National Historic Landmark Nomination: Skidmore/Old Town Historic District
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NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK NOMINATION NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 SKIDMORE/OLD TOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: Skidmore/Old Town Historic District (Revised Documentation) Other Name/Site Number: N/A 2. LOCATION Street & Number: Multiple Not for publication: N/A City/Town: Portland Vicinity: N/A State: Oregon County: Multnomah Code: 051 Zip Code: 97204 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Category of Property Private: X Building(s): ___ Public-Local: X District: X Public-State: ___ Site: ___ Public-Federal: ___ Structure: ___ Object: ___ Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 55 21 buildings 22 sites 1 structures 1 1 objects 57 44 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register: Name of Related Multiple Property Listing: N/A NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 SKIDMORE/OLD TOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 2 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this ____ nomination ____ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register Criteria. Signature of Certifying Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property ____ meets ____ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that this property is: ___ Entered in the National Register ___ Determined eligible for the National Register ___ Determined not eligible for the National Register ___ Removed from the National Register ___ Other (explain): Signature of Keeper Date of Action NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 SKIDMORE/OLD TOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 3 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: Domestic Sub: multiple dwelling, hotel Commerce/Trade business, professional, organizational, financial institution, specialty store, restaurant, warehouse Government city hall Social civic, meeting hall Religion religious facility, church school Recreation & Culture theater, music facility, work of art Health Care hospital, medical business Landscape plaza, street furniture/object Industry manufacturing facility, industrial storage Transportation rail-related, water-related, pedestrian related Current: Domestic Sub: multiple dwelling, hotel Commerce/Trade business, professional, organizational, specialty store, restaurant, warehouse Social civic Government fire station, public works Health care clinic Recreation & Culture museum, outdoor recreation, monument/marker, work of art Landscape park, parking lot, plaza, street furniture/object Industry manufacturing facility, industrial storage Transportation rail-related, pedestrian-related Work in progress redevelopment 7. DESCRIPTION ARCHITECTURAL CLASSIFICATION: Late Victorian: Italianate, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Italian Renaissance, Classical Late 19th & 20th Century American Movements: Commercial Style Other: Utilitarian, Richardsonian Romanesque, Sullivanesque, Stripped Classical, Second Renaissance Revival, Queen Anne Italianate MATERIALS: Foundation: Brick, stone, concrete Walls: Brick, concrete, wood, metal (cast iron, ornamental sheet metal), stucco Roof: Metal, asphalt, bituminous Other: Glass NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 SKIDMORE/OLD TOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 4 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form SUMMARY Portland’s Skidmore/Old Town Historic District is nationally significant under National Historic Landmark Criterion 1 for its historical associations with the early development and economic growth of the Pacific Northwest’s most important urban center of the last half of the nineteenth century. Portland’s mercantile houses, commission agents, steamship companies and financial institutions, clustered along Front and First streets in and near the present Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, supplied the goods, services and trade connections that not only supported the development of western Oregon, but that of the greater Pacific Slope region. Skidmore/Old Town’s historic commercial buildings memorialize Portland’s position as a commercial entrepôt that linked a large dependant hinterland to national and global economic systems, and highlight the sometimes under-emphasized role of key urban centers in facilitating the settlement and development of the western United States. The district also served as a major West Coast locus for the provision of important “social services” and related urban functions oriented to the working classes, and in some cases ethnic minority groups, including: lodging for itinerant workers, sailors, and loggers; union halls; reading rooms; missions and chapels; ethnic publishing houses; and various popular entertainment and vice venues like saloons, gambling halls, burlesque houses, and brothels. Finally, Skidmore/Old Town’s late nineteenth- and early twentieth- century transition from commercial core to Skid Road—an association it has yet to fully shed—exemplifies the changes in urban spatial organization seen in port cities across the nation whereby central business districts and high-status residential areas migrated away from historic waterfront areas which subsequently suffered from neglect, disinvestment, and loss of historic fabric through public “improvement” projects. The district is equally significant under National Historic Landmark Criterion 4 for the exceptional architectural values of its mid- and late-nineteenth-century cast-iron commercial buildings—one of the finest collections in the nation and perhaps the most outstanding in the Far West. These two to four-story primarily Italianate structures work in concert with sympathetically scaled and designed late nineteenth-century Richardsonian Romanesque and early twentieth-century buildings to define the rich urban character that marks it as a national treasure. With elaborate decorative elements echoing Italian Renaissance designs, Skidmore/Old Town’s “Commercial Palaces” notably contribute to Portland’s architectural distinctiveness and collectively reflect both the economic success of its early businesses, and the high cultural aspirations of its citizens and leaders. The Skidmore/Old Town District was listed on the National Register in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977. Neither nomination form included determinations fully comparable to current contributing/noncontributing categories. Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. SETTING The Skidmore/Old Town Historic District is located in the Central City area of Portland, Oregon. It is situated on the west bank of the Willamette River, where the Burnside Bridge meets downtown Portland. Here, the Portland townsite, platted beginning in 1845 with streets oriented to the flow of the Willamette River and magnetic north, meets Couch’s Addition, platted beginning in 1850 with streets oriented to true north, creating an offset of about twenty degrees. The district is bisected by W Burnside Street, a major arterial that divides the city’s west side into northwest and southwest quadrants. NPS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 SKIDMORE/OLD TOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT Page 5 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form The district encompasses seventeen complete city blocks and seven partial blocks within an area of approximately forty-two acres. Commercial functions, including office, retail, light industry and warehouse uses predominate, with more than half of the district’s properties currently dedicated to these uses. Housing accounts for approximately 14 percent of the total land use, and vacant land or parking lots account for 28 percent. The easterly portion of the district is defined by open space along the Willamette River, with a total of 4.5 acres in Waterfront Park. To the west, on the north side of Burnside Street, the district overlaps with the New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District, its similarly scaled nineteenth- and early twentieth-century structures complementing those of Skidmore/Old Town and creating a more-or-less integrated and identifiable historic central city area generally referred to as “Old Town.” To the north and northwest lies the still transforming “River District,” long devoted to industrial uses but increasingly dominated by high-density residential uses. To the south and southwest lies Portland’s modern central business district, with a mix of generally larger-scale, historic and modern commercial structures, including the city’s highest skyscrapers. The boundaries