Yesterday’s post got me wondering about the exact location of the photo. I turned up this photo showing the Skidmore Fountain looking east down Vine Street with the 1868 Bank of British Columbia building on the left. This is the same building as the main background building in yesterday’s post. On the immediate left in yesterday’s photo is the 1888 Dodd Block, making the viewpoint looking east on Ankeny toward First Avenue.
Today’s photo shows the Bank of British Columbia on the left, the Ankeny Block on the right, and at the end of Vine Street is the 1888 Dodd Block and the 1882 Cooks’ Building. The new Saturday Market area, on the east side of Naito Parkway, sits there now.
The Bank of British Columbia building was the first of Portland’s classic cast-iron architecture buildings to be demolished, in 1928.
Thanks to VP fan Jack for his comments on yesterday’s post; great historical information!
(City of Portland Archives)
March 19, 2010 at 11:23 am
Was this during the flood of 1890, or could it have been 1894?
http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=000C54BA-31CA-1E8B-891B80B0527200A7
March 19, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Here’s a great aerial view of the area from an earlier post. The Bank of British Columbia was on the triangular parcel and the Ankeny Block was on the block that, sadly, became a parking lot.
http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/aerial-view-west-end-burnside-bridge/
March 19, 2010 at 12:14 pm
How do the last 2 posts relate to the photo used in your VP masthead? I’m still a bit confused … but not much.
March 19, 2010 at 12:23 pm
The Mercy Corp building, or the Parker Scott Paper building in the aerial shot of this area was also once the Lang & Co. Wholesale Grocer building I think. I have the Historic Portland photo book (Author name escapes me) and in this book is a photo of the Skidmore fountain area with a sign on this same building that reads Lang & Co. Would be interesting to learn of all the owners/renters of this historic spot.
March 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Pete, the photo in this post points generally east while the masthead points generally northwest. In the flood photo, if you were to go around to the other side, about on a line with the doorway with the awning and crates in front, you’d have about the correct alignment for the masthead view.
March 20, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Thanks Dan. So, I’ll presume that the awning I see at the right in the masthead photo is the awning that still remains on the Mercy Corp building.
March 21, 2010 at 6:23 am
Yes, exactly.
August 6, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Here’s a approximately the same view from a 1941 photograph. The bank has been demolished, but the riverside front avenues have yet to meet their wholesale destruction.
http://photos.salemhistory.net/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=446&CISOBOX=1&REC=12
August 6, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Sheesh, “front avenue buildings.” Edited for clarity