This 1929 photo shows a row of magnificent cast-iron fronted buildings along the east side of SW Front Avenue at the foot of Vine Street. Vine no longer exists but is a part of Ankeny Plaza between Ankeny and Ash Streets. From the left, the buildings are Dodd Block (1888), Cooks’ Building (1882), Ankeny & Watson Building (1868), and Central Block (1879) on the corner at Ash Street. All were demolished in 1942.
(City of Portland Archives)
This building on the northwest corner of East Burnside and NE 8th Avenue shows what it looked like before it underwent the “arcade” process. As Burnside was to be widened right up to the support columns, workers moved the street level storefronts back so the sidewalk could pass under the floors above, creating an arcade. There are still a few of these arcade buildings left and this is a nice example.
(City of Portland Archives)
The Failing Building, on the northwest corner of SW 1st and Oak Street, looks much the same here in the 1950s as it did when constructed in 1886. Besides paint and signage, it’s still largely intact today, a fine example of 19th Century architecture with cast-iron details.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
VP Fan and previous contributor Bud Holland sent in another great entry. This is the old Swan Island Airport terminal building circa 1940. Bud seems to remember that this was used as the headquarters of Oregon Shipbuilding during WWII. Can anybody provide more information on this? Great photo, Bud, thanks again!
(Bud Holland)
In 1927 you may have come to the corner of West Burnside and NW 10th Avenue to stay at the hotel or do business with the Empire Transfer & Storage company. In the 1950s and 60s you might have watched your favorite KISN DJ through the “Window of the World.” Today you’re likely to buy your Dr. Martens shoes here.
(City of Portland Archives)
A very pretty image of the extant, and ivy-covered, Campbell Hill Hotel (now The Victorian apartments) on the northwest corner of West Burnside & NW 22nd Place, circa 1927.
(City of Portland Archives)
Atkinson School, highlighted yesterday, went through a lot in its 70+ years. It was in the “new and commodious room in the North school building, with the most excellent patent seats” when it opened in 1869. By 1903 it was called a “wreck,” a “rathole,” and “the terror of our childhood” after a City Federation of Women’s Clubs inspection. It housed returning First World War soldiers in 1919, and was the school for the Old Town’s Chinese and Japanese students beginning in the 1920s. This photo shows it just before demolition began in 1941.
(The Oregonian. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com)
Vintage Portland 