Portland Walking Tour

Sorry this post has been several days in the making....it seems that many things have been on my list that needed to be attended to......I am late in sharing our wonderful downtown Portland walking tour.

We used Tri-Met to travel to downtown....the kids are getting to be experts in riding the bus.  It is a great way for them to not only see the city from a different perspective, but also get a sense of all the citizens that live here.

  The tour was given by the Urban Tour Guide group.  This a group of volunteers that given free tours about the history/building plan of Portland.  They are really informative.  We started the tour in front of "Big Pink."  We learned so many interesting things about the building and the area around it.

The building has an unusual trapezoid shape.   The streets in this area were planed a bit differently, and they meet up against the streets set at perfect right angles.  Therefore, one side of the building is on a diagonal.  The distinct pink color of the windows is due to an application of rose gold on each and every window.

They also wanted to build as high as they could, but the city of Portland was concerned with the height of such a big building.  As a result, the building is "stair-stepped" up...wider on bottom, and having smaller sections built on top of it.  In fact, the architects embraced this stair step and featured it wherever they could.  

We learned that the revolving door serves to keep the air pressure constant in buildings....prevents the windows from popping out!

The view is incredible up on the 25th floor.  It kind of looks like our Portland classroom map come to life.

 Portland has the wonderful "1% for Art" rule in urban planning.  It is a city ordinance that states that for every that 1% of construction costs must be earmarked for public art or public space.  It makes for some interesting art downtown!

This is my favorite...the car wash fountain.  This fountain sprays water out of it, BUT....it can't work if it is too cold or too windy.

So the fountain as an anemometers that detects current wind conditions and will turn the fountain on and off.  It is located on a street lamp right next to the fountain.

After exploring the area around Big Pink, and the transit mall, we moved on to look at historic buildings.  One we looked at was the Multnomah Hotel....now the Embassy Suites.  The building was built as a nice hotel, and opened to great fanfare...in fact, they flew a bi-plane off the roof to celebrate the opening back in 1920!  The building was a destination for important visitors.  However, it did fall into disrepair and was almost torn down.  Embassy Suites bought the building and restored it.  It is now on the Register for Historical Buildings.

 Next, we looked at this building.  Built as the Bank of California by A.E. Doyle.  Legend has it that A.E. Doyle was back east working, and when he said he was from Portland, everyone commented on how much it rains in Portland.  Apparently, he got tired of this.  And when he came back, he initiated a campaign to change Portland;'s image as not the "City of Rain", but the "City of Roses."  A.E. Doyle did his part by putting roses on every building he designed.

 

Across the street is the US Bank building...another building designed by A.E. Doyle.  There are roses everywhere!  Those medallions in the ceilings....all roses.  This building was designed to mimic the great palaces in Europe....to give people confidence in the banks to keep their money safe.

 Part of the fun part of this field trip, is you really don't know what may happen on the trip.  Our group ran into former Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh.  He talks a daily walk in this neighborhood and was very lovely to our students.

We ended out tour in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  We got to enjoy the echo chamber.

 Ate some lunch.

The highlight may have been watching this music video being shot.  The kids thought that was very cool!

 The final thing we got to see is the new repaired weather art installation in the square.  Every day at noon, music sounds, mist comes out, and lights start flashing.  This art exhibit/weather station tells the weather forecast for the next day. 

 Out of the dome on top, comes an animal that represents the next day's weather.  We got the Blue Heron which means misty and gray the next day.  Which turned out to be very true.

The field trip was wonderful.....exhausting....and a great experience.  I want to thank Jennifer and Jill our parent chaperones, and our tour guides, Pam, Joanne and Nicolette.