The 511 Federal Building is a former federal

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

that is currently known as the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design of the

Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...

(PNCA) in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, United States. PNCA moved into the building in February 2015, after a $32 million remodeling project. Previous occupants of the building included the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

offices for

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizati ...

and

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

, as well as the Department of Agriculture. The building was constructed in 1916–1918 and opened in 1919 after being commissioned by the

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

, one of the last post offices built under the 1893

Tarsney Act John Charles Tarsney (November 7, 1845 – September 4, 1920) was an American politician from Missouri and an associate justice of the Oklahoma Territory Supreme Court (1896-1899). He then returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where he had a private ...

, and cost $1 million. It was designed by architect Lewis P. Hobart. It is located between Portland's

Old Town Chinatown Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland ...

and the

Pearl District The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979, as the U.S. Post Office. The building is six stories tall and has a footprint of approximately . It has a basement and sub-basement, complete with walled off

shanghai tunnels The Old Portland Underground, better known locally as the Shanghai tunnels, is a group of passages in Portland, Oregon, United States, mainly underneath the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood and connecting to the main business section. The tunnels c ...

Gallery

File:PDX old post office.png, Circa 1920 picture of the building, viewed from the southeast File:511 Federal Building as Pacific Northwest College of Art (2015).jpg, 2015 picture, shortly after completion of renovation work File:511-Building-cornerstone Portland-OR 2008-May.jpg, 511 Building Cornerstone File:Old Post Office east entry - Portland Oregon.jpg, East entrance in 2008 File:511 Federal Bldg - cast bronze lamp over entrance.jpg, Cast bronze lamp over entrance

References

External links

* {{Pearl District, Portland, Oregon Federal buildings in the United States 1918 establishments in Oregon Government buildings completed in 1918 Government buildings in Portland, Oregon Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Neoclassical architecture in Oregon Pacific Northwest College of Art Pearl District, Portland, Oregon Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon