Crews to begin dismantling façade of historic A.J. Tucker Building in downtown Bend, making way for courthouse expansion
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Next Monday, crews will begin dismantling and cataloguing the stone blocks of the front façade of the historic AJ Tucker building, located at the corner of NW Greenwood Avenue and Harriman Street, making way for a Deschutes County Courthouse expansion after no one took the county up on a free offer of the century-old structure.
The stone from the front façade will be stored for potential future reconstruction. The remainder of the building will be demolished. Work is expected to continue through March.
The county offered to give the more than century-old building to anyone who would agree to disassemble it and put it back together at another location. But no one took them up on the offer, so commissioners voted to save the stone front and remove the rest.
The county sought approval for the removal from the Landmarks Commission to accommodate the expansion of the courthouse, which was unanimously approved in November.
While work is occurring on the AJ Tucker building, adjacent sidewalks and one crosswalk (at the corner of Greenwood and Harriman) will be closed. Pedestrians are encouraged to seek alternate routes.
Construction on the courthouse expansion project is expected to begin later this spring and continue through the fall of 2025.
According to the Historical Marker Database, A.J. Tucker came to Bend in 1916 with $180.00 in his pocket. His first work in Bend was building boats and guiding hunting parties from the eastern United States.
Tucker soon set his sights on building, and went on to create several of Bend's early stone structures, completed in 1919. It took a full year to cut the lava stone to build his blacksmith and carpentry shop. Tucker added the apartment directly north of the shop for his family home.
