Holger and Sally Christiansen decided they needed their own sound wall to buffer their home in the historic Old North End neighborhood, north of downtown, from the growing roar of traffic on nearby Uintah Street.
So they imported red brick from Virginia and got busy erecting a massive wall around the perimeter of their property at 1221 N. Cascade Ave. The only problem . . . they didn’t get the necessary city building permits or permission from the Historic Preservation Board, which regulates what is done to homes in the North End Historic Overlay Zone.
Here is a map of the area:
Making things worse, the wall is taller than 6 feet, violating city code for construction without a permit. Here are some photos of the wall.
Traffic, like the trucks rumbling up Cascade in the photo below, is the main reason the Christiansens want their wall. Some neighbors fear the North End will be a succession of similar walls if the Christiansens’ are allowed to keep their wall.
Generally, the wall runs just under 7 feet tall. But it reaches nearly 11 feet at the top of its ornate columns with their elaborate caps and finials. Here are a couple photos.
Other homes in the North End have fences and walls. But they generally are low wood-picket or ornamental iron fences or low rock walls.
To learn more about the Old North End, visit it’s web site via this link.
And a more detailed map of the neighborhood and his historic district is available via this link: oldnorthendmap.pdf
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I think it looks great! The only problems, besides the ones mentioned, is it will make a lovely “canvass” for taggers!
From reading the story, I was expecting a monstrosity! However, it looks good — obvious it was designed and professionally built. They deserve a little quiet! They should have, however, followed the city “rules” for a building permit.
I think it is awesome. Maybe the busy-bodies in that area are mad cause they can’t see in!!! I would live next door for sure!
Unreal that the city would get involved in something like this.
The wall looks 100x better than the crappy white fence pictured next door.
If the Christiansen’s were putting the wall up to ease the traffic noise, why did they buy a house on or near one of our busiest downtown streets in the first place?
What a LOVELY home it is. Too bad the wall is so ugly and detracts from the beauty of the house. I feel sorry for the neighbors of this house, I would NEVER spend money to buy next to that monstrosity! Good luck neighbors selling your homes unless someone who also wants to be a recluse buys there!!!! Pat