These two old rooming houses seem isolated and perhaps even in an industrial area. The truth is, however, that the shadow falling from the left side of the top image is the old Municipal Auditorium and we’re looking northeast at SW 2nd & Market Street. The land behind the photographer had been cleared for South Auditorium Urban Renewal. The area can be seen quite clearly in this earlier VP aerial photo. Thanks again to John for another great photo.
(John)
We know it as Keller Fountain Park today but it was originally named Forecourt Fountain when built in 1970. The fountain and park are directly across 3rd Avenue from the Keller Auditorium between SW Market and Clay. Looming in the background is the old c1890 St. Mary’s Academy building. It was demolished about the time of this photo although the stone wall you see surrounding it here lasted until 2010.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
This 1940 view is north on SW Park Avenue just south of Market Street. The apartment on the left is the extant Parkway Manor. SW Park doesn’t look nearly this wide now, does it?
(City of Portland Archives)
The original South Auditorium Urban Renewal District demolished 54 blocks south of Market between Front and 4th in the early 1960s. A second related, and much smaller scale, project in the late 1960s was known as Area II. It covered the area between Front and 4th, Market and Jefferson. A series in The Oregonian featured the problem of relocating the area’s low income residents and businesses; read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
(The Oregonian. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com)
This home sat on the northwest corner of SW 11th and Market Street in this circa 1910 photo (looking at the 11th Avenue side here). It was demolished in 1970 and, perhaps not surprisingly, the location is a surface parking lot today.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
Twenty years before he would become Portland’s mayor, Bud Clark ran the Spatenhaus Tavern on the corner of SW 3rd and Market, across from the old Municipal Auditorium (see a different perspective here). Here’s a 1967 feature article in The Oregonian about the impending demise of the Spatenhaus. Thanks to Bud’s daughter Rachel Clark for allowing the use of this photo which is displayed in the Goose Hollow Inn. Stop in for lunch or dinner and view their other historic photos.
(Rachel Clark/Goose Hollow Inn)
These stately homes lined the west side of SW Broadway north of Market Street. Date of demolition is unknown but they were replaced by the University Park Condominiums, built in 1988.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
