When visiting a new city (for me), I love discovering the unique architecture and especially the historic buildings. I literally stumbled upon Portland’s Union Station one night when I was out shooting photos. The structure and its signature Romanesque clock tower opened in 1896. Unfortunately, the neon signs on the tower were not working during my visit.
Overall, I was somewhat unimpressed. Typically, Union Stations have interesting tile, cool light fixtures, and give a sense of the importance of train travel in history. Instead, this place looked like it might have been stripped of most of its interesting character and truly needed a good cleaning. At least there were some vintage signs, both neon and otherwise:
The main lobby area:
Unlike most Union Stations I have visited, I found this one the hardest to find interesting things to shoot. Still, it was good to see that the building was in use and functioning as a train station!
See more Portland, Oregon photos at my main website.
Being a born and raised Oregonian, I can say with certainty that Oregon is a yawnfest compared to California. There are just a handful of architectural and historical icons, so Portland's Union Station, which I've gone through myself, is sadly lacking, especially when compared to many other train stations.
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