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Tuesday May 21st
Oregon City Planning Department
The Planning Division is responsible for all long range and current planning as well as the implementation of the Oregon City Comprehensive Plan and associated Municipal Ordinances.
814 Main Street - Carlson-Portland Gas & Coke Company Building

This is a small, one-story rectangular building with store storefronts facing west on Main Street. The building is fairly plain, decorated only with a simple row of soldier bricks below the top of the parapet wall and a second similar row of brick directly above the storefronts. The parapet has a simple angular cap. The north storefront, which is slightly smaller than the south storefront, is virtually intact with a single fixed pane display window canted toward the recessed entrance which includes a simple door with a transom. A band of transom lights, flush with the wall surface of the building, is located above the display window and entrance. The south storefront has been altered by the removal of the transoms and the cutting away of the corner to created a deeply recessed entrance. The windows and door are consistent with 1970s or 1980s modifications. A structural steel post supports the corner of the building. There is an alleyway between this building and its neighbor to the south.

Statement of Significance: This building was constructed in 1935 by Thomas Carlson. Carlson, who owned and operated a shoe repair shop in the north storefront for several years, rented the south bay of the building to the Portland Gas and Coke Company, which was listed at this address through the 1953 directories and appeared in 1957 photographs at this site. At the time of the 1983 survey, Matile's Men's Shop had a store in the north portion of the building and the Thomas Han Insurance Company occupied the south portion. Today, the north portion is vacant and the south portion is occupied by the Oregon Pioneer Insurance Company. The building, though currently not eligible as a contributing resource in a historic district, could be restored sufficiently to make it an eligible resource.