Astoria Column (Duplicate- deletion proposed)
Posted by: Ambrosia
N 46° 10.882 W 123° 49.058
10T E 436896 N 5114523
The Astoria Column, Astoria OR
Waymark Code: WM108V
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2006
Views: 44
The Astoria Column is 125 feet high, built on Astoria's highest hill. It has beautiful views of the mouth of the Columbia. It is open to the public year around from 9am to dusk.
This tower was built in 1926 with backing from the Great Northern Railroad and the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor. It was patterned after the Trajan's Column in Rome. The architect was Electus Ritchfield, and the mural on the outside of the Column was created by Italian artist Atillio Pusterla.
The mural is a memorial to the people who developed the NW. It is 500 feet high and depicts historical scenes starting from the earliest date at the bottom, spiraling to the oldest date at the top.
The pictorial frieze was in sgraffito technique, an Italian Renaissance form of art that uses paint and plaster. The climate on the coast was not ideal for this type of medium and by the mid 1950's the scenes had become almost unrecognizable. The Astoria community and the organization, "Friends of the Astoria Column", brought together renowned experts to restore the column to its original quality.
Street address: Coxscomb Hill Astoria, OR USA 97103
County / Borough / Parish: Clatsop
Year listed: 1974
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1925-1949
Historic function: Recreation And Culture
Current function: Recreation And Culture
Privately owned?: no
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.