Wells Fargo Center

The Wells Fargo Center is a Modern Style skyscraper designed by Charles Luckman, and built between 1969 and 1972 in Portland, OR.

Wells Fargo Center is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• First National Bank Tower between 1972 and 1980.
• First Interstate Bank Tower between 1981 and 1996.
• Block 148.

Its precise street address is 1300 SW 5th Avenue, Portland, OR. You can also find it on the map here.

In 2021 the Wells Fargo Center was awarded with the Office Development of the Year by the Portland Business Journal.

Wells Fargo Center includes two buildings connected by a skybridge:

• The 40-story tower (which this article will focus on, especially when talking about heights).
• The adjacent five-story building, as well as three underground parking levels.

The building underwent a major restoration between 2001 and 2002. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was West of West.

Charles Luckman was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was GBD Architects in charge of Interior Design.

The Wells Fargo Center can be categorized as a Modern Style building.

By their own nature, the Modern and International Styles can still look current, even in contemporary buildings. So that's not to say the Wells Fargo Center appeared old or outdated when it was completed, but Charles Luckman certainly did not take many risks when it came to choosing the design style. This made the building look more "classic" and integrated within the city's architecture.

The Wells Fargo Center uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade of the building however, is load bearing. This doesn't imply that it is a traditional load-bearing wall. Rather, it means that the structure's exterior pillars have been pushed to the very edges, becoming integrated with the facade, and therefore, technically, a part of it.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features bronce-colored glass with also dark colored spandrels, organized in 8 bays on each side of the building. The bays are defined by white marble-clad "fins" that protrude from the facade, and even more as they approach the ground floor. These white fins run from top to bottom of the building, and contrast with the dark color of the windows, creating a pattern of vertical stripes that empathises the building's verticality.