Portland, Oregon has numbers of significant buildings, but only very few of them in Art Deco styles. The Charles F. Berg building is the exception, although even it was originally built, in 1902, in an earlier, heavier style.
Its Art Deco life began in 1930, when Berg, an upscale women’s clothing store, built a new facade and moved its high-class duds into the building.
With interior fixtures as fancy and ‘moderne’ as the facade, the store even had an elevator styled by the Tiffany Studios.
It appears that not much expense was spared on the outside, either: some of the inlays in the facade are 14kt gold.
The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Although the Berg company is long gone, and the building is occupied by a retail arcade and offices, the Berg name, with its elegant styling, remains at 615 Southwest Broadway.
