One of the best

“Simply one of the best in the country,” writes Bart King about the Multnomah County Central Library in his entertaining primer on Portland architecture.

Indeed, everyone loves Central Library’s architecture, including Willamette Week’s Brian Libby who calls it one of the “historically preserved projects that achieve collective harmony” in the City of Portland.

Any way you slice it, Multnomah County’s Central Library graces the city’s downtown with a utilitarian gravitas that has stood the test of time.

Isom and Doyle

Built in 1912-1913 by architect Albert Ernest Doyle who cooperated with chief librarian Mary Frances Isom on the design, the library benefitted from Isom’s study of library science in New York.

The duo also undertook a tour of major American libraries in order to mirror beneficial aspects and avoid common problems.

Quintessential American Style

Doyle chose Georgian style for the building as “the most typically American architecture we have,” King observed in his guidebook.

Georgian architecture emerged from England in 18th and early 19th centuries and has an understated elegance achieved in part through use of the golden ratio. Central Library architecture also enhanced by its series of massive arched windows patterned after the Boston Public Library.