The Commonwealth Building is a 14-story, commercial office tower in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. Located at 421 SW 6th Avenue between Washington and
Harvey Milk Streets, it was designed by
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britannic ...
and built between 1944 and 1948. The building was originally known as the Equitable Building and is noted as one of the first glass box towers ever built, pioneering many modern features and predating the more famous
Lever House
Lever House is a office building at 390 Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed in the International Style by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
History
Construction on the building began in 1944, with it opening in 1948 as the Equitable Building. The building, which was built as the headquarters in Portland of the
Equitable Savings and Loan Association, was originally intended to be 12 stories high but was later expanded to 14. It was the first tower to be sheathed in
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...
, the first to use double-glazed window panels, and was the first to be completely sealed and fully
air-conditioned
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
.
In 1965, the building was renamed as the Commonwealth Building when the Equitable Center (now
Unitus Plaza) opened, which was also designed by Pietro Belluschi.
The Commonwealth Building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
(as the Equitable Building) in 1976.
In 1980, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via " continuin ...
(ASME) designated the Commonwealth Building as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
[Equitable Building Heat Pump (1948)]
from asme.org In 1982, the building was the recipient of the
Twenty-five Year Award, of the
American Institute of Architects. In 1993, Weston Investment Co. LLC bought the building for $1.9 million.
Unico Properties and Cigna Realty Investors bought the building in 2007 from Weston for $27 million, and spent $7 million more on renovations to the structure.
The building was sold again by Unico in 2013 for $41 million when Unico bought out Cigna. Unico sold the tower to KBS in 2016 for $69 million.
Features
Designed by noted Oregon architect
Pietro Belluschi
Pietro Belluschi (August 18, 1899 – February 14, 1994) was an Italian-American architect. A leading figure in modern architecture, he was responsible for the design of over 1,000 buildings.Belluschi, Pietro. (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britannic ...
, the tower is of the
International Style.
The 14-story, -tall glass box tower is constructed of sea-green
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) o ...
and is sheathed in
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...
.
Designations and awards
The building is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
,
and is also designated as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the ASME. The ASME History & Heritage Committee bestowed this landmark status for the specific feature: the first large commercial building in the United States to pioneer the use of
heat pumps
A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing ...
for heating and cooling.
[
]
See also
*Architecture of Portland, Oregon
Portland architecture includes a number of notable buildings, a wide range of styles, and a few notable pioneering architects.
The scale of many projects is relatively small, as a result of the relatively small size of downtown-Portland blocks (2 ...
* 400 SW Sixth Avenue
References
External links
*
Great Buildings Online: The Equitable Building
Building Oregon: Equitable Building
{{Portal bar, Architecture, National Register of Historic Places, Oregon
Skyscraper office buildings in Portland, Oregon
Pietro Belluschi buildings
National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon
Office buildings completed in 1948
1948 establishments in Oregon
Southwest Portland, Oregon
Portland Historic Landmarks