John Virginius Bennes

John Virginius Bennes (August 23, 1867 – November 29, 1943) was an American architect who designed numerous buildings throughout the state of Oregon, particularly in Baker City and Portland. In Baker City he did an extensive redesign of the Geiser Grand Hotel, designed several homes, and a now-demolished Elks building. He moved to Portland in 1907 and continued practicing there until 1942.

Bennes designed numerous projects in the Portland area, as well as in Corvallis, Prineville, and other areas of Oregon. He and his firms produced the designs for at least 20 buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). His work includes the design of more than 35 buildings on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, as well as plans for 12 other building additions and renovations. He also designed the administration building at Eastern Oregon University.

Bennes is also credited with design work on the Hollywood Theatre in Portland and the Liberty Theatre in Astoria. He worked with Harry A. Herzog on some of the theaters, and Albert Mercier and Lee Arden Thomas have also been credited as collaborators on some of them.

Early life Bennes was born in Peru, Illinois on August 23, 1867, to Czech immigrants Jan Beneš and Petronila Hlaváčková, raised in Chicago. He was purportedly a cousin of Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš though their surname is extremely common. and spent a year abroad at the School of Fine Arts at Prague University, graduating with a degree in architecture in 1890.

Bennes designed several Portland hotels, including the Broadway Hotel, the Hamilton Hotel, the Treves Hotel and the Cornelius Hotel. The Cornelius has been unoccupied since the 1980s, but has been the subject of various restoration plans, most recently in February 2015.

Bennes was a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright and is said to have been "a product of the Chicago school of architecture."

Later life and death Bennes relocated from Portland to Los Angeles, California, in 1943 after a bout of unnamed illness, where he died the same year. Some of his plans and drawings are held in the Cachot Therkelsen Collection with the University of Oregon Libraries.

Projects

Hollywood Theatre in the Hollywood District of Portland, Oregon.

John Virginius and Annice Bennes House (1911), Portland (NRHP) Geiser Grand Hotel (1900 remodel), Baker City (NRHP contributing to the Baker Historic District) Gray's West & Co. Pioneer Chapel (1910), Baker City, (NRHP contributing to the Baker Historic District as the Charles A. Johns House) Hot Lake Hotel (1906), La Grande (NRHP) Oregon State University buildings (1907–1941), part of the Oregon State University Historic District, Corvallis (NRHP) Bexell Hall (1922) Delta Zeta and Alpha Gamma sororities (1930 and 1928) (Bennes & Herzog) Kidder Hall (1918) McAlexander Fieldhouse (1911) Weatherford Hall (1928) (Bennes & Herzog) Women's Building (1926) Poultry Building and Incubator House (1913 remodel and 1907 design), 800 SW Washington Ave, Corvallis (NRHP) Treves Hotel (Joyce Hotel) (1912), 1035-1039 SW Stark St, Portland

Independent (1914–1925) Astoria City Hall (1923), 1095 Duane St, Astoria, originally Astoria Savings Bank, which closed in 1929; the building became Astoria's City Hall in 1939 A. H. Maegly House (1914), 226 SW Kingston St, Portland (NRHP) Abraham Tichner House (1918), 114 SW Kingston Ave, Portland (NRHP) Hollywood Theatre (1923), 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland (NRHP) B'nai B'rith Summer Camp (1928), Grand Ronde Parkway Manor (1931), 1609 SW Park Ave, Portland

Independent (1933–1943) Lieuallen Administration Building (1935), Western Oregon University, Monmouth