Portland skyline from Pittock Mansion with Mount Hood
— — the city, the river, the mountain, in one frame.
Not only on a wall.
“The view east from the lawn at Pittock Mansion. Downtown Portland steps down to the Willamette River, the Burnside Bridge crosses, the east side climbs back up, and Mount Hood holds the line of the Cascades on the horizon. The 1914 French Renaissance house sits at about 1,000 feet, just high enough to put the whole city below it. On clear winter mornings the mountain reads brighter than the city. Most days a band of fog softens the river. Locals time the visit to the hour after sunrise, before the light flattens. from the studio
Portland skyline from Pittock Mansion with Mount Hood, 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.
Pittock Mansion sits on a 46-acre estate in the West Hills of Portland, at roughly 1,000 feet of elevation, with an east-facing lawn that looks across downtown, the Willamette River, and the Cascade Range. The 22-room French Renaissance house was completed in 1914 for newspaper publisher Henry Pittock and his wife Georgiana. The city purchased the estate in 1964 and opened it as a public house museum in 1965. On clear days the view from the lawn includes Mount Hood at 11,249 feet, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, and on rare days Mount Rainier to the north.
The light at Pittock works on a sharp east-west axis. The first hour after sunrise hits Mount Hood face-on, painting the south flank in alpenglow while the city below sits in long shadow. Through midmorning the river catches the light and the bridges read as clean black lines across it. On winter afternoons the light flattens and the city goes pale. Cloud days, common from November through April, soften the mountain into a hint behind the river fog. Photographers favour the lawn for sunrise and the deck above it for the brief blue hour after sunset.
The grounds and the viewpoint lawn are open daily from dawn to dusk and free to visit; only the mansion interior charges admission, with seasonal hours. A small parking lot fills early on clear mornings and on summer weekends; the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park climbs to the estate from below, a roughly 2-mile hike from the trailhead near the Audubon Society. The Cascade Range often hides behind clouds from late autumn through early spring, so locals watch the forecast for the morning after a cold front. Restrooms and a gift shop operate during mansion hours.