One of the older car barns in Portland, starting as stables n the horsecar era and then transitioning to electric cars. Added to over time, the complex developed a hodge-podge appearance, with different architectural styles adjacent to each other.
The Savier Street barns after 1909, looking southeast from NW 24th Avenue to the facade along NW Savier Street. Photo courtesy Richard Thompson.
The barns originally also served as shops, and cars were repaired and constructed here for the Transcontinental Street Railway Company and the City & Suburban Railway Company. This included a series of new electric cars that were created by splicing together obsolete horsecars. Once the Center Street Shops were completed in 1912, all such work was moved there and the Savier Street complex was only used for storing cars.
The barns were closed on October 23, 1938, with cars for the Arlington Heights, Kings Heights, Council Crest and Westover lines moving to the Piedmont barns. Twenty-third Avenue and Willamette Heights streetcars were housed in the East Ankeny barns. At the time of closure, there were only 27 streetcars and 13 buses operating out of the Savier barns. At its peak, the barns had housed 125 cars.
The barns hung around to late 1964, when they were demolished. It was replaced by a Pacific Northwest Bell telephone plant operating center in 1965. Condominiums occupy the site today.
| Founding Company: | ‣ |
|---|---|
| Date Opened: | October–December 1888 |
| Date Closed: | October 23, 1938 |
| Date Demolished: | Late 1964 |