Oregon Historic Sites Database

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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:723 SW Salmon St historic name:Heathman Hotel, The
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Park Tower Apartments, Park Haviland Hotel
assoc addresses:737 SW Salmon St
block/lot/tax lot:209 / 5 & 6
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1S 1E 6
resource type:Building height (stories):11.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1926 second date:1985 date indiv listed:08/25/2014
primary orig use: Hotel orig use comments:
second orig use: Multiple Dwelling
primary style: Late 19th/20th Period Revivals: Other prim style comments:
secondary style: Commercial (Type) sec style comments:
primary siding: Brick:Other/Undefined siding comments:
secondary siding: Terra Cotta: Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:Claussen & Claussen
builder:
comments/notes:
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Historic Resources in Downtown Portland, Oregon, MPD MPS 08/11/2004 2004
   Portland Downtown Glazed Terra Cotta Buildings Thematic Grouping 1980
NR date listed: 08/25/2014
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 04/01/1980
Gen file date: 06/20/2012
Federal Tax Program
Status Start Compl
Complete 11/01/2012  2014
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The 1926 Heathman Hotel is located at 723 SW Salmon Street in downtown, Portland, Oregon. Specifically, it is located on lots 5 and 6 of Block 209 in the City of Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. The building is located in an urban setting, prominently sited at the north end of the South Park Blocks. It occupies the southwest quarter of Block 209 and faces south onto Salmon Street with Park Avenue to the west. The parcel is 100-by-100-feet. The reinforced-concrete structure is eleven stories in height with a full basement. It was constructed as a hotel and continued in that use until the 1980s. It was then closed for code violations, sold to new ownership and adapted to affordable HUD-sponsored (United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) single-room occupancy (SRO) housing. It was recently modernized as affordable housing using federal historic tax credits. The Heathman Hotel is clad in tapestry brick with white terra-cotta, GFRC and sheet-metal trim. Designed by the prominent Portland architecture firm of Claussen and Claussen, the building may be classified as late-19th century and early-20th century American Movements – Commercial Style. The interior features ground-floor storefronts and a building lobby; portions of the second-floor were originally the upper level of the lobby but were adapted to housing in the 1980s renovation. Floors three through eleven are organized in a “U”-shape with the opening toward the rear of the lot, and individual units along a double-loaded corridor. Alterations include modifications at the storefront level with new cladding and new storefronts, replacement of window sashes in the original frame, and interior modifications to accommodate the residential use.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Heathman Hotel was designed by the architecture firm of Claussen and Claussen and built in 1926 for hotelier George Heathman. It is locally significant and eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, in the category of Community Development. The building is being submitted under the umbrella of the Multiple Property Submission (MPS), “Historic Resources in Downtown Portland, Oregon, 1906-1931,” and meets all of the registration requirements of that MPS. Under that MPS, individual resources are eligible under the category of Community Development, as representing that collection of buildings that reflected the shift in the downtown’s epicenter, the vertical growth in the downtown, and the emphasis of commercial over residential development in the downtown in this time frame.
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:Local government
Bibliography:
Curtain, Cait. The Grand Lady of Fourth Avenue. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort, 1997. Ferriday, Virginia Guest. Last of the Handmade Buildings: Glazed Terra Cotta in Downtown Portland. Portland, OR: Mark Publishing Company, 1984. Ferriday, Virginia Guest, et. al. Historic Resources Inventory of Portland. Portland, OR: City of Portland, 1984. Groth, Paul. Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1994. Jakle, John A. and Sculle, Keith A. America’s Main Street Hotels. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee, Streets.2009. MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950. Portland, OR: The Georgian Press, 1979. Polk’s Portland, Oregon City Directory. Portland, OR: R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Ritz, Richard E., FAIA. Architects of Oregon. Portland, OR: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002. Sandoval-Strausz, A. K. Hotel: An American History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. White, Arthur. Palaces of the People: A Social History of Commercial Hospitality. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1968. Other Sources City of Portland Office of Planning & Development Review microform and card files. Claussen & Claussen. Job 233, Building for Associated Hotel. May, 1925 and June, 1925. Evans, Gail E. H., “New Heathman Hotel National Register Nomination,” 1984. Heritage Consulting Group historic Portland research files. Heritage Consulting Group, National Register Multiple Property Submission, Historic Resources in Downtown Portland, Oregon, 1906-1931. Hotel News, 1924-26. Multnomah County Tax Assessor Records. Portland Telegram, August 1, 1930. The Oregon Journal, February 3, 1927, August 1, 1930, June 2, 1940, December 2, 1961, February 1, 1962, May 19, 1962, March 15, 1963, January 13, 1978, November 20, 1980. The Oregonian, November 6, 1924, March 19, 1925, March 22, 1925, April 19, 1925, February 7, 1926, February 28, 1926, January 5, 1926, April 23, 1926, May 15, 1926, June 21, 1926, February 3, 1927, February 19, 1927, August 1, 1930, December 2, 1961, May 18, 1973, May 21, 1973. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Portland, Oregon.