This article was first published in the September, 2018 issue of The Homesteader.
One of the services of the Deschutes County Historical Museum is researching the many requests we receive on a daily basis: family backgrounds, events, historical homes and sites. One day we were asked about about a local pub that had been bought by a development company. There was some concern about its possible demolition. True, it was an older building, but was there a history? Was it worth saving for posterity? Many of Bend’s historical homes and buildings have met a cruel end without so much as a permit. The old drying shed on Colorado Ave. was torn down after-hours, after most people were at home, unaware of a bulldozer bringing down a historical monument of a lumber town. Since then, it seems more townspeople have become aware of the unique history of Bend and an interest in the preservation of significant buildings.
So, what of this Platypus Pub? What’s with this pub that was obviously at one time, a church? It sat at NE Lafayette and 3rd Street. Its door was actually at the corner of the church facing where the two streets meet.
The Church of the Nazarene built the odd-angle church in 1950. Besides Sunday services, the church had many rooms for Sunday school, social functions, and Bible studies. There were 12 classrooms, a pastor’s study, and an auditorium that could seat almot 400. At one time, the church even offered its facilities to the public schools. Museum volunteer, Linda Morrison remembers attending first grade in the basement of the church.
In the 1970s, the congregation grew beyond the church’s capacity. They began plans for a new church on 27th St. The church on 3rd St. was put up for sale. The unique design of the church easily lent itself to the creative remodeling as a restaurant. Through the years, several restaurants followed; the Bistro, Ernestos, and finally, the Platypus Pub, possibly the last, soon to be on the chopping block.
But where’s the history behind all this you may well ask?
The church and surrounding land are situated on property once part of the vast homestead of Levi David Wiest, one of the founding fathers of Bend. An irrigation engineer, Wiest arrived in Bend in 1900 and as Chief Engineer of the Pilot Butte Development Co. headed by Alexander Drake, Wiest designed the two canals that irrigate the high desert. He made preliminary surveys of the land, canal rights-of-way, surveyed and filed the original plat for the Bend townsite.
In 1908, Wiest acquired 160 acres through the Homestead Act. (The land grant papers are signed by none other than President Theodore Roosevelt.) Wiest’s property at that time was merely a wilderness of scrubby pines intermingled with junipers and sage.
According to an interview with his daughter, Marion Wiest Coe, in 1977, “…the homestead of 40-acre parcels up along the north boundary near where Wagner’s Grocery later built. It ran from there northwest along the (Pilot) Butte. Another corner ran from East Second Street and along south about four or five blocks, then out to Eighth Street. The ‘Forties’ were in the shape of an L, instead of a square.” Wiest named his home and holdings “Wiestoria”.
Levi eventually built an expansive, three-story home for his family; made of native tuff stone. It took many years to complete due to the restrictions of material allocated for WWI. The grand house had three verandas, a conservatory, and of all things, a bathroom on the second floor! Phyllis Coe Long, granddaughter of the Wiests, said there were many family gatherings and parties. Even then, it was still a wooded area that they called “The Park”. Levi David Wiest died at the age of 75 in his home on 3rd St. in 1934.
Unfortunately, the historic landmark home was demolished in 1967 to make way for a gas station. The house and the original acres for years to come would be remembered as Wiestoria,(or Wiestoria Addition) parts of which still exist today in a modern development community off Eighth and Revere streets.
And unfortunately, the Platypus Pub building was not designated as a historical site and so was not protected as such. We can only hope that the new owners will incorporate some of the unique architectural design of the old church into the new buildings – like the old drying shed, whose curved roof can be seen reflected on many newer buildings in town. A familiar tribute to the timber industry and the historical architecture of Bend.
Note: There is an impressive historical marker on 3rd Street where the original home was located. It is on a fence in the parking lot of a brakes shop at 1315 NE 3rd St.