S. H. Kress and Co. Building (Portland, Oregon)

Last updated
Kress Building
Portland Historic Landmark [1]
Kress Building - Portland, Oregon (2018).jpg
Seen from 5th Avenue in 2018, with "Kress" lettering visible on the cornice
Downtown Portland.png
Red pog.svg
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location638 SW 5th Avenue
Portland, Oregon
Coordinates 45°31′08″N122°40′38″W / 45.518907°N 122.677123°W / 45.518907; -122.677123
Area0.3 acres (1,200 m2)
Built1928
ArchitectE.J. Hoffman
Architectural style Chicago school,
Beaux Arts Classicism [2]
NRHP reference No. 96000994 [2] [3]
Added to NRHPSeptember 12, 1996

The Kress Building is a building located in downtown Portland, Oregon, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [4]

Contents

It was built in 1928 for S. H. Kress & Co. As of 2011, tenants of the building include Nike and Sephora. [5]

Description

A glazed terra cotta rosette ornament from the Kress Building. Kress Building detail - Portland Oregon.jpg
A glazed terra cotta rosette ornament from the Kress Building.

The five-story store and office building is located on the northeast corner of SW Fifth Avenue and Morrison Street in the center of Portland's retail district. It was built for S. H. Kress & Co. in 1928 from plans by their corporate architect, E. J. Hoffman. [2]

The steel frame building rests on a concrete foundation. Its exterior is faced entirely with cream colored glazed terra cotta, enhanced with a variety of classically inspired decorative motifs. The roof is flat. The footprint of the building is rectangular; its original 100 square feet was extended to the east by a 50 × 100-foot single story wing in 1953 when an adjoining building was acquired and faced with terra cotta to conform with the rest of the block. [2]

The store's design is in the Commercial style of the Chicago school, with detailing in the Classical vein. It exhibits the retail base including mezzanine level and multiple stories capped with a full classical entablature that are characteristic of Commercial style emporiums. [2] The attic, or parapet wall above the cornice carries the store's title in escutcheons centered on either street face. While the entire scheme is conservative, especially in consideration of its late date, it is a generally well-preserved and well-crafted part of the aggregation of fireproof tall buildings dating from the 1910s and 1920s which distinguishes Portland's central business district. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meier & Frank Building</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Meier & Frank Building is a fifteen-story, glazed terra cotta building located in downtown Portland, Oregon, across from the northeast corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square. The building is the former flagship store and headquarters building for the Meier & Frank department store chain, which was taken over by Macy's in 2006. In 2006–2007, the building's lower five floors were remodeled as a Macy's, while the upper eleven floors were renovated in 2008 into a luxury hotel known as The Nines. Macy's closed in April 2017 and the lower levels were rebuilt as office space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olds, Wortman & King</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Olds, Wortman & King, also known as Olds & King, was a department store in Portland, Oregon, United States, established under a different name in 1851 and becoming Olds & King in 1878, on its third change of ownership. The store was renamed Olds, Wortman & King in 1901; Olds & King again in 1944; and Rhodes in 1960. Moving several times within the downtown Portland area, the store settled at 10th & Morrison in 1910, in a large new building that remained in operation as a department store until 1974 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 1976, the building has been known as The Galleria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson Tower</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Jackson Tower, formerly The Oregon Journal Building is a 12-story, 57.3 m (188 ft) glazed terra-cotta historic office building in downtown Portland, Oregon. Located on the corner of Broadway and Yamhill Streets adjacent to Pioneer Courthouse Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeon Building</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Yeon Building is a historic 59.13 m (194.0 ft), 15-story office building completed in 1911 in downtown Portland, Oregon. Almost completely clad in glazed terra-cotta, and culminating in a colonnade on the top floors, the Yeon Building once was illuminated at night by light sockets built into the cornices, but later removed. The building's namesake is Jean Baptiste Yeon (1865–1928), a self-made timber tycoon who financed the construction. At the time of completion, the Yeon Building was the tallest building in Oregon and it remained so for nearly two years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public Service Building (Portland, Oregon)</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Public Service Building is a historic 67.06 m (220.0 ft), 15-story office building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The building and its attached parking garage have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Public Service Building and Garage since 1996. It was built to house the offices of the Portland Gas and Coke Company and the Pacific Power and Light Company. The building's name reflects the fact that these utilities were "public services". A space in the Public Service Building fronting the corner of Salmon and Sixth streets became the first Niketown store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambassador Apartments (Portland, Oregon)</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Ambassador Apartments is a historic building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Since 1979, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Failing Office Building</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Failing Office Building is a building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 2007. The building was built during the rapid growth in Portland's business district after the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in 1905. It was built with six stories in 1907, with a six-story addition in 1913. It features a reinforced steel-frame structure with facades of yellow brick and glazed terra cotta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whidden & Lewis</span>

Whidden & Lewis was an architectural firm based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States, around the beginning of the 20th century, formed by William M. Whidden and Ion Lewis. The partnership was established in 1889. Their residential buildings were mostly in the Colonial Revival style, while their commercial buildings were primarily in the 20th-century classical style. The commercial buildings often featured brick, along with terra cotta ornamentation. Many of their buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Block</span> Building in Springfield, Massachusetts

The Trinity Block is a historic commercial building at 266-284 Bridge Street in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1923, the mixed-use retail and office building is noted for its colorful facade, finished in cast stone and terra cotta. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

William Marcy Whidden was a founding member of Whidden & Lewis, a prominent architectural firm in Portland, Oregon, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Customhouse (Portland, Oregon)</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The U.S. Custom house is a historic custom house in Portland in Multnomah County, Oregon. It was constructed to house offices of the United States Custom Service. It was built in 1898–1901 and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is slated to become the second Portland location of Industrious, a coworking space provider, in Spring 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weatherly Building</span> Building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Weatherly Building in Portland, Oregon, is a 12-story commercial office building. It was built in 1927–28 by ice cream businessman George Warren Weatherly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Virginius Bennes</span> American architect

John Virginius Bennes was an American architect who designed numerous buildings throughout the state of Oregon, particularly in Baker City and Portland. In Baker City he did an extensive redesign of the Geiser Grand Hotel, designed several homes, and a now-demolished Elks building. He moved to Portland in 1907 and continued practicing there until 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odd Fellows Building (Portland, Oregon)</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Odd Fellows Building in downtown Portland, Oregon, was built in 1922–1924. It served historically as a clubhouse. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for its architecture, which is Late Gothic Revival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Building</span> United States historic place

The Minnesota Building is a historic office building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on June 10, 2009. The building was noted for its design, which was a harbinger for the transition from Classical architecture to the Art Deco/Moderne among commercial buildings in downtown Saint Paul; originally designed in a conservative style, the building became more Moderne as it was being built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster Block (Portland, Maine)</span> United States historic place

The Lancaster Block is an historic commercial building in downtown Portland, Maine. Located at 50 Monument Square, it is a fine local example of commercial Romanesque Revival architecture. It was built in 1881 and enlarged in 1908; it is named for Lancaster, New Hampshire, the hometown of its builder, J. B. Brown. it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. H. Kress and Co. Building (Blytheville, Arkansas)</span> United States historic place

The Kress Building is a historic commercial building at 210 West Main Street in Blytheville, Arkansas. It is a two-story concrete and steel structure, faced in brick and terra cotta. The building is the home of the Delta Gateway Museum, which interprets the history of the city of Blytheville and the surrounding area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodlark Building</span> Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Woodlark Building is a historic commercial building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nine-story building was designed by Doyle, Patterson & Beach, and constructed in 1911–12. It has been described as "one of Portland's earliest commercial skyscrapers". From its completion until 1924, it was the headquarters of two jointly owned and very similarly named pharmaceutical companies based in Portland, the retail Woodard, Clarke & Company, and the wholesale Clarke-Woodward Company. It was converted into an office building in 1924. The retail space on the ground floor, mezzanine and basement has held a variety of businesses, in succession over the building's history, among the longest-lasting ones being a drugstore (1912–1927), a Sherman Clay piano and music store (1930–1974), and an independent shoe store (2000–2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. H. Kress Building (Albuquerque, New Mexico)</span> United States historic place

The S. H. Kress Building is a historic commercial building in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Built in 1925 by the S. H. Kress & Co. department store chain, it is notable as a well-preserved early 20th century retail building. It was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Center Commercial Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

References

  1. Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2010), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved November 7, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Kress Building" (PDF). National Park Service. September 12, 1996. NRHP Reference # 96000994. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  4. "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 35. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  5. Aaron Spencer (November 4, 2011). "Nike Portland grand opening today in downtown". Daily Journal of Commerce . Retrieved 2011-11-06.