World Photo by Alex Powers Store owner Brenda Sund of Epiphany & Co. holds a historical photograph of the Odd Fellows building, pictured as it appeared with a nearly unaltered facade in the 1930s.

NORTH BEND — Standing outside of Epiphany & Co., her less than year-old store, Brenda Sund studied a picture of the old storefront and Sherman Avenue in the 1930s.

In the 1970s, the look of the buildings changed for the worse, she explained. People made architectural alterations that seemed unnecessary.

“It’s been decharacterized over the years, which is a shame,” Sund said. “Look at how much more interesting that was.”

Someone masked over glass windows with wooden boards and an original awning was covered with a box-like structure. It stayed that way until Michael Baker bought the building in 2007 and Sund moved in this January. The box was removed and Sund had stained glass windows installed above the awning, in place of the original glass.

“All the changes he makes are in keeping with the original character of the building,” Sund said. “He’s not a deadbeat property owner at all.”

Although Baker’s attempt to restore the International Order of Odd Fellows building — at the corner of Sherman and Virginia avenues — wasn’t influenced by guidelines created by the historic landmark commission, they do represent much of what the city’s commission is trying to do: To restore downtown North Bend to historic grandeur.

“If everybody does something, it will help the look of downtown North Bend,” Baker said. “It will be wonderful to be able to bring back to what it looked like in its heyday.”

Commission Chairman Dick Wagner said the voluntary design standards are intended to create a structured historic district in downtown’s commercial core for the betterment of all. Part of a year-long project, the guidelines ask property owners planning to make facade improvements to choose materials and paint colors in keeping with the era in which their buildings were constructed.

The purpose is to enhance the attractiveness of downtown, to improve the taxable value of the land and the buildings; and hopefully to attract more tourists to stop and shop, Wagner said.

 He noted that the commission is looking at ways to inform property and business owners of the standards and available resources. The corridor is primarily the area from Connecticut to Washington, primarily on Sherman Avenue, but does not exclude Union or Sheridan.

“We’d just like to ensure that business owners downtown know that the voluntary guidelines exist (and) that the commission has resources — not financial, but intellectual, visual and on paper — to help improve the look of downtown North Bend,” Wagner said.

Resources include the design guidelines themselves. They feature visual examples of architectural design sketches; and local architect Hilary Baker’s drawings that show relatively inexpensive facade improvements on up to 10 downtown existing downtown North Bend buildings. Low-interest loans for facade improvements also are available to owners of historic buildings through Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia. Guidelines can be accessed by contacting the city’s planning department.

“Hilary’s drawings show what can be done using existing design elements and color to make attractive facade improvements,” Wagner said.

With these resources, Wagner said he and other commission members hope it will push property owners to improve their facades.

Larry Watson, the owner of Albino Crow Gallery, a showroom for Wow arts and Exhibits on Sherman Avenue, has served on the commission for about a year and has similar hopes for downtown.

“I live in town. I work in town. I own property in town. I’m kind of what you’d call a real resident,” Watson said. “I guess I kind of felt like I had some responsibility to, I guess, share my vision of the community with others and come to a goal or plan to make the downtown area a more livable and workable environment in which retail sales could take place in the historic downtown district.”

He said the standards give local businesses the opportunity to resurrect the rich history of the area. The commission serves as a facilitator to make that happen.

“Historic buildings deserve to be restored. Especially, when they are the most significant architectural structures in our town,” Watson said.

Sund said she likes the idea of the standards, but with property owners already making changes in the area — most notably the North Bend Hotel — she feels all involved need to embrace the positive, especially when it’s business and building owners who are ponying up the cash for alterations. If they feel good about their work, perhaps others will follow suit.

“You’ll catch more of the community if we start going in a positive direction,” Sund said. “People do things as they have funds, as they feel successful, as they feel supported.”

Regarding the changes she made to her space in the Odd Fellows building, Sund said she decided to put in the stained glass to give her shop more presence.

“I wanted something that said this was a special place, even when were closed,” she said. “I think anything that denotes change is what will get noticed.”