The 1870 Corbett Building was the first fully cast-iron fronted building in the city. It was also the only building to have its cast-iron pieces come from Baltimore, shipped around Cape Horn. Demolished two years after this photo, it was on SW 1st Avenue between Alder and Washington.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
Vintage Portland 
We’re very fortunate that UofO professor Marion Dean Ross photographed so many buildings in Portland around this time, with Kodachrome no less!
Reblogged this on Oregon Real Estate Round Table.
Everytime I see one of these buildings and know it has been demolished I weep a little and wonder why they were not restored or saved somehow.
I wonder where all the mud came from on the street? The roads were paved at this time so maybe this was taken after a flood event?
Dave,
I think the mud is just wet streetcar tracks. Many of the tracks remained in place long after the services were discontinued. Some survive to this day. Others fans of this site can point them out better than I.
Slush. Judging from all the mud on the parked autos and the condition of the street we are looking at the aftermath of a weather event. Sanding roads brings mud and preserves slush as a insulation slowing melting.
I’d love to jump into this photo and go have a beer at “Tom’s Place”. Who wants to join me?
Check out the building to the left of Washington D.C.’s Evening Start building. It’s almost certainly the same pattern that Henry Corbett had shipped from Baltimore. Unfortunately, it also fell to the wrecker’s ball in an expansion of the Evening Star’s facilities.