Abington Brackets
LOCATION: SW Third Avenue, between Stark & Washington
BUILT: 1886 DEMOLISHED: 1967
Sheet metal brackets from the Abington Building
Sheet metal brackets with cast maiden’s heads that once adorned the 2nd floor balcony of the 1886 Abington Building that stood on the east side of SW 3rd Ave between Washington and Stark (Harvey Milk) Streets. Salvaged by Bill Hawkins and recently donated to the AHC Collection!
Close up of the Abington Building, featuring some of the metal maidens as well as other detailed decorations
Simeon Reed, an organizer of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and owner of the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, built Portland’s first five-story building in 1886 which he named for his birthplace of Abington, Massachusetts. He had arrived in Portland in 1852, beginning his career by working for William S. Ladd in the liquor business.
Reed adorned his elegant building with cast iron pilaster columns from Portland’s Honeyman’s City Foundry, with delightful lion’s heads at the capitals. The cast iron arched entry was topped with a sheet metal balcony; another balcony was located at the third floor. Considered Portland’s finest building of its day, it was also the city’s tallest until 1889. A fire in 1908 did considerable damage, but it was repaired with new design features incorporated.
Left: The Abington building in 1886 (University of Oregon). Right: The Abington building in 1930’s.
As a prominent member of Portland’s “old guard,” Reed shared his wealth with many worthy causes, including the YMCA and Boys & Girls Aid Society. Reed moved to California in 1891, and died in Pasadena in 1895. His wife, who died in 1904, provided for the “Reed Institute” in her will, with their fortune. It opened in 1911 as Reed College.
The glorious Abington Building, in which Reed spared no expense for its construction, was demolished in 1967, during the last wave of destruction of much of Portland’s unmatched cast iron legacy.
Salvagers work to demolish the Abington Building, 1967