This wasn't exactly a request, but Beth commented on yesterday's card and mentioned that her grandmother worked at the Hotel Portland. So, I thought I'd post a card of the hotel in all its splendor. You just have to use your imagination to fill in the finery of the elegant guests and the parties. In its heyday, this was the place to see and be seen. The Hotel Portland opened in 1890. It closed in 1950 and was demolished shortly thereafter to make way for a parking lot for the Meier and Frank department store. Thirty years later it was replaced with Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as Portland's living room. The square is lively and hosts many great events, so if the Hotel Portland had to be replaced with something, this was actually a good outcome. The card was sent in November, 1906. It reads:
Portland Nov 9 -
This is a little better than the Columbine both in grub and furnishings. Regards JM
Will see you all soon.
Although Portland lost the Hotel Portland, it is very fortunate to have retained a number of its old hotels, including the Heathman Hotel, the Benson Hotel, and the Hotel Multnomah (now an Embassy Suites.) I still have fond memories of a visit to Portland when I stayed at the Imperial Hotel (now the Hotel Lucia.)
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The Portland Hotel history has a prostitute link also: The businessman originally financing the venture lost his fortune shortly after construction started, and the building was abandoned after only a portion of the foundation was built. It remained an urban 'ruin' for almost 5 years, during which time two separate murder victims were found on the site, the second of which was a prostitute. The grisly discoveries, as well as the need for a quality hotel and the desire to clean up the civic embarrassment of the abandoned site, led a group of other prominent Portland businessmen to fund the completion of the project. Originally designed by the reknowned architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White, the project was completed by Whidden and Lewis (Whidden was the construction supervisor for the portion of the project that had been completed), as the famous NY firm was no longer intrested in the commission. Perhaps subconsciously Stanford White was aware of his own fate, murdered in 1906 by a jealous husband, so chose to avoid a project with such a sordid history...
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