After more than 30 years of minimal to no use, the city of Portland, Ore., had three ideas for the old building that once housed Washington High School: tear it down, convert it into office buildings space, or — the more out-of-the-box idea — turn it into a music venue.
The Washington High building “was a bad investment for anybody, honestly,” says Portland entrepreneur Kevin Craddock, who owns Revolution Hall, Mississippi Studios and Polaris Hall. But local developer and preservationist Art DeMuro had a vision for the long-standing brick building. He envisioned a concert hall within the more than 130,000-square foot facility with additional office spaces in the place of former classrooms. “DeMuro was savvy enough and respected enough and beloved enough that he got the deal done with the city,” backed by real estate developer PacTrust in 2013, Craddock adds.
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Shortly after securing the high school — which first opened in 1906 and moved to its current location in 1909, then was rebuilt in 1924 following a fire — for an $18 million restoration, DeMuro passed away from cancer. But the project went on, and when it came time to design and build out the concert venue, the development company Venerable Properties reached out to the owners of Portland’s beloved indie venue Mississippi Studios, Craddock and Jim Brunberg, to build what would be called Revolution Hall.
