Chicago School architecture in Portland
Chicago School names commercial buildings raised on steel frames, with wide windows, expressed structural bays and little applied ornament. The term comes from Chicago work of the 1880s and 1890s and the approach appears in downtown blocks across the country.
The stops that carry a construction date run from 1909 to 1912. 15 stops, 1.7 miles end to end.
Distances are straight lines between the coordinates in the National Park Service Register data, so the walk on the street will be longer. Nobody has walked or checked this as a route, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. Stops last changed Sep 18, 2026.
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Map
Coordinates come from the National Park Service National Register spatial data. The solid line joins the stops in walking order and is not a street route. Listings with a restricted address in the Register are never mapped and never become stops. Data refreshed September 19, 2026.
Walking order
- 1Flatiron Building1223--1225 SW Stark St.Building · listed 1989start
- 2Pittock Block921 S.W. Washington St.Building · listed 19870.2 mi from stop 1
- 3Olds, Wortman and King Department Store921 SW Morrison St.Building · listed 1991482 ft from stop 2
- 4Liebes, H. and Company, Building625 Broadway, SWBuilding · listed 1996484 ft from stop 3
- 5Electric Building621 SW Alder St.Building · listed 1989283 ft from stop 4
- 6Selling Building610 SW. Alder St.Building · listed 1991220 ft from stop 5
- 7Wilcox Building506 SW 6th Ave.Building · listed 1989300 ft from stop 6
- 8Lipman--Wolfe and Company Building521 SW Fifth Ave.Building · listed 1988163 ft from stop 7
- 9Yeon Building522 SW. Fifth Ave.Building · built 1911 · listed 1994185 ft from stop 8
- 10Kress Building638 5th Ave., SWBuilding · listed 1996266 ft from stop 9
- 11Buyers Building317 SW. Alder St.Building · listed 1994498 ft from stop 10
- 12C. K. Henry Building309 SW 4th Ave.Building · built 1909 · listed 19820.1 mi from stop 11
- 13New Houston Hotel230 NW Sixth Ave.Building · built 1912 · listed 19910.3 mi from stop 12
- 14North Bank Depot Buildings1029--1101 NW. Hoyt St.Building · listed 19960.3 mi from stop 13
- 15Marshall--Wells Company Warehouse No. 21420 N.W. Lovejoy St.Building · listed 19890.2 mi from stop 14
1.7 straight-line miles over 14 legs. Printed from registeratlas.com/tours/or/portland/style-chicago-school/
Taking it along
- Download the route as GPXFor a handheld GPS or a phone app
- Open all 15 stops in Google MapsSet the mode to walking once it opens
- Open the first stop in Apple MapsThe Apple Maps web link carries one destination, so this is stop 1 only
Other walks in Portland
- The work of Whidden and Lewis in Portland12 stops · 1.5 milesThe record behind every stop attributes it to Whidden and Lewis. The dated ones went up between 1895 and 1909.
- The work of A. E. Doyle in Portland15 stops · 2.4 milesThe record behind every stop attributes it to A. E. Doyle. The dated ones went up between 1910 and 1927.
- Queen Anne houses in Portland10 stops · 1.6 milesQueen Anne is a late Victorian manner of irregular plans, steep roofs, turrets, bay windows and wrapping porches.
- Colonial Revival houses in Portland13 stops · 1.7 milesColonial Revival reworks the symmetry, shutters and classical doorways of American colonial building. The Portland examples on this route went up between 1898 and 1913.
- Renaissance Revival architecture in Portland10 stops · 2.0 milesRenaissance Revival draws on the Italian palazzo, with a rusticated ground floor, round arched windows and a strong horizontal cornice. The Portland examples on this route went up between 1904 and 1927.