Vancouver, Washington - Architecture and Notable Buildings

Architecture and Notable Buildings

See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Clark County, Washington

Mother Joseph was one of the first architects in the region, and because of its relatively long history, Vancouver contains a variety of buildings. Homes vary from Victorians and craftsman bungalows downtown, to small wartime tract housing and ranch-styles mid-town, with rural styles and larger homes in the outer ring. In addition to the reconstructed Fort Vancouver at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, the city was named one of the National Register of Historic Places' "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" for 2003.

Other notable buildings in Vancouver include:

  • The Covington House at 4201 Main Street, a log cabin and boarding school built 1846-1848.
  • Officers Row, including The Grant House (first house on the Columbia Barracks) and the Queen Anne-style 1866 Marshall House
  • Mother Joseph's Providence Academy, constructed in 1868, where Evergreen Boulevard crosses Interstate 5
  • St. James Catholic Church (originally St. James Cathedral), saw its first Roman Catholic mass celebrated August 16, 1885
  • The Carnegie library at Sixteenth and Main, which opened on New Year's Eve, 1909, to showcase its unusual electric lights; it is now the site of the Clark County Historical Museum
  • The 1914 Chicago-style U.S. National Bank (now the Heritage Building) at sixth and Main
  • The 1916 U.S. Post Office at 1211 Daniels Street
  • The vertical-lift Interstate Bridge, which opened on February 14, 1917, Oregon's 58th anniversary
  • The 1935 art deco telephone exchange building at Eleventh and Washington
  • The 1941 Clark County Courthouse, designed by prolific local architect Day Hillborn
  • Smith Tower, a round downtown apartment building for the elderly, built in 1965
  • The Hilton Hotel and Vancouver Convention Center across from Esther Short Park

Many of these buildings have been re-purposed. The 1867 Slocum House, an Italianate villa style residence originally built one block south of its current location in Esther Short Park, was moved to its present location in 1966 and now houses a community theatre company. The Carnegie Library was expanded in the 1940s, becoming the Clark County Historical Museum after a new library was built in 1963. Other buildings have been torn down for urban renewal or renovated to house professional offices such as lawyers and accountants.

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