The Skidmore Fountain
The Skidmore Fountain is a historic fountain in Portland, Oregon, United States. Erected in 1888, the fountain was intended to provide refreshment for "horses, men, and dogs," and it did that for many years. Today, however, the bronze and granite fountain is primarily decorative.
It was dedicated September 22, 1888 in memory of Stephen G. Skidmore and partly financed by his will. Designed and built by sculptor Olin Warner for $18,000, all of which was donated. It is styled after fountains Skidmore viewed on his visit to the 1878 Paris Exposition and intended for "horses, men and dogs" to drink from Henry Weinhard offered to pump beer into the fountain at the dedication.The fountain is located near the west end of the Burnside Bridge at SW First and Pine streets within downtown Portland.
The MAX Light Rail line runs past it and has a nearby stop named after the fountain.
It was dedicated September 22, 1888 in memory of Stephen G. Skidmore and partly financed by his will. Designed and built by sculptor Olin Warner for $18,000, all of which was donated. It is styled after fountains Skidmore viewed on his visit to the 1878 Paris Exposition and intended for "horses, men and dogs" to drink from Henry Weinhard offered to pump beer into the fountain at the dedication.The fountain is located near the west end of the Burnside Bridge at SW First and Pine streets within downtown Portland.
The MAX Light Rail line runs past it and has a nearby stop named after the fountain.
The New Market Block
Constructed in 1872 to house the unlikely combination of a produce market and a theater, the New Market Block contains some unusual shops and budget restaurants, as do many of the restored historic buildings in this area. The free-standing wall of archways extending out from the New Market Building was salvaged from an Old Town structure that didn't survive the urban renewal craze of the 1960s.
The Skidmore/Old Town Historic District is significant for its exceptional mid-nineteenth- to early twentieth-century commercial buildings. The district includes: elaborate statements like the High Victorian Italianate Blagen Block; transitional amalgams such as the Italianate-Sullivanesque Skidmore Block; solid Richardsonian Romanesque structures such as the Haseltine Building; and buildings exhibiting the cleaner lines of the early 20 th century Commercial and Utilitarian styles, as in the White Stag Building. But the most noteworthy and defining elements of the district’s historic character derive from its Victorian Italianate masonry and cast-iron buildings. This collection is one of the largest and best preserved in the American West.
A prominent and district character-defining example is the New Market Theater, built by Captain A. P. Ankeny and Andrew J. Watson in 1872. It was designed by architects Piper & Burton and cost the substantial sum of $100,000. With its huge cast-iron columns, arches, and wealth of decorative details, it was an impressive multi-purpose building that mixed retail commerce with entertainment and business concerns. It was considered an architectural wonder from the moment it opened to the public. The name was derived from the produce market located on the ground floor. A 200’ arcade passed through the building, lined with 28 marble produce stalls. On the second floor the theater held 1,200 seats. It became the venue for great entertainers of the 1870s and 1880s. The great hall measured 60’ by 100’, with 35’ ceilings, a perimeter balcony, and 100 gas-lit crystal chandeliers and sconces. Visiting dignitaries such as General Ulysses S. Grant was entertained there, and in 1882 the Portland Symphony Orchestra was formally launched. The theater and market’s success lasted through the mid 1880s, when a westward shift of the downtown residential population left the public market and other waterfront area retail businesses to gradually decline. Today, the structure is intact and has been rehabilitated, although the interior was altered significantly.
Although Portland was founded in 1843, most of the buildings in Old Town date only from the 1880s. A fire in 1872 razed much of the town, which afterward was rebuilt with new vigor. Ornate pilasters, pediments, and cornices grace these brick buildings. However, the most notable features of Old Town's buildings are the cast-iron facades.
A prominent and district character-defining example is the New Market Theater, built by Captain A. P. Ankeny and Andrew J. Watson in 1872. It was designed by architects Piper & Burton and cost the substantial sum of $100,000. With its huge cast-iron columns, arches, and wealth of decorative details, it was an impressive multi-purpose building that mixed retail commerce with entertainment and business concerns. It was considered an architectural wonder from the moment it opened to the public. The name was derived from the produce market located on the ground floor. A 200’ arcade passed through the building, lined with 28 marble produce stalls. On the second floor the theater held 1,200 seats. It became the venue for great entertainers of the 1870s and 1880s. The great hall measured 60’ by 100’, with 35’ ceilings, a perimeter balcony, and 100 gas-lit crystal chandeliers and sconces. Visiting dignitaries such as General Ulysses S. Grant was entertained there, and in 1882 the Portland Symphony Orchestra was formally launched. The theater and market’s success lasted through the mid 1880s, when a westward shift of the downtown residential population left the public market and other waterfront area retail businesses to gradually decline. Today, the structure is intact and has been rehabilitated, although the interior was altered significantly.
Although Portland was founded in 1843, most of the buildings in Old Town date only from the 1880s. A fire in 1872 razed much of the town, which afterward was rebuilt with new vigor. Ornate pilasters, pediments, and cornices grace these brick buildings. However, the most notable features of Old Town's buildings are the cast-iron facades.
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