Southwest Portland in Multnomah County, Oregon — The American West (Northwest)
Dekum Building
Photographed By Elia J. Prats, circa May 30, 2007
1. Dekum Building Marker
Inscription.
Dekum Building. . German immigrant Frank Dekum amassed a fortune during Portland’s explosive early history with his confectionery business. The massive Dekum Building, completed in 1892 at a cost exceeding $300,000, used exclusively Oregon materials in its construction. The brick masons drank beer instead of coffee on their job, according to one old timer whose duties as a boy had been to haul the large pails of beer up to them. , The architects of the Dekum Building, McCaw and Martin, made an audacious break from the cast-iron architecture of the 1880s. They adopted the new, lesser-known designs of Richardsonian Romanesque, characterized by massive rough-cut sandstone pillars on the ground level and red brick surfaces with cast terra-cotta ornamentation on the upper stories.
German immigrant Frank Dekum amassed a fortune during Portland’s explosive early history with his confectionery business. The massive Dekum Building, completed in 1892 at a cost exceeding $300,000, used exclusively Oregon materials in its construction. The brick masons drank beer instead of coffee on their job, according to one old timer whose duties as a boy had been to haul the large pails of beer up to them.
The architects of the Dekum Building, McCaw and Martin, made an audacious break from the cast-iron architecture of the 1880s. They adopted the new, lesser-known designs of Richardsonian Romanesque, characterized by massive rough-cut sandstone pillars on the ground level and red brick surfaces with cast terra-cotta ornamentation on the upper stories.
Location. 45° 31.158′ N, 122° 40.508′ W. Marker is in Portland, Oregon, in Multnomah County. It is in Southwest Portland. Marker is on Southwest 3rd Avenue near S.W. Washington Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 519 SW 3rd Ave, Portland OR 97204, United States of America. Touch for directions.
More about this marker. $300 thousand back then is about $6.5 million in today’s money.
Photographed By Elia J. Prats, May 30, 2007
2. The Dekum Building
Credits. This page was last revised on March 17, 2024. It was originally submitted on June 13, 2007, by Elia J. Prats of Columbus, Ohio. This page has been viewed 2,826 times since then and 49 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on June 13, 2007, by Elia J. Prats of Columbus, Ohio. • J. J. Prats was the editor who published this page.
