September 20, 2018

W.G. Clark's old HQ comes down to make room for Clark apartments

ARC Architects image [enlarge]

The new building at 408 Aurora Ave. N. will be seven stories with 75 studio apartments.

A bit of history hit the dustbin last week as crews from Rhine Demolition tore down W.G. Clark Construction's old headquarters at 408 Aurora Ave. N.

But all is not lost: Clark found a new headquarters in the historic 1960 Pacific Architect & Builder building in the Eastlake neighborhood, and the Aurora site will be the new home for 75 studio apartments, in a complex called Clark.

The Aurora headquarters was W.G. Clark's home for nearly a century. The structure originally was built in 1888 as a barn, on the 400 block of Terry Avenue North.

Company founder Bill Clark bought the barn in 1921 as a shop for his growing repair and alteration business. His office was in a nearby farmhouse.

In 1923, Clark moved the barn to Seventh Avenue North, which later became Aurora. He had an office in part of the barn, heated by a wood stove.

During the Great Depression, Clark rented out part of the building to Aurora Lumber. The space was remodeled several times, eventually getting a second floor of offices, and the shop moved away.

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The structure was built in 1888 as a barn. During the Depression, Clark rented part of the space to Aurora Lumber.

Bill, his son Don, and grandson Chris managed the company for the balance of the 20th century. Chris sold his interest in the company about a dozen years ago to longtime managers, ending nearly a century of Clark family ownership.

Over time, the company outgrew the space and moved to Eastlake, at 1945 Yale Place E.

That building also has a history: it was one of the first local buildings to use a thin-shell folded concrete plate roof, which frees the main floor of structural columns and bearing walls.

“(My grandfather would) find the new offices much more accommodating than his beloved barn,” Chris Clark said in a news release.

W.G. Clark Construction is building the Aurora apartments, and they will be owned by the Clark family. The developer is Metropolitan Companies and the designer is ARC Architects.

Parts of the old barn will live on: the company says it salvaged some beams to build furniture for the new offices.