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NR Nomination
Inventory Form

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:511 NW Broadway historic name:US Post Office
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:Federal Building, 511 Building; PNCA, Pacific Northwest College of Art
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 1E 34
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):3.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1915 second date:1918 date indiv listed:04/18/1979
primary orig use: Post Office orig use comments:
second orig use: College
primary style: Beaux Arts prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Stone:Other/Undefined siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: architect:Hobart, Lewis & Wetmore, James
builder:
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Portland LGBTQ+ Historic Resources 2025 RLS Survey & Inventory Project 2025
   Significant US Post Offices In Oregon -- 1900-1941 (TR) MPS 03/01/1985
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 04/18/1979
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 05/21/2025
Federal Tax Program
Status Start Compl
Complete 06/01/2013  2015
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
511 NW Broadway Street is a 1915 monumental masonry institutional building designed in the Beaux-Arts style characteristic of early 20th-century federal architecture. Clad in stone, the building rises six stories above a raised basement and occupies an entire city block. The primary (east) façade is defined by a grand central portico featuring paired Corinthian columns supporting a full entablature. The deeply recessed entry is set behind large arched openings with classical detailing. Fenestration at the first two floors consists of tall, arched windows set within a rusticated base, while upper stories have evenly spaced rectangular windows with simple stone surrounds. The building is capped with a modillion cornice and a flat roof.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Federal Building housed the Portland Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offices in the 1980s, which became the site of a large AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) demonstration on February 27, 1989. Several ACT UP chapters and local organizations, totaling over 200 people, participated in the nonviolent civil disobedience event protesting the FDA’s role in refusing to release vital treatments. This demonstration not only drew attention to pressing HIV/AIDS treatment issues, but also underscored burgeoning nationwide solidarity within HIV/AIDS activist movements. The one-day event signaled expansion of HIV/AIDS activism into the Pacific Northwest, with ACT UP/ Portland firmly joining the ranks of those demanding urgent national action to address the epidemic. Already listed on the National Register for Criterion C, the Federal Building is also significant under National Register Criterion A in the area of LGBTQ+ history for its association with HIV/AIDS activism.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
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:University of Oregon
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:Cascade AIDS Project (CAP)
Bibliography:
For further information on the events, people, and organizations mentioned in the LGBTQ+ historical narrative, see LGBTQ+ History in Portland, Oregon: A Historic Context Statement. Michael Ambrosino, “Portland Acts Up Over FDA,” Guardian, March 15, 1989, page 6. Michael Ambrosino, “ACT UP zaps FDA in Portland,” Just Out, April 1, 1989, 23. “ACT UP Strip search produces federal suit,” Just Out, October 1, 1989, 12. Inga Sorensen, “Justice Served,” Just Out, July 21, 1995, 15.