The smokestack was built along with the boiler building, and the boiler building was grafted on to the laundry building by a one-story connecting structure.
The hospital across the street is gone, but remnants of the vintage HVAC system remain in the main Academy building. The lower interior walls of the chapel and some of the hallways are still adorned with arrays of pipes that once circulated hot water to heat the building.
The boiler itself is also still inside the boiler building, but curious visitors will have to settle for glimpsing it through cracks in the building’s walls. Both buildings are closed for safety reasons due to severe structural deterioration.
The Trust acquired the Academy campus in 2015 and embarked on a multi-year project to renovate and restore the main building. One of the group’s first steps was to sell most of the west and north sides of the campus — areas which are currently gravel parking lots — and use the proceeds to fund the restoration of the main building.
The developer is Wilsonville, Ore.-based Marathon Acquisition and Development, which has been developing its plans for the site in partnership with the Trust.
Marathon and the Trust unveiled Phase I of the project last year, detailing plans for two apartment buildings on the west side of the campus. Plans for Phase II debuted last month, outlining two more apartment buildings and a garage along the north side.
The Phase II redevelopment area includes the land where the ancillary structures sit, which means it’s decision time: Is it worth trying to preserve the laundry and boiler buildings, or should they be demolished?
“One of the realities is, what is the economic viability of bringing it back?” said Trust CEO David Pearson.
The city of Vancouver has imposed a March deadline for the Trust to make that decision, and officially the Trust says it’s still studying the matter.
However, Pearson said the reality is the laundry and boiler buildings have almost certainly deteriorated beyond repair. The Academy building can be restored because it’s been in constant use and kept in a habitable condition, he said, but the ancillary structures have languished for about 40 years.
The smokestack might be the one exception. It’s still in comparatively good condition, Chamberlain said, and the Trust is currently looking into whether and how it could be repaired. Some of the concept art for Phase II shows the smokestack preserved as part of the historic campus.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say our focus is on the smokestack,” said Stacey Graham, who chairs the Trust’s board of directors.
There are a few bricks missing and some of the mortar would need to be replaced, Chamberlain said, but the biggest challenge would be to find a way to bring the tower up to modern seismic standards. Stacks of bricks generally don’t do well in earthquakes, so an 80-foot-tall smokestack can’t be left standing next to a future apartment building without reinforcement.
There are two likely options, she said, based on similar smokestacks that have been preserved elsewhere: crews could either stabilize the tower with a network of external guy wires, or they could build a new solid structure inside the hollow center of the tower, one that could serve as an anchor point for the surrounding bricks.
Once the Trust makes a final decision, it has a second deadline of March 2022 to either remove or renovate the buildings.
