Former chiropractor's office on Fourth Street being converted into a lodging site
May 19—LA GRANDE — A former La Grande health care building, closed since 2010, now has just what the doctor might have ordered — a new purpose.
The structure, on Fourth Street between Washington Avenue and Depot Street, is being converted into a multi-day lodging site, one designed to meet the needs of individuals such as those staying in La Grande on business, according to Jack Burgoyne, of La Grande, who purchased the former office building with his wife, Judy Burgoyne, in October 2021.
The future lodging site, now unofficially named the Historic Fourth Street Studios, will have two spaces available for people to rent. Each studio will have a kitchen, a queen-sized bed, a hide-a-bed sofa, cabinets, a traditional oven, a refrigerator and restrooms, showers and a washer and dryer. The Historic Fourth Street Studios will also have features to help people who are physically challenged.
"They will be handicapped friendly," Jack Burgoyne said.
Everyone checking into the Historic Fourth Street Studios will be required to spend at least two nights there, he said, adding that "the rates will be reasonable."
Judy Burgoyne noted that the Historic Fourth Street Studios will be meant not only for people in La Grande on business but also to assist people like those making extended stays because of a hospitalized family member. She said that such individuals will receive discounts.
The couple started renovating the space in March and hope to have the first lodging space finished and available to the public by the end of July.
Both lodging spaces will be decorated with outdoor photos taken by David Jensen, of Wallowa County. Jensen's photos have appeared in National Geographic and on the covers of Sierra Club and Audubon calendars.
The previous occupant of the site was Alan Hall, a chiropractor who operated his practice there for 30 years before retiring in 2010. Hall, who died in 2014 at age 91, served a total of 61 years in La Grande. Hall built the building now becoming the Historic Fourth Street Studios about three decades ago.
The former chiropractic office is part of the building complex the Burgoynes purchased, which also includes the space that formerly housed the Orange Rhino Bakery and Coffee Shop, which closed about three years ago. Businesses that have also occupied the space include the Bobolink, a birding supply store now located at 1707 Fifth Street. Judy Burgoyne said the couple have not determined what will occupy the former site of the Orange Rhino.
The Burgoynes came to La Grande from Enterprise, where they owned and operated The Enterprise House, a bed-and-breakfast operated in a home built in 1910. They opened the house to guests after extensively renovating it.
"It was kind of like what we are going here," Judy Burgoyne said.
The Burgoynes operated the Enterprise bed-and-breakfast for 16 years, until they sold it in 2018. When they owned The Enterprise House, it was named by Travel Oregon, a state-funded agency that promotes tourism, as one of the state's 25 Great Oregon Hotels and Resorts.
Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer primarily covering the communities of North Powder, Imbler, Island City and Union, education, Union County veterans programs and local history. Dick joined The Observer in 1983, first working as a sports and outdoors reporter.
