The Blake McFall Company Building, also known as the Emmett Building, in southeast

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, is a five-story commercial warehouse listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Designed by McNaughton & Raymond of Portland and built in 1915, it was added to the register in 1990. The structure is representative of a group of

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

loft warehouses built in the early 20th century on the east side of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

History

Completion of the

Steel Bridge The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries ...

over the Willamette River in 1888 had established a rail link between downtown Portland and East Portland. During subsequent decades, an industrial area developed along the river's east bank to store and re-ship merchandise arriving by rail and river steamer. Companies like

John Deere Deere & Company, Trade name, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, Transmission (mechanical device), transmi ...

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...

, and Blake, Moffitt & Towne built multi-story warehouses in this area. The Blake McFall Company Building, near the east ramp of the

Burnside Bridge The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register o ...

, was at the northern edge of the

warehouse district This is a list of notable warehouse districts. A warehouse district or warehouse row is an area found in many urban setting known for being the current or former location of numerous warehouses. Logistically, warehouses are often located in indus ...

. Blake McFall was a wholly owned subsidiary of Blake, Moffitt & Towne, which at that time was the leading wholesale paper distributor on the Pacific coast. It bought and re-shipped products ranging from

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has ...

to writing papers, wrapping, and bags. Served mainly by rail, the warehouse received large shipments that were subdivided in Portland and sent to the company's seven divisions in Oregon,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. A warehouse in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

gradually replaced some of the Portland-based functions, and by the 1940s shipping by truck had rendered the Portland warehouse obsolete. Blake, Moffitt, & Towne abandoned the building in 1957. Jeff and Lauri Gordon bought the building from the FDIC in 1992. They went on to create the first legal work spaces on Portland's east side and named the building Towne Storage. Since 2019, software company

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that provides software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquarte ...

occupies the building.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake McFall Company Building National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon Industrial buildings completed in 1915 1915 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Buckman, Portland, Oregon Portland Historic Landmarks

History

See also

References

External links