |
| Lists by associated state | |
| Other areas | |
| Related | |
