The Portland Hotel (or Hotel Portland) was a late-19th-century hotel in

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 ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, United States, that once occupied the city block on which

Pioneer Courthouse Square Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full city block in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1984, the square is bounded by Southwest Morrison Street on ...

now stands. It closed in 1951 after 61 years of operation.Turner, Wallace (August 15, 1951). "Sadness Marks Exodus From Old Portland Hotel: Historical Hostelry Ends 61 Years". ''

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, 18 ...

'', p. 1.

History

The building was designed by William M. Whidden, later of the prominent Portland architectural firm Whidden & Lewis, and

Charles Follen McKim Charles Follen McKim (August 24, 1847 – September 14, 1909) was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the part ...

of McKim, Mead, & White. The site was previously occupied by the Central School Building. To make way for the hotel, the school building was purchased by Philip A. Marquam, one of the hotel project's financial backers, who relocated it one block north (to where the

Selling Building The Selling Building, also known as the Oregon National Building, is a building located in downtown Portland, Oregon, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1910 for Ben Selling & Associates, composed of Ben Selling ...

now stands).P.A. Marquam Dies on Wedding Date; Pioneering Jurist of Portland Passes on 59th Anniversary of Marriage
(May 9, 1912). ''

The Morning 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, 1850 ...

'', p. 4.

Railroad magnate

Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Born and raised by Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Kin ...

financed the Portland Hotel and construction began in 1882, (author of ''An Architectural Guidebook to Portland'', site includes several vintage postcard images of Portland hotels) but his finances collapsed—in part because of the

Panic of 1884 The Panic of 1884 was an economic panic during the Depression of 1882–1885. It was unusual in that it struck at the end rather than the beginning of the recession. The panic created a credit shortage that led to a significant economic decline i ...

—and the construction stopped for five years. With only the foundation completed, the site became known as "Villard's Ruins" and the bodies of two murder victims were found there before construction resumed.

George B. Markle, Jr. George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

began a campaign to raise local money to complete the hotel. He generated enough interest and subscribers to his plan, among them Henry W. Corbett,

Henry Failing Henry Failing (January 17, 1834 – November 8, 1898) was a banker, and one of the leading businessmen of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He was one of Portland, Oregon's earliest residents, and served as that city's mayor in tw ...

Simeon Reed Simeon Gannett Reed (April 23, 1830 – November 7, 1895) was an American businessman and entrepreneur in Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he made a fortune primarily in the transportation sector in association with William S. Ladd. Reed is the ...

and William S. Ladd, to get construction started again.Gaston, Joseph. (1911)
''Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders''."> ''Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders''.
Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. (via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) pp. 517-20. Later investors included labor leader

Ed Boyce Edward "Ed" Boyce (November 8, 1862 – December 24, 1941) was president of the Western Federation of Miners, a radical American labor organizer, socialist and hard rock mine owner. Early life Edward Boyce was born in County Donegal, Irelan ...

. The Queen Anne, Châteauesque hotel finally opened in 1890 and had eight floors and 326 bedrooms. (includes many historic exterior and interior images) It had cost well over a million dollars and eight years to complete. The Portland Hotel stood between Southwest Morrison and Yamhill, on 6th Street (now called 6th Avenue), facing the Pioneer Courthouse. Purchased in 1944 by

Julius Meier Julius L. Meier (December 31, 1874 – July 14, 1937) was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician in the state of Oregon. The son of the Meier & Frank department store founder, he would become a lawyer before entering the family b ...

and

Aaron Frank According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

, the deteriorating structure was demolished in 1951 and replaced by a parking structure for the Meier & Frank Building. The final day of operation was August 15, 1951. All of the hotel's furnishings and fixtures were disposed of at a public

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

on August 28–29, 1951, the iron scrollwork gates being sold to Eric Ladd, a local contractor and

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

ist (no relation to

William Ladd William Ladd (May 10, 1778 – April 9, 1841) was one of the earliest United States, American anti-war activists, and the first president of the American Peace Society. Biography Ladd was born in Exeter, New Hampshire as a direct lineal descenda ...

). When Pioneer Courthouse Square was built on the site in 1984, the iron scrollwork gate of the hotel was incorporated into the design. Much of the hotel's original stone foundation remains under the square's sidewalks. Eleven U.S. presidents stayed at the Hotel Portland—each time, a new set of Haviland China was purchased for the occasion.

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 ...

was approached about designing an addition to the hotel, but this never got past the planning stages.

References

External links

* {{Hotels in Portland, Oregon 1890 establishments in Oregon 1951 disestablishments in Oregon Buildings and structures demolished in 1951 Demolished hotels in Portland, Oregon History of Portland, Oregon Hotel buildings completed in 1890 Railway hotels in the United States Southwest Portland, Oregon