Portland City Hall, Government building in downtown Portland, United States.
Portland City Hall is a four-story Italian Renaissance-style building occupying a full city block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Madison and Jefferson Streets in downtown Portland. Its rotunda on the east side holds the City Council chambers, and the landscaped grounds include two Port Orford cedars planted in 1902. The main entrance is on Fourth Avenue.
The city bought the block in 1890 and began construction in 1892, but after the foundation and basement were built, the commission fired architect Henry J. Hefty and hired Whidden and Lewis, who designed the four-story neo-Renaissance building completed in 1895. The clock tower and domed cupola they planned were never built because of costs.
The building's name appears in English as Portland City Hall, and its council chambers occupy the rotunda on the east side. Until 1902 the Portland Public Library, which began as a reading room for sailors, was housed inside. Two Port Orford cedar trees planted in 1902 on the east side reinforce the facade's symmetry.
The building is open during business hours for visitors who need city services or wish to attend public events and meetings. The main entrance provides clear access to public areas where visitors can navigate easily.
The ten-ton Wallula Stone, a 15,000-year-old boulder covered with petroglyphs, was placed on the southeast grounds in 1910 after the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company found it in the Columbia River Gorge in 1897. It was returned to the Umatilla tribe in 1996.
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