Merchant Hotel (Oregon)

Merchants Hotel
Portland Historic Landmark[1]
Location 121 NW Second Avenue, Portland, Oregon
Coordinates 45°31′27.4″N 122°40′21.7″W / 45.524278°N 122.672694°WCoordinates: 45°31′27.4″N 122°40′21.7″W / 45.524278°N 122.672694°W
Built 1880–1884
Architect Warren Heywood Williams
Architectural style Italianate
Part of Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District (#75001597)
Designated CP December 6, 1975
Detail of the building's exterior, 2010

The Merchant 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,[2]:18–19 which was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1977.[2]:103

Brothers Louis, Adolph, and Theodore Nicolai were original owners of the hotel. It took four years to build, and the Second Avenue section was completed in 1880. The Third Avenue section opened in 1884.[3] A luxury hotel, it boasted one of the first hydraulic elevators in the city and by 1889 had grown to take up half of the city block.[4] The hotel was purchased by musician Eugene Stebinger in the 1890s.[5]

It is one of the few remaining examples of Italianate, cast iron architecture on the West Coast. It received a $2 million seismic upgrade in 2004.[6] Among the current residents of the building are Old Town Pizza[7] and the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center,[8] which includes the Japanese American History Museum. The Faux Museum is in the corner storefront at N.W. Second and Davis.[9] The building is reportedly haunted by a ghost called Nina.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2014), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved February 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Portland Bureau of Planning (April 4, 2008). "National Historic Landmark Nomination (Revised Documentation): Skidmore/Old Town Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Merchants Hotel". Historic Resource Inventory, City of Portland. Oregon Historic Sites Database. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ red, rose. "Portland Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, Portland, Oregon - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com". waymarking.com. Groundspeak inc. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ Hines, Rev. H.K. (1893). An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon (First ed.). Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co. p. 377.
  6. ↑ "Merchant Hotel Building to Receive Seismic Upgrade". Portland Business Journal. March 22, 2004. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Old Town Chinatown dining". Travel Portland. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center :: Visit
  9. ↑ Now Open: The Faux Museum | Blogtown, PDX | Portland Mercury

External links