"University Park: UP bell tower will ring in projects"

By Fran Genovese, The Oregonian -
Thursday, October 16, 2008

"When bells chime from a new University of Portland tower next year, they'll herald completion of a $51.3million building program.

The 95-foot bell tower, the most visible but least expensive of the projects, will house 14 bells weighing 77 to 1,410 pounds. It will stand on Waud Bluff, the North Portland promontory the Catholic university occupies above Swan Island and the Willamette River.

The university has long wanted an icon, President E. William Beauchamp says, and the tower "will be a constant visual and auditory reminder of the faith that has built and sustained this great institution." Dan Danielson of Portland's Soderstrom Architects, who's designed buildings for the university since 1990, says the tower's cupola will complement the one atop the adjacent chapel. The chapel was designed by famed Portland architect Pietro Belluschi.

The bronze bells "will be able to play almost anything," Danielson says, including calls to prayer. A prayer garden, including an arc of 12 white-flowering cherry trees will be built around the tower. The $1.3 million tower is a gift of Allen and Kathleen Lund of Pasadena, Calif. Allen Lund is chairman of the university's Board of Regents. Construction will begin next month. Other work already under way — remodeling and expansion of the engineering building ($18 million), construction of new dormitories ($20 million), remodeling of old dormitories ($6 million), and remodeling and expansion of the dining hall ($6 million) — is scheduled to be finished by July, Danielson says.

by: Michael Bales"

Original article: www.oregonlive.org