East side of the Fox Tower and a bit of the Jackson Tower

As you read in Friday's post: The building is most notable for the contrast between its curving east side and boxy west side. The juxtaposing angles of the building create a unique shape from nearly every angle. This multiplanar and set-back design is meant to prevent as much of the building's shadow as possible from falling upon Pioneer Courthouse Square on the opposite corner.

I took the photo from Pioneer Courthouse Square last Saturday, about 4 p.m. I didn't notice a dark shadow cast by the building, just a shaded ambience in the block-sized square. People were everywhere, reading, walking, sitting, talking on their phones, enjoying being outside in Portland.

Here's a photo from the corner of SW Washington and Broadway, looking south, showing how neat the Jackson Tower looks at night. I took it in February, 2007, so I'm not sure why the clock face is bathed in green light.


From Wikipedia:
The Jackson Tower, formerly the Oregon Journal Building is a glazed terra-cotta historic office building in downtown Portland, Oregon. Located on the corner of Broadway and Yamhill Streets, it enjoys a prominent location adjacent to Pioneer Courthouse Square.

The building was constructed to house the operations of the now-defunct Oregon Journal. The Journal occupied the structure from its completion in 1912 until July 4, 1948, when the newspaper moved to larger quarters on the Portland waterfront. The structure was renamed Jackson Tower to honor the newspaper's founder, Charles Samuel Jackson. The impressive clock tower results from the practice of newspapers integrating such structures into their headquarters. Additionally, 1,800 light bulbs illuminate the tower after dark. The Jackson Tower was renovated in 1972, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places (as the Journal Building) in 1996.

* Each of the 1,800 light bulbs screw directly into the facade.
* In addition to the tower's illumination, at one time the clocks used to chime every 15 minutes.
* Each clockface is 12.5 feet in diameter.

Architectural style: Beaux Arts.

By the way, I'm sick with some sort of flu or something that started yesterday evening. I don't think I'll be commenting--maybe later on if I stop aching all over.

Pray for those impacted by Ike as it continues its path across the country.

High. And low.

High above the building that said, "Hello, Lynette," we see Portland's blue sky dressed with clouds highlighted by the sun. It's that same sun that reflected off the Fox Tower, leaving this pattern of light and shadow playing across the brick facade. I feel lucky to have been in the right place at the right time.


Of course, if the entire block between the two buildings had not been demolished at some point, there would have been no spectacular for me to witness. Here's some information about the Fox Tower and the construction going on between it and my featured building.

From Wikipedia:

The Fox Tower is a 27-story office building in Portland, Oregon. It opened in 2000, making it Portland's most recently opened major office building. Thompson Vaivoda and Associates designed the building and Tom Moyer developed the property. The building is named after the Fox Theatre which occupied the site from 1911 until the late 1990s.

The building is most notable for the contrast between its curving east side and boxy west side. The juxtaposing angles of the building create a unique shape from nearly every angle. This multiplanar and set-back design is meant to prevent as much of the building's shadow as possible from falling upon Pioneer Courthouse Square on the opposite corner.

The Fox Tower's 462-space underground parking garage was the deepest in Portland when built.[citation needed] In 2006 the Fox Tower's developer, Tom Moyer, started construction of an underground garage on the block to the west, connected to the Fox Tower garage. This new parking structure opened in December 2007. Because the west block lies slightly uphill from the Fox Tower, the west garage will be deeper than the Fox Tower garage, relative to ground level. The new garage is designed to be an underground facility, with a City of Portland park on top of the garage. Construction and landscaping for the park was started by the City of Portland in March 2008. The underground parking is also planned to be connected to the Park Avenue West Tower.

Low down in the left corner of the top photo, you can barely see a sign, white letters on blue background. Here's a close up of that sign, a photo I took and posted in April.


And here's some information on the Guild Theater from Cinema Treasures: Operating as the Guild Theatre since at least 1950, it was last used by the Northwest Film Center for film festivals. It closed in the summer of 2006. The single screen theater has 425 seats.

How?

How did this light and shadow pattern cover the facade? Keep reading to find the answer.



Here you see another photo that I took a few minutes after I took the one above and the one in yesterday's post. See the tall tower behind Nordstrom? Notice the sun on the strips of glass on its surface? Get the picture?

The Fox Tower covers the entire block. On the SW Park Avenue side of the building, you find the Regal Fox Tower 10 and the Fox Tower Stadium 10 movie theaters in the southwest corner, while a deli known as Elephant's is in the northwest corner.

Bright sun peeked from the clouds and reflected light from the Fox Tower onto the featured building, making a most intriguing sight for me to photograph. I doubt it would have been as interesting without the alternating non-reflective strips. What is your opinion?