The Bank of California Building, also known as the Durham & Bates Building and currently the Three Kings Building, is a historic former bank building in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. It has been on 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 v ...

since 1978. The three-story building was designed by

A. E. Doyle Albert Ernest Doyle (July 27, 1877 – January 23, 1928) was a prolific architect in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. He is most often credited for his works as A.E. Doyle. He opened his own architectural practice in 1907. From ...

in an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style and completed in 1925. The ground floor features a two-story-high grand room with ceilings. The building's original owner and occupant, the

Bank of California The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston and Darius Ogden Mills. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered ...

, moved out around the end of 1969 and sold the building in 1970. It has had a succession of other owners and tenants since then. It was last used as a bank in 1977.

Establishment and original use

The London and San Francisco Bank established a

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

branch in 1882. When the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based

acquired and absorbed that institution in 1905, the branch became the first Bank of California branch in Portland. In 1924, officers of the bank approved plans to construct a new building for the Portland branch. Since about 1894, it had been located at Third and Stark Streets in downtown, in the Chamber of Commerce Building (demolished in 1934). Noted Portland architect

was hired to design the new structure. Doyle's chief designer Charles K. Greene had traveled abroad to study Greco-Roman architectural forms in the 1910s. His research resulted in three

buildings in Portland, of which the Bank of California Building was the first. The others were the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

/Italianate Pacific Building and the Public Service Building, an

early skyscraper The earliest stage of skyscraper design encompasses buildings built between 1884 and 1945, predominantly in the American cities of New York City, New York and Chicago. Cities in the United States were traditionally made up of low-rise buildings, ...

. While the Pacific and Public Service Buildings are large, multi-story structures, the three-story Bank of California Building is small. It has been described as being in the style of an

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

palazzo A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

(palace). Construction began in 1924, the building was completed in 1925 and opened on July 20 of that year.

Description

Exterior

The building occupies a site at the northeast corner of 6th Avenue and Stark Streets; it faces 6th. The main façade features five large, tall windows which are arched at the top. Above each is a smaller rectangular window at the second-floor level. The third floor is within the building's

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

and is windowless. The exterior is clad in cast

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

with marble trim, and the roof is covered in red clay tiles. Terracotta is also used for the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s. Two ornate bronze lamps flank the central entrance, similar in style to fixtures used on Portland's Doyle-designed Public Service Building of the same period. A bronze

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

frames the bronze gates of the main entrance, located in the central arch of the five tall arches. For many years, this was the building's only entrance. However, in 1977, during work to modify the building for non-banking uses, a second entrance was built in the northernmost arch of the main façade, accessing a new, smaller lobby and providing more direct access to the upper floors, . Bronze lantern on Bank of California Building - Portland, Oregon

Bronze lantern on Bank of California Building - Portland, Oregon

Originally, the building's north side was directly adjacent to the six-story Fenton Building (also known as the Guaranty Building), obscured from view, and was not given any decorative surface when built. However, following that building's demolition in 1971, the Bank of California Building's newly exposed north façade was resurfaced in cast terracotta in a pattern simulating that of the west and south façades. A surface parking lot took the Fenton Building's place, and a drive-up teller window was added to the building's north end; this addition was the only substantial alteration to the building's exterior between its completion in 1925 and its nomination to the National Register in 1978. The drive-up window was removed in 1977, after the building's use as a bank ended. In 1980, the parking lot gave way to a new 13-story office building known as the TN Building. It was converted into a 16-story hotel in 2008, the Marriott-owned Courtyard Portland City Center, leaving the north façade hidden from view again.

Interior

In addition to three main floors, the building has a

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

situated between the first (ground) and second floors. At the time of the building's opening in 1925, the windowless third floor was not fully outfitted for use, and was planned to be "held in reserve" until then-anticipated expansion of the bank's business in Portland created a need for additional work space. It was eventually equipped "as a lounge, library, and recreation space for the bank's employees". A basement was also included. It housed the

bank vault A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults a ...

s (of which there are three), among other facilities. The ground floor was occupied by the main banking room, with a line of teller windows along the east side. It was designed as a "grand two-story room with ornate

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

ceilings", which are high. The mezzanine was originally situated only along the north side and is wide there. The floor of the former banking lobby is marble, as were the teller counters (since removed). Most other interior surfaces are

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William * ...

materials made to simulate

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...

marble. Along with removal of the line of teller windows, other work undertaken during the 1977 modifications included an extension of the mezzanine southwards along the east wall to the south wall, and the addition of a freestanding stairway between it and the center of the ground-floor lobby.

Immediate surroundings

Portland transit mall bus stop in front of Bank of California Building in January 2007

The northbound

Portland Transit Mall The Portland Transit Mall is a public transit corridor that travels north–south through the center of downtown in Portland, Oregon, United States. It comprises a pair of one-way streets—6th Avenue for northbound traffic and 5th Avenue for ...

passes in front of the building. During the mall's construction in 1976–77 the plain cement sidewalk in front of the building was resurfaced in brick, and street trees were added. A large shelter for the new bus stop that was installed there at that time was removed when the mall was rebuilt in 2007–08. MAX light rail trains have passed in front of the building since 2009. Since completion of a renovation of the transit mall in 2009, the bronze sculpture ''

Talos No. 2 ''Talos No. 2'' is an outdoor 1959–1977 bronze sculpture created by the American artist James Lee Hansen. It is located in the Portland Transit Mall, Transit Mall of Downtown Portland, downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Descriptio ...

'' has stood in front of the building, near the corner of 6th and Stark. The Bank of California Building stands directly across 6th Avenue from another A. E. Doyle-designed bank building, the

United States National Bank Building The United States National Bank Building in downtown Portland, Oregon was designed by A. E. Doyle in a Roman classical style, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The four-story building's first section, facing Sixth Avenue ...

, of 1917. That building's classical style contrasts sharply with the Bank of California Building's Italianate design.

Post-1960s owners or primary tenants

The Bank of California remained at the site for almost 45 years until moving west by just over one block to a new 15-story high-rise building in December 1969. It also took the name Bank of California Building, or tower and was renamed the

Union Bank of California Building The Union Bank of California Building is a 27- storey, skyscraper in San Diego, California, completed in 1969. For 20 years, the tower stood as the tallest building in the city, until the completion of the Symphony Towers in 1989. See also *L ...

after a 1996 merger. It was then occupied, in turn, by Security Bank of Oregon, the Oregon Bank, and insurance company Durham & Bates, Inc. The end of the building's use as a bank took place around 1977, when it was sold to Bankside Investors, to be leased to Durham & Bates. The prominent lettering on the main façade was usually changed with each transfer, being altered to read SECURITY BANK OF OREGON in 1970 and to read DURHAM & BATES after that company moved into the building. The structure was added to the

in March 1978. Bidwell & Company, a Portland-based stock brokerage firm, purchased the building in November 1999 and launched an intensive nine-month renovation in 2000. Bidwell moved into the building in November 2000 and renamed it the Bidwell & Co. Building. The main façade's lettering was changed again. Bidwell & Company was sold to

Ameritrade TD Ameritrade is a stockbroker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, mutual funds, fixed income invest ...

in January 2004, and the building was vacated. In late 2006, when the building was owned by a California investment firm, its owners were still looking for a replacement tenant for Bidwell. In 2008, the building was renamed the Three Kings Building.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bank Of California Building (Portland) 1925 establishments in Oregon A. E. Doyle buildings Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon Buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Commercial buildings completed in 1925 National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Portland Historic Landmarks