When Henry W. Corbett built this fine home in 1875 he probably never dreamed that his bucolic block would be crowded out 50 years later. This fantastic view of his home looks northeast at SW 6th and Taylor Street. The Pacific Building was constructed on the north half of the block in 1926 and the house would be demolished in the mid-1930s to make way for the Greyhound Bus Depot. Thanks once again to Bud Holland for sending in another masterpiece.
(Bud Holland)
Tags: Carriage House, Henry W. Corbett, Historical Photo, Mansion, Oregon, Portland
December 14, 2012 at 7:37 am
Interesting photo.. I believe this house was mentioned in one of Kimbark MacColl’s books as being a favorite to photograph by tourists. Apparently Mrs. Corbett kept a cow on the property till late in life. Thanks, Bud!
December 14, 2012 at 9:14 am
Very interesting juxtaposition of the new taking over the old. It is very unfortunate that none of the first generation of Portland’s grand houses survived, because they were built in the area destined for the center of the city.
December 14, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Great photo. I’ve never seen such a detailed shot of the carriage house before. I always found it strange that the second Mrs. Corbett sold the north half of the block and lived with the Pacific building outside her windows for 10 years. Guess the money was too good to pass up. When she pastured her cow on the lawn it was referred to as “The million dollar cow pasture”. When a very elderly women she built a new house in Dunthorpe.
December 14, 2012 at 11:21 pm
Here is the current view. Too bad it’s now some huge monstrosity.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=45.517721,-122.679236&spn=0.000568,0.001032&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=45.517721,-122.679236&panoid=k3CRR9vP_oXofkFRtDep3A&cbp=12,339.36,,0,5.57
December 15, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Thanks for the bit of history.
December 15, 2012 at 2:43 pm
@erinkg: You have the right intersection, but when I click on it your link is looking to the northwest. The view in the photo above is looking to the northeast. Here’s the view today.
December 15, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Oops! Thanks for correcting that!
December 15, 2012 at 5:27 pm
When was the depot demolished and replaced?
December 15, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Wasn’t the depot demolished in the late 1980′s or early 90′s? I believe it sat vacant for quite awhile before being demolished as they had built the new one across from the train station.
Does anyone else remember how seedy that Greyhound station was? I remember those rows of chairs with the built-on black and white TV’s which gave you about 5 minutes of crappy viewing for a quarter. The new bus station is like the Taj Mahal compared to the old one lol.
December 16, 2012 at 10:46 am
@Dave Brunker: The old depot was demolished in 2000. I vaguely remember it becoming an underage dance club (call The Depot?) when I was in HS in the late 80′s. It sounds like it may have gone through a few iterations of club during the 90′s but I wasn’t living here then so I don’t recall. See another discussion of this topic on another VP post here
December 16, 2012 at 10:59 am
Here’s a photo of the depot just before demolition in 2000.