The Pittock Block is a historic 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 ...

, occupying a

city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...

between SW 9th and 10th Avenues, SW Stark and Washington Streets, and west of

O'Bryant Square Darcelle XV Plaza (formerly O'Bryant Square) is a square that was a small park and fountain at the intersection of Southwest Park Avenue and Southwest Harvey Milk Street in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It received the current n ...

History

Before the Pittock Block was built, the site was occupied by the home of Henry L. Pittock, the publisher of ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

''. Pittock was preparing to move into the

Pittock Mansion The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style château in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, United States. The mansion was originally built in 1914 as a private home for London-born '' Oregonian'' publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Geor ...

and leased the entire block to a California investor with the requirement that a "worthy" building named after Pittock would be built on the site. In May 1913, architects Doyle, Patterson & Beach announced they had been awarded the $700,000 contract to construct the Pittock Block, with construction to begin immediately. According to a front-page story in the May 25, 1913, edition of ''

'':

"One-half of the building will be eight stories in height, with frontage on the Washington Street side, while the Stark Street side will be three stories high. In addition to a deep basement there will be a sub-basement on the part of the block facing Tenth street. The Northwestern Electric Company, for which the structure is to be erected, will occupy a part of the West Park street side and all of the ground floor on the Stark Street side. The remainder of the ground floor will be designed for stores. The upper floors will be used for office purposes. The building will be of reinforced concrete construction."

Since 1987, 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 ...

Tenants

The Pittock Block is home to th
Pittock Internet Exchange
(Portland NAP), Portland's

Internet exchange point Internet exchange points (IXes or IXPs) are common grounds of IP networking, allowing participant Internet service providers (ISPs) to exchange data destined for their respective networks. IXPs are generally located at places with preexisting ...

. Other tenants of the Pittock Block include

City Club of Portland The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1916, the organization had approximately 1500 members and a paid staff of 4 in 2013. The former Mayor of Portlan ...

and the administrative offices of the

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. I ...

.About Oregon Symphony
from the Symphony's website

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Architecture, National Register of Historic Places, Oregon 1914 establishments in Oregon A. E. Doyle buildings Buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Chicago school architecture in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Southwest Portland, Oregon Portland Historic Landmarks

History

Tenants

See also

References

External links