Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) city block in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1984, the square is bounded by Southwest Morrison Street on the north, Southwest 6th Avenue on the east, Southwest Yamhill Street on the south, and Southwest Broadway on the west.
The square is named after the Pioneer Courthouse, an 1875 federal building occupying the block directly east of the square.
The block itself dates to 1856, when the city purchased land that included the site as the location for Central School. The school was moved in 1883 when plans were made for a major hotel on the site in response to the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway. After delays due to a recession, the eight-story Portland Hotel was completed on the site in 1890.
The hotel was the center of the city's social activity for the first half of the 20th century. In 1951, the hotel was torn down and a two-story parking lot was built. An original archway and gatework from the hotel were made part of the square's design and are found today on the south side of the square.
An 800-car parking garage was proposed to the Portland Planning Commission in January 1969, but the commission rejected the idea, instead calling for a public plaza. In the early 1970s, a comprehensive downtown plan proposed that the site become dedicated public space. In 1975, then mayor of Portland Neil Goldschmidt began negotiating with local department store Meier & Frank to obtain the property for the city and eventually convinced the store to sell the land to the city after its parking concerns were alleviated. By early 1980, a design competition was announced, seeking proposals for what was to become Pioneer Courthouse Square. Out of 162 submissions, five finalists emerged, from firms based in New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Los Angeles, Boston, and Portland. The Portland team, "a group of rabble-raising architects, writers, and an artist" led by chief designer Willard Martin, competed against a group composed of Frank Ivancie and Bill Roberts, who wanted to charge admission to a full-block atrium at the site. Willard Martin's group literally painted their design on the parking lot occupying the block, and their plan was accepted. Their design received an "Architectural Design Citation" from Progressive Architecture magazine in 1981.
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