Protect Howard Hall

Howard Hall is one of three buildings on the former School for the Blind (OSSB) property that were individually identified in a 2009 Historic Resource Evaluation Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act analysis by the professional firm, Fletcher Farr Ayotte of Portland as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Of the three NRHP eligible buildings, two have been destroyed by the Salem Hospital. Howard Hall is the only structure left.

Eligibility for the National Register is our nation’s highest value and recognition of a historic resource for architectural, human and cultural significance. From 1923 until 2009, Howard Hall was in continued use.

John V. Bennes, architect of Howard Hall, was one of the foremost designers of educational buildings in Oregon during the first half of the 20th century, including more than thirty-five at Oregon State University. He designed hotels, the Cathedral of St. Frances DeSales in Baker City, Temple Beth Israel in Portland, Liberty Theater in Astoria, banks, commercial buildings and private residences. Born in Illinois, raised in Chicago, he introduced the “Prairie Style” of Frank Lloyd Wright to residential construction in Oregon.

Howard Hall is the only educational residence that Bennes designed for children.

At the northeast edge of Salem’s Gaiety Hill/Bush’s Pasture Park; in the South Central Salem community, the structure is the last authentic, to quote Kim Charlson, President of the American Council of the Blind, “physical trace of the role of the Oregon State School for the Blind played in the lives of thousands of families with members experiencing vision loss.”

Jon Christenson

Salem