What Is the John Jacob Astor Hotel?
This building was, for many years, the tallest commercial building on the Oregon Coast!
What Makes It Historical?
As traffic increased along the Oregon Coast in the 1920s, the Astoria Chamber of Commerce got to talking about building a hotel to inspire some of those travelers to stay a while! They brought on the firm of Tourtellotte and Hummel to draw up plans for a hotel, and the city created the Columbia Hotel Corporation to bring it to life. Construction began in 1922 but had to pause when a huge fire tore through the entire business district!
Draft 2 of the hotel, under the supervision of C.T. Diamond, was an eight-story, “fireproof” concrete construction that rose right from the ashes and became a super fancy social center of Astoria! It stumbled over the Great Depression but revived after World War II. In 1948, this hotel was the site of the coaxial cable and community antenna that gave the world its very first cable television system! This boom lasted until a new highway from Portland to Seaside led more folks to bypass Astoria altogether. It was condemned in 1968, ironically for fire safety, and sat unoccupied for ten years! After an auction and refurbishment, this is now an apartment complex!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Become a member of the Clatsop County Historical Society!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
342 14th St
Astoria, OR 97103
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
You can visit the outside any time you like, but you’ll have to know a resident to get in!