Imperial Hotel (Portland, Oregon)

{{Short description|Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.}}

{{About|the former Imperial Hotel in Portland, Oregon, that is now named Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland|the former Imperial Hotel in Portland that is now named Hotel Lucia|New Imperial Hotel}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Imperial Hotel

| nrhp_type =

| designated_other1_name = Portland Historic Landmark{{citation|author=Portland Historic Landmarks Commission|title=Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon|format=XLS|date=July 2010|url=http://www.portlandonline.com/planning/index.cfm?c=44013&a=146276|access-date=November 7, 2013}}.

| designated_other1_color = lightgreen

| image = Imperial Hotel (built 1894) - Portland, Oregon.jpg

| caption = The Hotel Vintage Portland, on SW Broadway at Washington Street

| location = 422–426 SW Broadway
Portland, Oregon

| coordinates = {{coord|45.520810|-122.678422|region:US-OR_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Portland downtown

| map_caption = Location within downtown Portland

| added = December 2, 1985

| area = less than one acre

| built = 1894

| architect = Frederick Manson White

| architecture = Richardsonian Romanesque

| refnum = 85003037{{NRISref|2009a}}

}}

The Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland, historically known as the Imperial Hotel and also as The Plaza Hotel, is a historic hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It was completed in 1894 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as "Imperial Hotel".{{cite web|title=Oregon National Register List|publisher=Oregon Parks and Recreation Department|url=http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf|page=34|date=June 6, 2011|access-date=August 17, 2013|archive-date=June 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609105953/http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/NATREG/docs/oregon_nr_list.pdf|url-status=dead}} Since 2015, the building has been in use as the Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland,{{cite news|last1=Jon|first1=Bell|title=Portland's Hotel Vintage Portland unveils an arresting new look|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/real-estate-daily/2015/03/portlands-hotel-vintage-unveils-an-arresting-new.html|access-date=2015-08-12|work=Portland Business Journal|date=March 16, 2015}} and prior to then it had been known as the Hotel Vintage Plaza since 1991.

History

Construction began in 1892, and the Imperial Hotel opened in March 1894.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=85003037}} |format=PDF|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Imperial Hotel |author=Heritage Investment Corporation|date=March 1985|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=February 25, 2016}} The building is in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. It has also been known as the Wells Building, after one of its builders, George F. Wells.Sullivan, Ann (May 7, 1985). "Old political gathering place gets landmark status". The Oregonian, p. B7.

In the 1910s, the Imperial's bathrooms were named as popular gay cruising site as the Portland vice scandal hit.{{cite encyclopedia | first = Peter | last = Boag | title = Portland Vice Scandal (1912-1913)| url = http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_vice_scandal_1912_1913_/ | encyclopedia = The Oregon Encyclopedia | access-date = December 25, 2010 }}{{cite book

| first = Peter | last = Boag

| title = Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest

| year = 2003

| publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley

| isbn = 0-520-24048-0

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hFI0b-I8fZ8C

| page=113

}}

The Pacific Coast Conference was founded at the hotel on December 2, 1915, during the annual meeting of the Northwest Conference schools.{{cite news |date=December 4, 1915 |title=Angell Elected Northwest Head — Agreement With Pacific Coast |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-star-mirror-agreement-between/161938681/ |work=The Daily Star-Mirror |publication-place=Moscow, Idaho |volume=5 |number=57 |page=1 |quote=The Pacific Coast Intercollegiate conference, formed during the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate conference, December 2, 1915, in view of the fact that three of its four members are also members of the Northwest conference, makes the following formal statement:}}"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/78375039/ Four Colleges Form Coast Conference at Very Secret Session]". Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, Oregon). December 3, 1915.

A major expansion was built in 1909 in the form of a separate building, adjacent, known as the New Imperial Hotel. At the end of 1949, the two buildings that had comprised the Imperial were made into separate hotels, when the new building was sold. The original, 1894 building was renamed the Plaza Hotel, while the newer building retained the Imperial name (named the Hotel Lucia since 2002).

A glass false storefront was removed in a renovation done in the 1980s, revealing the structure's lower level stonework. The hotel's former name appears in the stonework above the Washington Street entrance.King, Bart (2001). An Architectural Guidebook to Portland, pp. 32-33. Gibbs Smith. {{ISBN|978-0-87071-191-6}}. By at least the early 1980s the building's use as a hotel had ended, although it continued to be commonly referred to as the Plaza Hotel, and was in use as an office building, formally known as Wells Financial Center.Shaw, Larry (May 31, 1987). "Downtown offices victims of chance". The Sunday Oregonian, p. D8. However, it suffered from a high vacancy rate, attributed in part to an excess of available office space in downtown Portland.

The building was designated a Portland historical landmark in spring 1985 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1985.{{cite web

| url = http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/OR/Multnomah/state5.html

| title = National Register of Historic Places: Multnomah County, Oregon

| access-date = August 9, 2011

}}

In 1989, the building was acquired by Kimco Hotel Management (now Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group) and remodeled as a

boutique hotel.Filips, Janet (June 9, 1991). "Boutique hotelier likes Portland style" (profile of William D. Kimpton). The Sunday Oregonian, p. L7. Renamed the Hotel Vintage Plaza, it reopened in May 1991.

The hotel closed for a two-month, $16-million remodeling in early 2015, and when it reopened in mid-March it was renamed the Kimpton Hotel Vintage Portland.

Gallery

File:Imperial Hotel 1.JPG|A circa 1910 postcard of the newly expanded hotel, with the new building on the left and the original building on the right

File:Imperial Hotel in Portland, Oregon, circa 1915.jpg|The Imperial Hotel circa 1915, with the newer (1909) building in the background

File:Hotel Vintage Plaza Imperial stonework - Portland Oregon.jpg|Stonework of the former Imperial name and 1894 date, above the Washington Street entrance

File:Imperial Hotel detail - Portland, Oregon.jpg|Detail view of exterior, upper floors