Tanner Springs

It might surprise some people that Portland's famous Pearl District--one of the hippest neighborhoods on the West Coast--was once a stretch of wetlands and a water body called Couch Lake (sounds like my kind of lake). This lake was fed by springs that trickled down the hills southwest of the city, eventually making their way to the Williamette River. In the process, water was naturally filtered before reaching the River.

As the city grew in the 19th century and demand for developable land increased, the lake and its tributaries were eventually rerouted, forced underground, or filled.
One such water body was Tanner Springs, named for an 1860s tannery that was once nearby. As the area developed, Tanner Springs was piped underground, laying beneath the city for decades. In its place--along with Couch Lake, that experienced death-by-filling--grew a district of warehouses and railyards. Over time this industrial area then transformed into the Pearl District of today: a place of funky shops, trendy restaurants, and attractive residences.


In 2003, the City retained German-firm Atelier Dreiseitl and Portland firm GreenWorks, P.C. to design a park (originally conceptualized by Peter Walker and Associates) 20 feet away from the Couch Lake's original surface. The result is nothing short of awesome: in a single city block, Tanners Spring Park is a successful public open space, an urban wetland that filters water, and a place that uses design subtleties to tell the story of this Portland neighborhood. All of this in less than one acre of space.

What I love about this park is the subtlety of how it celebrates its history: there are no interpretive signs or plaques. Instead, history is told through its design, most noticably in three ways:

1. "Day-lighting" the water. By re-exposing the spring, the Pearl District now has an asset that gives people a glimpse of the area's natural environment prior to its development in the 1800s. The springs that now burble through the park actually connect to Tanner Creek, which still runs through pipes beneath the city.

2. Natural vegetation. The designers also used natural vegetation to soften the urban space. This was not only an environmentally-conscious move, but one of aesthetics (it looks amazing) and plays into the area's natural history.

3. A nod to the rails. In the neighborhood's first stage of development, the area was primarily an industrial district crisscrossed by railway tracks. The designers played with this idea and created a stunning, undulating wall of railroad track pieces that buffers the park from the street. What could have been a plain wall (or worse, something incredibly ugly) is now a place where people pose for their wedding photos.

The end result is part wetland, part art installation, part park--and an elegant yet fun, and engaging reference for local history. This is a park that you can stumble upon, and immediately get sucked in by its uniqueness. One reviewer on Yelp.com sums it up perfectly:

"Can you believe this? A natural wetlands preserve in the middle of a city? Not to mention, the stunning 'railroad' installation art piece that acts as a fence against the drop off. Walking up 10th you almost can't believe your eyes that this pristine park sits right in the middle of a bustling neighborhood. I had my coffee, cookie and camera in hand. So I gave the camera to Des and said 'Shoot away, I'm having a seat to take this all in."