School may be out forever, but you can still check in here.
Driving along 33rd Avenue in thePortlandneighborhood of Concordia , you ’d be forgive for slip the lengthy Italian Renaissance - style construction for a school . The warm , tan exterior wall and long backstage extending outwards from the arch colonnaded entrance give off a intimate , scholastic air . But instead of educatee and teachers wandering the prospicient Radclyffe Hall , now it ’s guests in pj’s .
Part of McMenamins — a collection of Pacific Northwest hotel , brewpubs , moving picture dramaturgy , euphony venues , and restaurants known for their whimsical art and interior decoration — the Kennedy School is a former uncomplicated school turned smelly , fantastic hotel . establish by two Portland natives , the McMenamins brand name rehabilitate old , historic property like schools or farms into eccentric , graphics - filled hotels .
The Kennedy Schoolis one of the well topographic point to experience this signature McMenamins ambience , feeling like a schooling out of a fantasy novel . Think Hogwarts meet Portland ’s weird and quirky vibes . With coloured , hanging lantern and light fixtures that dangle in the line , warm wood tones , low - lit hallways , inventive nontextual matter that seems to take shape off walls , and glory of secrets and enigma , it does seem like a place where the line between realness and phantasy blurs together .
Is that a secret stairwell?|Flickr/Mark McClure
Transformed schoolroom - turned - guestrooms still have their original chalkboard . category photos decorate the hallways for laurel wreath , with workbook sheets repurposed as wallpaper . vivacious artwork inspired by stories from the edifice ’ past adorn walls , doors , headboards , and other surfaces . The rooms in the newer English Wing each have a literary theme like One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez .
Where the teacher ’s lounge once was , you may soak in a het out-of-door pool tile in colourful ceramics and surrounded by plants . And for once , going to the principal ’s office is a safe matter , because that ’s where the receipt is located .
McMenamins also farm slyness beer , wine , and even spirits , so each location has plenty of bar . Roaming the dorm , you ’ll regain four bars tucked into different corners of the school , including one housed in the old steam boiler room and another shout out the Detention Bar . Inside a former girls privy is the onsite Concordia Brewery ( do n’t worry — it ’s been thoroughly cleaned and redone ) .
A nifty restaurant that spill out into a succulent courtyard dining area has replaced the former cafeteria . Instead of sports , the gymnasium hosts live music , terpsichore , and other consequence . And as if all that was n’t enough , the auditorium is now stuffed with comfy couches to loaf in for movie viewing .
Along with its historic bones , it ’s the artwork and decor that give Kennedy School the aesthetic of an real school of magic . McMenamins ’ quirky graphics is the employment of nearly 50 artists , and has been dubbed ‘ diachronic surrealism ’ since each work is based on or inspired by the building ’s history with fun twist .
“ It ’s a blank canvas , ” says ship’s company historian Tim Hills , whose exhaustive deep dives into the story of each belongings uncovers stories to inspire the artists and pay off homage to the building ’s former lives . “ It ’s kind of an dangerous undertaking , you may never guess what happened in these places . ”
The picture on the wall is really more like a portal.|McMenamins Kennedy School
Alfred Hawthorne collected blueprints , old documents , photos , and testimony from former students , teachers , and neighbour , turn the selective information over to the artists . From paintings to Mosaic to wood panels , the nontextual matter tramp from depictions of classroom lessons to rendering of event where the artists take a footling creative indecorum .
“ Every creative person is a little unlike , ” Hills enounce . “ Some endeavor to tell the taradiddle on the button how it was , others work with it . ”
For more background information about the different pieces , you may take a ego - manoeuvre duty tour of the school ’s artwork .
Brew can be beautiful, too.|McMenamins Kennedy School
Preserving the history of the Kennedy School through its artistic production and architecture , Edgar Guest can soak up all the information during their stay without fear of preparation or quizzes . First build up in 1915 and make after landowner John Daniel Kennedy , the Kennedy School was also used as a community center for upshot like town hall coming together and collection driveway . Faced with dwindling registration in the mid seventies , the schooling was officially close in 1975 and prepare to be demolished due to its pitiful state of matter . Led by former students and heads of the PTA , neighborhood resident , and the Portland Development Commission , the biotic community rally to save the building .
“ This plaza meant so much to residents , ” Hills says .
Out of several proposals to give the building Modern animation , the neighbourhood and the city selected the vision ofMcMenamins founders Mike and Brian McMenamin . Purchased in natural spring 1997 , the renovated ‘ school - tel ’ reopened later that year , border in the new era with the original principal ’s Alexander Melville Bell .
You can almost see the paintings move.|Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski
Like the Kennedy School , it ’s the art , excellent craft beer , and all things peculiar and strange that make Portland Portland . If you get the angle of dip to leave schoolhouse reason , Kennedy is a great basecamp for explore Northeast Portland , especially the galleries , vintage stores , coffee shop , restaurants , and bars of the neighboring Alberta Arts District . you may also speed out of townspeople for hiking and waterfall chasing a la TLC in the Columbia River Gorge .
If you find yourself pull ahead over by the Kennedy School ’s charms , you’re able to moderate out McMenamins ’ 61 other dimension around Oregon and Washington . At least nine locations are on the National Register of Historic Places . Their other hotel place let in the St. Francis School in Bend , Oregon , a former Catholic School with secret rooms , and Edgefield in nearby Troutdale , a ( deep breath ) county poor farm - turned - hotel - slash - brewey - diagonal - winery - slash - still - diagonal - outdoor - entertainment - locale . Whew .
Pick your favorite chandelier.|Flickr/Mark McClure
Definitely not gonna be haunted with little kids.|McMenamins Kennedy School
Somehow we’ve been transported to a tropical oasis.|Flickr/James Carnes
