Skidmore Fountain | |
Portland Historic Landmark | |
Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
---|---|
Coordinates | 45°31′21″N122°40′16″W / 45.52240°N 122.67108°W |
Built | 1888 |
Sculptor | Olin Levi Warner |
Part of | Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District (ID75001597) |
Designated CP | December 6, 1975 |
The Skidmore Fountain is a historic fountain in Portland, Oregon, United States.
The fountain is a contributing property of and the namesake for the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, which is also a National Historic Landmark. [1]
The fountain has also been designated a Portland Historic Landmark and underwent restoration in 2005. [2] [3]
It was dedicated September 22, 1888, in memory of Stephen G. Skidmore, a wealthy Portland druggist who died in 1883, [3] and partly financed by his will. It was designed by sculptor Olin Levi Warner for $18,000, all of which was donated. [4] It is styled after fountains Skidmore viewed at Versailles on his visit to the 1878 Paris Exposition [3] and intended for "horses, men and dogs" to drink from. [5] Henry Weinhard offered to pump beer into the fountain at the dedication. [3] It is Portland's "oldest piece of public art". [6] [7]
The fountain is located near the west end of the Burnside Bridge at SW First and Ankeny streets within downtown Portland. The MAX Light Rail line runs past it and has a nearby stop named after the fountain. When Portland Saturday Market is operating, the open area around the fountain attracts street performers and entertained spectators. The fountain also serves as a gathering point for several Portland events, such as SantaCon, Plunderathon, Zombiewalk and several protest/activist gatherings.
In 2003, when characterizing the neighborhood, Portland Development Commission commented, "there are significant public safety issues around the Skidmore Fountain Station under the Burnside Bridge", and said it, "experiences one of the highest drug related arrest rates in the city". [8]
The fountain's base has various inscriptions on its different faces. That on the northwest side is a quotation from C.E.S. Wood: "Good citizens are the riches of a city". [7] [9]
The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The Portland Saturday Market is an outdoor arts and crafts market in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest continuously operated outdoor market in the United States. It is held every Saturday and Sunday from the beginning of March through December 24, in Tom McCall Waterfront Park underneath Burnside Bridge and south of the bridge, as well as within an adjacent plaza just across Naito Parkway, extending west to the Skidmore Fountain. The market's hours of operations are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 11:00am - 4:30pm on Sundays, and admission is free. The market is accessible by foot, bicycle, Segway, and TriMet's MAX Light Rail line which stops near the market at the Skidmore Fountain stop. The market has over 400 members and generates an estimated $12 million in gross sales annually. It has become a central economic engine for the historic Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and attracts an estimated 750,000 visitors to this area each year.'
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a 36.59-acre (148,100 m2) park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 1978. The park covers 13 tax lots and is owned by the City of Portland. The park was renamed in 1984 to honor Tom McCall, the Oregon governor who pledged his support for the beautification of the west bank of the Willamette River—harkening back to the City Beautiful plans at the turn of the century which envisioned parks and greenways along the river. The park is bordered by RiverPlace to the south, the Steel Bridge to the north, Naito Parkway to the west, and Willamette River to the east. In October 2012, Waterfront Park was voted one of America's ten greatest public spaces by the American Planning Association.
The Skidmore Fountain station is a light rail station on the MAX Blue and Red Lines in Portland, Oregon. It is currently the fifth stop eastbound on the Eastside MAX. It was previously also served by the Yellow Line, from 2004 to 2009, until that line's relocation to the Portland Transit Mall.
This is a list of properties and historic districts in Oregon that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are listings in all of Oregon's 36 counties.
Old Town Chinatown is the official Chinatown of the northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods. It includes the Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District and the Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been referred to as the "skid row" of Portland.
The White Stag sign, also known as the "Portland Oregon" sign, is a lighted neon-and-incandescent-bulb sign located atop the White Stag Building, at 70 NW Couch Street in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States, facing the Burnside Bridge. The sign faces westbound traffic as it enters downtown Portland coming across the Willamette River. The sign was acquired by the City of Portland in September 2010, and the lettering was changed to read "Portland Oregon" in November 2010.
The Simon Benson House is a 19th-century house located in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Povey Brothers Studio, also known as Povey Brothers Art Glass Works or Povey Bros. Glass Co., was an American producer of stained glass windows based in Portland, Oregon. The studio was active from 1888 to 1928. As the largest and best known art glass company in Oregon, it produced windows for homes, churches, and commercial buildings throughout the West. When the firm was founded in 1888, it was the only creative window firm in Portland, then a city of 42,000 residents.
The Merchant Hotel, also known as the Merchants' Hotel, is a historic former hotel building in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is located at 121 N.W. Second Avenue in Old Town Chinatown. It is a contributing property in the Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, which was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1977. It is one of the few remaining examples of Victorian Italianate, cast iron architecture on the West Coast. It occupies half of a city block, specifically along the south side of N.W. Davis Street from Second to Third Avenues.
Shemanski Fountain, also known as Rebecca at the Well, is an outdoor fountain with a bronze sculpture, located in the South Park Blocks of downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. The sandstone fountain was designed in 1925, completed in 1926, and named after Joseph Shemanski, a Polish immigrant and businessman who gave it to the city. Carl L. Linde designed the trefoil, which features a statue designed by Oliver L. Barrett. The sculpture, which was added to the fountain in 1928, depicts the biblical personage Rebecca. Shemanski Fountain includes two drinking platforms with three basins each, with one platform intended for use by dogs.
Thompson Elk Fountain, also known as the David P. Thompson Fountain, David P. Thompson Monument, Elk Fountain, the Thompson Elk, or simply Elk, was a historic fountain and bronze sculpture by American artist Roland Hinton Perry. The fountain with its statue was donated to the city of Portland, Oregon, United States, in 1900 for display in Downtown Portland's Plaza Blocks. It was owned by the City of Portland.
The Fechheimer & White Building is a historic building located at 233 SW Naito Parkway in Portland, Oregon. Designed by an unknown architect, it was built in 1885 and features cast-iron by Willamette Iron Works. It is adjacent to the Hallock–McMillan Building. In 1975, it was listed as a "primary landmark" in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination of the Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, the building's designation subsequently "translated" to "contributing property" under post-1970s NRHP terminology. The building's year of construction has been given alternatively as 1870, as opposed to 1885.
The Chiming Fountain, also known as Cupid's Fountain, the John Staehli Fountain, Portland's City Park Fountain and Washington Park Fountain, is an outdoor cast iron fountain and sculpture built in 1891 by John "Hans" Staehli. It is installed in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, United States. The fountain's name derives from the sound made when water drips from the upper basin. Staehli designed the fountain to serve as a watering trough for horses pulling carriages into the park. Based on a Renaissance fountain, it was originally painted white and included a statuette of a boy, possibly depicting Cupid, though the figure was damaged and permanently removed from the sculpture before or during the 1940s.
The Packy mural was a public artwork depicting the elephant Packy, painted on the Skidmore Fountain Building in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. The artwork was designed by Eric Larsen and painted in 1990 by North Pacific Sign and Design, but was destroyed during the building's 2008 renovation to become the new headquarters for Mercy Corps.
The Blagen Block is an historic building in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, in the United States. The four-story building was designed by Warren H. Williams and completed in 1888. In 1970, the city's Historic Landmarks Commission designated the Blagen Block as a Portland Historic Landmark. In 1975, it was listed as a primary landmark in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination of the Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, the building's designation subsequently translated to "contributing property" under post-1970s NRHP terminology. Since 2014, Airbnb has had offices in the building, opening its office in December of that year.
Naito Parkway is a major thoroughfare of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was formerly known as Front Avenue and Front Street and was renamed in 1996 to honor Bill Naito. It runs between SW Barbur Boulevard and NW Front Avenue, and adjacent to Tom McCall Waterfront Park through Downtown Portland.
The Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District is an historic district in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, in the United States. The approximately 20-block area, center around Burnside Street and named after the Skidmore Fountain, is known for exhibiting Italianate architecture, though High Victorian Italianate, Renaissance Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Sullivanesque styles are also present. In addition to Skidmore Fountain, structures within the district's boundaries include the Blagen Block, Delschneider Building, Hallock and McMillin Building, New Market Theater, New Market Alley Building, New Market Annex, and Poppleton Building.