The Thomas Graham Building, 6301 Southeast Stark Street, Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, is a two-story commercial building listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. Built in 1910, it was added to the register in 1992.

The wood-frame structure, supported by a concrete foundation and including a full basement, houses a business on the first floor and a domestic apartment on the second floor. Architectural features include a recessed storefront facing a colonnade of fluted

Fluting (architecture)

Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...

 wood columns, a double-leaf front door, and plate-glass

Flat glass

Flat glass, sheet glass, or plate glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windshields. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is sometimes bent after production of the plane sheet...

 display windows. Constructed by George Foreman for druggist Thomas Graham, the building preserves a form of commercial architecture typical of the city's neighborhood business districts around 1900. The building was named a Portland Historic Landmark in 1981.

Graham, who operated a drugstore in the building for many years, was born in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada, and moved to Portland in 1891. At that time, the Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor, Portland, Oregon

Mount Tabor is the name of a volcanic cinder cone, the city park on the volcano, and the neighborhood of Southeast Portland that surrounds it, all in the U.S. state of Oregon. The name refers to Mount Tabor, Israel. It was named by Plympton Kelly, son of Oregon City pioneer resident Clinton...

 neighborhood, where the building is located, was slowly changing from rural to residential. Minor commercial hubs in the vicinity generally featured small wooden buildings with recessed storefronts facing streetcar

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

lines. The Graham Building is one of only four such buildings that remain intact in central southeast Portland.