Visitors Information Center

Name: Visitors Information Center
Address: 1020 SW Naito Parkway
City: Portland
Year of Construction: 1948
Architect: John Yeon
Original Use: Government
Status: In Use
National Register of Historic Places: Listed (10000801)
Description: As described in the building’s National Register of Historic Places designation form, prepared in 2010 by Kristen Minor of Peter Meijer Architect:

“The Visitors Information Center is located in downtown Portland, Oregon, at 1020 SW Naito Parkway, Portland, OR, 97204. The building, designed by John Yeon, is a low, flat-roofed structure with walls of painted plywood and glass. It was constructed in 1947-48 to house the Portland Chamber of Commerce, next to what was at that time the only freeway in Portland. The building sits at the western edge of a linear park extending alongside the Willamette River, between the alignments of SW Salmon Street and SW Main Street. A pull-out driveway and parking area separate the building from SW Naito Parkway. The front façade, facing SW Naito, consists of an inset glass window-wall with double doors between two enclosed volumes of different heights.

“One of these is two stories in height, but the rest of the building is single-story. The construction of the building is wood-frame, concrete slab-on-grade, with a flat roof using single-ply roofing system. The Visitors Information Center has remained under City of Portland ownership, and the building retains most of its original design features. The building has lost some integrity in the areas of original workmanship and materials that have been replaced over time, and its setting has been altered with the 1975 removal of the freeway, making the building an object in a park along the riverfront. However, the property retains many of its original characteristics, with elements of the International Style of architecture as well as of the Northwest Regional Style of architecture.”