Main Building
| Portland Art Museum | |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Location: | 1219 SW Park Ave., Portland, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Area: | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built: | 1932 |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 74001710 |
| Added to NRHP: | December 31, 1974 |
The museum's final location opened to the public on November 18, 1932, at the corner of SW Park Avenue and Jefferson Street. The building, designed by noted Portland architect Pietro Belluschi, is situated along downtown Portland's South Park Blocks and remains a landmark in the city's Cultural District. It was constructed with a lead gift of $100,000 from Winslow B. Ayer, the same patron who selected the museum's collection of plaster casts 40 years earlier. For this reason, the original portion of today's larger main building is referred to as the Ayer Wing.
Barely six years later, construction began on a new wing to expand the main building. The Hirsch Wing, also designed by Pietro Belluschi, was funded largely through the bequest of Ella Hirsch in honor of her parents, Solomon and Josephine Hirsch. The new wing opened on September 15, 1939 and doubled the museum's gallery space.
Read more about this topic: Portland Art Museum
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