Winter hours
• Gallery 360: Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
• East Fork Cellars: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.
First Fridays at the Slocum House
• What: Art reception, entertainment and wine tastings.
• When: 5 to 9 p.m. the first Friday of every month.
Did you know?
• The Slocum House was built in 1867 by Charles Slocum and his wife, Laura.
• It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Clark County Heritage Register as the only remaining building in what once was a residential section of the city.
• In 1966, the house was moved one block from its original site to save it from demolition.
Art and wine are known to go well together. East Fork Cellars in the historic Slocum House recently partnered with Gallery 360 — a pairing that expands downtown Vancouver’s offerings.
Owner Jeff Waddell has had his tasting room there for about 20 months. He said his plan all along was to bring the arts back in after the Slocum House Theatre vacated the spot.
Winter hours
• Gallery 360: Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
• East Fork Cellars: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.
First Fridays at the Slocum House
• What: Art reception, entertainment and wine tastings.
• When: 5 to 9 p.m. the first Friday of every month.
“We didn’t need all the space,” Waddell said. “(Gallery 360) was in a tough spot.”
Run by the nonprofit Mosaic Arts Alliance, it has spent the last decade bouncing from space to space. When Gallery 360 heard its lease wasn’t being renewed at its former location on West Ninth Street, they contacted the city to find a retail space. That’s when the gallery and the winery started talking.
Friday was the ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening of this month’s exhibition, dubbed Phoenix Rising.
“We chose that theme, phoenix rising, because it represents new life,” said Gallery 360 director Susan Williams.
An oil painting called “Ascending” by Jennifer Smith shows just that. The colors of the phoenix match the changing colors of the trees outside the house. As people walk through to look at the art, wood floors creak underneath them and chandeliers shine above them. The historic features of the house originally built in 1867 complement the art, Williams said.
Despite being farther away from the other galleries along the downtown art walk, she said the new space is an improvement. While the Vancouver Farmers Market is on hiatus until the spring, she expects foot traffic from the holiday markets and tree lighting ceremony.
The East Fork and the gallery pay $1,650 in rent to the city of Vancouver, $1,000 more than what was paid by the theater. The rent is set to incrementally increase to nearly $2,200 by the end of 2018, according to the lease agreement.
Waddell has been making wine for about 14 years through his vineyard in Battle Ground, north of Lewisville Park. He opened a wine tasting room in Ridgefield that also offered live music, but said he felt that the wine scene in north Clark County was starting to get crowded. Many of his customers were already from Vancouver, so moving to the downtown core made sense.
The space was renovated and the theater taken out. Outside, Waddell spruced up the front yard and put up vanity lighting and flood lighting to highlight the building at night. In an agreement with the city, Waddell said he would maintain the historic value of the house by not putting in a commercial kitchen. Instead, Gray’s at the Park restaurant inside the Hilton Vancouver Washington offers food for the winery’s customers. It’s basically room service, Waddell said. East Fork Cellars, in turn, offers tours for hotel guests.
Waddell is considering bringing in authors to do signings and readings. He’s also planning to show independent films. The concept is similar to McMenamins’ theater pubs, but with more of a focus on the arts, Waddell said.
Through a profit sharing agreement, Gallery 360 benefits from events held at the Slocum House. Next week, it will be hosting a baby shower and a wedding on Saturday.
The Vancouver Farmers Market has an office on the second floor, and there are two more offices available to rent.
Did you know?
• The Slocum House was built in 1867 by Charles Slocum and his wife, Laura.
• It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Clark County Heritage Register as the only remaining building in what once was a residential section of the city.
• In 1966, the house was moved one block from its original site to save it from demolition.
“They’ve done an excellent job taking care of the building,” said Tim Haldeman, the city’s director of general services. “We want to make sure that who they sublet to fits with the surroundings.”
When the Slocum House was originally turned into a theater, it was considered adaptive reuse, which refers to transforming an old building for a new purpose — in this case transforming more than once.
Teresa Brum, Vancouver’s economic development manager, said the city plans to launch an “adaptive reuse” program this year.
