How Revolution Hall Turned a Shuttered School Into ‘One of Portland’s Most Popular Tourist Attractions’

After more than 30 years of minimal to no use, the city of Portland, Ore., had three ideas for the old building that once housed Washington High School: tear it down, convert it into office buildings space, or — the more out-of-the-box idea — turn it into a music venue.

The Washington High building “was a bad investment for anybody, honestly,” says Portland entrepreneur Kevin Craddock , who owns Revolution Hall, Mississippi Studios and Polaris Hall.

But local developer and preservationist Art DeMuro had a vision for the long-standing brick building.

He envisioned a concert hall within the more than 130,000-square foot facility with additional office spaces in the place of former classrooms.

“DeMuro was savvy enough and respected enough and beloved enough that he got the deal done with the city,” backed by real estate developer PacTrust in 2013, Craddock adds.

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But the project went on, and when it came time to design and build out the concert venue, the development company Venerable Properties reached out to the owners of Portland’s beloved indie venue Mississippi Studios, Craddock and Jim Brunberg , to build what would be called Revolution Hall.

“I was having a sandwich next door at this place called Meat Cheese Bread, and Jim just rolled over with our talent buyer at the time and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go look at this high school.

They want to turn it into a music venue,’” says Craddock.

“I didn’t even go with them.” Craddock was familiar with the building.

Back in his bartending days, he used to break into the high school after work through what he called “the door of debauchery,” and take in the stunning view of the city in the wee hours of the morning.

He says that the door was never latched and earlier this year he got the original vestibule he broke in through tattooed on his leg.

After the school shut down, Craddock also attended experimental shows called Time-Based Art put on by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art at the building.

At the time, there was no running water, only one usable bathroom on the bottom floor, and the event organizers had to run electricity from a generator.