Portland Van and Storage Building

Portland, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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The Portland Van and Storage Building is a Chicago School commercial structure in north Portland, Oregon, designed by the architectural firm Claussen and Claussen. During its construction in 1925, the Portland fire marshal halted work after discovering that the window-to-floor-area ratio violated building codes—the windows comprised less than one twenty-fifth of the floor space as required. A special permit from the city council allowed construction to proceed, resulting in the building's distinctively constrained fenestration. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.