Pioneer Courthouse Square
— — the city's living room, in brick.
Not only on a wall.
“A full city block of red brick steps, sloped like an amphitheatre, opposite the 1875 Pioneer Courthouse. Locals call it Portland's living room. The Weather Machine rises out of the plaza at noon. Light rail bells ring through from the Mall. People eat lunch on the steps in any weather that lets them, hoods up under the rain. The square has held the Christmas tree, the protest, the chess game, the brass band, and the speeches since 1984. The bricks carry donors' names in the thousands, underfoot. from the studio
Pioneer Courthouse Square, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Pioneer Courthouse Square occupies a full city block at SW Broadway and Morrison in downtown Portland, opposite the Pioneer Courthouse of 1875, the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest. The block was a school, then the Portland Hotel from 1890 to 1951, then a parking lot, before opening as a public plaza in April 1984 to a design by Will Martin. The square hosts roughly 300 events a year and is generally cited as the most-visited destination in Portland. The TriMet MAX light rail stops on its north and west edges along the transit mall.
About 70,000 bricks pave the square, most engraved with the names of donors who paid for them during the 1984 fundraising campaign that turned a parking lot back into public space. The steps step down toward Yamhill, forming an informal amphitheatre that absorbs the lunchtime crowd from the surrounding office towers. At the south edge stands the Weather Machine, a 25-foot bronze sculpture installed in 1988 that releases one of three figures at noon to forecast the next day. Powell's Books, the Portland Art Museum, and the Heathman Hotel sit within a few blocks.
The square is open and free, every day. Lunch hours and event days draw the largest crowds; mornings and rainy weekday afternoons are the quietest. The visitor information kiosk at the southwest corner has been staffed since the square opened. The annual lighting of the Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving is the city's largest civic gathering, drawing crowds into the tens of thousands. MAX light rail and frequent bus service stop at the edge, and the underground parking garage beneath the square exits onto SW Yamhill.