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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1912)
TTTE MORNTNO OltEGONIAN. MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 1912. RTLAN.D LEADS IN BUILDING vL J MORE. THAN $40,000,000. SPENT DURING TWO YEAR5, AND 1912 WILL S EL GREATER GROWTH PORTLAND U near the bead of tha Hat tUAntrkM cllles la point of IncrxM In building construction tor the past two years. During the 24 months there has been expended In this csty mora than 1 40,000.000 In now con struction. whtl In tha pat five yeara in total coat of new buildings exceeds i;s.ooo.ooo. . This remarkable showing Is confined entirely to tha new construction of baalneas .buildings, warehouses and residences, and does not Include public improvements of any kind. Hardly a montb baa passed that soma old land mark baa not been torn down to ma a way for a modern fireproof building In tha business district. What has takon Plata in tha past It months will un doubtedly be repeated In tha next two or three years, declare cloaa students of Tortland's growth. Portland's skyline bo an to undergo change Immediately at tha closet of tha Lewis and Clark Exposition. At that time there was not a real modern, fireproof. Class "A" structure within the buslneaa center of the city. The pioneer skyscraper beican to rise In tha early part of 190 and was completed Just Ave years ago. This Is the 11 atory Wells-Fargo building. With this tall and attractive structure towering above the crude two-story wooden buildings ln tha vicinity of Oak and Sixth streets, tha height of tha bulld lns; waa the more accentuated and tha contrast strikingly defined. Immediately following the construc tion of this bulldlns. tha atmosphere of Portland began to ba surcharged with big building plans. It waa noised about that Portland waa taking tin metro politan airs. There was no getting; around the fact that the era ot the re construction of thai business district was at band and that Portland was about to beeomo a real big member of Americas "big city family."- Prior to that time' Portland a provincialism bad been pronounced and lone of tha old eat Inhabitants did not fall to rub their eyea and , scratch their beads, and dlra thlnga vera predicted.' One shock fol lowed another, and It waa not Ions; before largo and elongated holes were torn In th ether overhanging the bus iness district. It came to paaa that thoeai who had pronounced the whole thing as bad business saw the light, and became genuine and substantial ' boosters. And yet that strong and sturdy pio- acterlxed with tha conservative, sound and business-like methods of the early builders of the city. Ureal credit Is due these men for what they have ac complished for Portland. Through them it was made possible thst Portland stands today aa the only city In the Northwest that was builded up almoat ertlrely on its own capital and re sources. Within tha short period of ova years there have been built In the down town district of Portland nearly fireproof structures. Among tha first modern buildings to rise In the older part of the buslneaa district was tha alx-story Falling building at tha south east corner of Fifth and Alder streets. Then next to rise was ths 10-story Cor be tt building at the southeast cor ner of Tlfth and Morrison streets. Soma of the buildings completed since that time are: The Feck building, at tha northwest corner of Oak and Seventh streets; ths seven-story Rothrhlld building, at Fourth and Washington streets; tha ' eight-story Couch building, on Fourth between Waahlngton and Stark streets; ths 11-story Board of Trade building, at Fourth and Oak streets; the six- story, Fenton building, on Sixth be tween Stark and Oak streets; the Im perial Hotel annex, of eight stories: tha 10-story Lewis building, at Fourth and Oak .streets: the eight-story Com mercial Club building, at Oak and Fifth streets; the six-story Lumbermen's building. '( Fifth and Stark streets; the elgbt-story T. M. C A. building, at S'xth and Taylor atreets: the 12-story Spalding building, at Third and Wash ington streets; the nine-story Electric building, at Seventh and Alder streets: the Selling building of 13 stories, at Sixth sad Alder streets: the six-story . Alirrley-Tlchner buMdlng. st Seventh and Alder streets; the Railway Ex-. change building, of six stories. sA Stark. Third and Fourth streets: the 10-story Meier at Frank building, at Sixth and Alder streets: the 13-story Teon building, at Fifth and Alder streets; the 10-story Wilcox building, at Sixth and Washington: the Edwards building, at Twenty-first and Washing ton streets: the eight-story Carlton Hotel, at Fourteenth and Washington streets; the Multnomah Hotel. at Fourth. Vine. Ash and Third streets; the Healy building, on Upper Morri son -street; tha five-story building of .Olds. Wortman & King, at Morrison. West Park. Alder' and Tenth streets, and the Helllg and Pantagea Theater necr spirit naa proveo m oe mt "i ? . wmium. life-blood and sinew of tha Portland of There are now In course of construe today. Tha construction era was char- - tlon soma fine and modern structures ' y Fa -w i.' .'K SSSSSJ . BBBSBBSSBWSBBBWSSSBSBBBBSSaBBBaaSSSSBSBBSBSXSSSSBSBSBSSSa f r " ' V- , 4 I . ' ' - ;ftNf ' L L yfeiN RN . i is : ai m lit? Bb gg m B h i ssssr TsaZSrT1!!!!? - Aj- 4'r r--m - in rn mil i 1 ; feWii fcrS 3 rrr' CCS Stf ffep- 5' ffr i sftffl"' : " :i ITTP to T'" ?f ' t-a T3 I I 1 '-v - y-'- i - '1 III id iv. v i - f- ' my . . .'I ici r! -ut z--r; pi - - : -- i -1 r - - - & J-V Pt i-xKCjHfl- ivs-l d .s'-', In-'- -YW sive structure has been completed and is now in use. Among other great structures planned for this year Is the Auditorium. Plans for the building; have been approved and as soon as the site Is selected It is expected that construction will be started without delay. The history of Portland's building statistics shows a remarkable record. While the year's total building was not quite as large as It was in 1910. there was a greater number of building per mits. The statistics show that building construction has been steady and sub- . tained, with no bint of a building boom. City Building Inspector Plummer is optimistic over the future building ex pension of Portland. In discussing the situation be said: ; "That so many fireproof building have been erected In such a short pe riod is In Itself a remarkable record but that there will be a large Increase In the near future is evident when it Is remembered that 64 blocks in the heart of the city have been set aside as a district where fireproof-buildings ex clusively can be constructed. "The result of measuring the height of buildings is to Improve the construc tion, as all municipal regulations re quire better construction for high build ings than for low buildings. Thus, the moral effect of well-constructed build ings will cause owners of future build ings to want as good or better struc tures than existing buildings. "There Is no question that Portland Is just entering on a period of great growth and extension. The great change in the appearance of the city, which has taken place in the past Ave years, will be surpassed by the change, to come in the next five-year period. There Is every indication for a big year In 1912. I believe that Portland will be the leader in building activity in 1912 among the cities of the country as well as among those of the Paciflo Coast." twOTiin n mm ! .1 1 HI il II. J I - I J: r.'. i j I i fit: I ". Htl T I In different parts nf the business dis trict. Among these are the 10-story Llpman. Wolfe & Company's building, at Washington, Fifth ami Alder streets: the seven-story rfoltx department store building, at Fifth and Washington streets; the Merchants National Bank building, at Fourth and Washington streets; the Smith Hotel, at Sixth and Main streets; nine-story Woodard. Clarke tt Co.'s building, at West Park and Alder streets; the 12-story Oregon Hotel building, at Seventh and Oak streets; tha Cramer-Fries five-story building, at Twelfth and Waahlngton Oak and Park streets, tha 12-stor streets: tha 12-story Journal building, at Vamhil! and Seventh atreets; tha six-story Goods building aC Sixth and Clisan strets. In addition to the fireproof buildings now under way, plans have been com pleted for more modern atructures. Among these are the eight-atory Mal lory Hotel building, the six-story Hen ry Hotel building, the 10-story Wilcox building at Fourth and Pine streets, the 12-story building of the Fad tic Telephone it Telegraph Company at Gevurta building at Fifth and Aldet streets, the 12-story Portland Hotel annex, the Central Market, seven-story building, at 8ixth. Ankeny, Pine and Fifth streets, the Empress Theater building at Seventh, Yamhill and Park streets, a large department store fot Roberts Bros, and eeveral smaller build. Ings on both the West Side, and East Side business districts. The County Courthouse, one of the finest structures In the city, will be entirely completed this year. The east wing of this mas- NT
