The Congress Hotel was a hotel in Portland, Oregon. It was designed by architect David L. Williams and completed in 1912. The building was later demolished and replaced by the

Congress Center Congress Center (formerly the Orbanco Building and Security Pacific Plaza) is an office building completed in 1980 in Portland, Oregon. It is currently the ninth tallest building in the city. The building's current name dates to January 2002. ...

Description and history

Designed by architect David L. Williams, the 119-room hotel opened at the intersection of Southwest Sixth Avenue and Main Street in downtown Portland in 1912. Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy are among notable guests. The hotel remained family owned until 1977. Governor

Robert W. Straub Robert William Straub (May 6, 1920 – November 27, 2002) was an American politician and businessman from the state of Oregon. A native of San Francisco, California, he settled in Eugene, Oregon, where he entered politics. A Democratic politici ...

attended a "wake" for the building, before it was demolished in 1977 or 1978, and later replaced by the Orbanco Building (now known as the

). The Congress Hotel hosted the National Chrysanthemum Society's convention in 1958. In 2005, writers for '' Willamette Week'' described how the hotel was used by local government officials during the 1970s. Caryn B. Brooks and Steve Forrester wrote, "In those days, public council sessions were strictly pro forma: The real business of the council was done in private, over lunch at the Congress Hotel." Johann H. Tuerck completed some of the hotel's wrought iron work. Terracotta arches from the building were used to create an ornate gazebo structure that was later used as an entrance to the restaurant The Melting Pot. The structure has been placed on the city's Historic Resource Inventory.

References

{{Hotels in Portland, Oregon 1912 establishments in Oregon 1970s disestablishments in Oregon Buildings and structures demolished in 1977 Demolished hotels in Portland, Oregon Hotel buildings completed in 1912 Buildings and structures in Southwest Portland, Oregon