Item

Esmond rooming house, Front and Morrison, Portland

• 1928-02 (Creation)

Photograph; cellulose nitrate film; 3.75 x 4.75 in

Photograph showing a four-story building on Front and Morrison streets (now Southwest Morrison Street) in Portland. The building has bay windows on the second and third floors. On the ground floor is a sign for Oregon Sheet Metal Works. The 1905 Morrison Bridge is partially visible in the background. A cropped version of this photograph was part of a two-page spread in the Oregon Journal’s Sunday magazine on February 26, 1928. The spread, on Pages 4 and 5, was devoted to a story by Wallace S. Wharton about the history of the Portland waterfront and the buildings on First and Front streets. Wharton reflected on the changes that would occur as a result of the construction, then in progress, of Portland’s west-side harbor wall and redevelopment of the waterfront. He noted that many of the “stately old buildings along First and Front streets face destruction, or remodeling to such an extent that the reminiscent charm of their present environment will be lost.” Accompanying the story were 15 photos, primarily of buildings in the area. Across the top of the spread was the headline “IN THE PATH OF CIVIC PROGRESS — STRUCTURES OF ANOTHER DAY.” Below the headline on Page 4 was the subheading “Splendid Bits of Old Architecture Once Called Equal of Finest in Gotham of the Same Period.” Below the headline on Page 5 was the subheading “Waterfront Development Gives New Significance to Portland’s Old-Time Business Center.” This photograph had the following caption: “Last wing of the New Esmond Hotel - Front & Morrison Sts.” The story reported that the hotel opened in 1878, but only the portion of the building shown in this photograph remained in 1928, and it operated as the Esmond rooming house. See related image Nos. 371N5379, 371N5384, 371N5385, 371N5397, 371N5418, 371N5470, and 371N5857, which were published on the same spread.

In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Oregon Journal Negative Collection; Org. Lot 1368; Box 371; 0371N5380

Updated with additional information by digital project archivist Katie Mayer on December 20, 2018.

• Buildings--Oregon--Portland
• cellulose nitrate film
• Dwellings » Lodging-houses » Lodging-houses--Oregon--Portland

• United States » Oregon » Multnomah County (Or.) » Portland (Or.)
• United States » Oregon

• Oregon Journal (Firm) (Publisher)

• Cityscapes » Portland Cityscapes