Vancouver architect’s legacy all around us

It takes a well-rounded person to be a well-rounded architect. That may be why Day Hilborn became the signature architect for Southwest Washington.

Hilborn wasn’t just a guy who dreamed up buildings and drew lines on paper. He was an actor, singer and pianist with an abiding love of community theater. He was a high school basketball star and a soldier during World War I. He was a college art major who had to be urged to switch to architecture. After that, he worked as a real estate broker and construction engineer before becoming a working architect. Later in life, he was active in his church and the Salvation Army, sat on important community committees, served on the Vancouver Court of Appeals — and sang with his buddies in a barbershop quartet.

On Oct. 4, Sean Denniston, a building expert and a member of the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission and the Clark County Historical Society board, will guide an audience through the life and architectural achievements of Day Hilborn. He’ll highlight Hilborn’s background, influences, design gems and legacy. Denniston’s talk is set for 7 p.m. at the Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St. in Vancouver; space is limited so you’re advised to show up early for first-come, first-served seating.

Man about town

Even if you didn’t know it, Hilborn has surely affected your life and travels here in Clark County. His projects included huge facilities such as the 1933 Kiggins Bowl stadium and grand art deco marvels such as the 1941 Clark County Courthouse; he also designed modest commercial outposts such as the standalone 1949 Spic-N-Span Drive-In on Washington Street downtown (which long since became home to a Muchas Gracias drive-thru restaurant).

According to one unverifiable tale, Hilborn was spotted lunching at the Spic-N-Span in suit and tie, burger in one hand and pencil in the other, sketching architectural ideas, when a bystander asked him: “Who do you think you are, Day Hilborn?”

That may be a legend, but it underlines a reality: Hilborn was the toast of Vancouver. “He seemed to know everyone in town,” writes architectural historian Michael Houser in a biography posted on the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation website. “His persona … seems almost legendary.” In 1930, The Columbian even reported that Hilborn saved a woman’s life by carrying her to safety from a rammed steamboat, Houser notes.

Real fame came from designing hundreds of buildings that are still visible throughout Clark County, Portland and the entire region: libraries, fire stations, post offices, stores, restaurants, banks, schools, churches, offices, apartment buildings and single-family homes. In Vancouver, Hilborn took on downtown challenges like the ornate, four-story Arts Building at 1104 Main St. and, at the corner of Evergreen and Broadway, a two-facade, mixed-use commercial building that once housed both The Columbian newspaper and an ice cream shop.

His attention to every single detail of his 1936 Kiggins Theatre building — from the tasteful exterior sculptural reliefs to the spacious box-office foyer below a glittering marquee to the vanity stands in the women’s restroom — earned raves like “design masterpiece.” For the rest of his career, Hilborn (who died in 1971 at age 74) got lots more work, and renown, designing movie theaters throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“No single person in the history of Southwest Washington has had a greater impact on the physical built environment than architect Day Hilborn,” Houser wrote.