John Bundy Brown Memorial Block

529-543 Congress Street
Queen Anne, 1882-1883
John Bundy Brown began his career in Portland as a grocery clerk, earning $50 a year.  Success in his grocery, sugar, real, estate, and banking ventures, however, eventually made him the city’s greatest capitalist. At the time of his death in 1881, his various enterprises contributed on thirteenth of Portland’s total tax revenues. John Calvin Stevens designed this block in Brown’ memory, while massive construction of the Mechanics Hall (#6 on this tour) the delicate Queen Anne features of the J.B. Brown Memorial Block are strikingly evident. The tall, projecting chimneys give the building a vertical emphasis. The windows are grouped asymmetrically in bays. The rich surface texture of the building is created through the use of freestone and terra-cotta, as well as brick.

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