Pioneer Courthouse Square

Pioneer Courthouse Square features a massive, split-level brick plaza sunken slightly below street grade, anchored by a prominent, colorful weather machine that vents steam and trumpets whenever the forecast changes. Before this became Portland's living room in nineteen eighty-four, the site served as a multi-story parking garage for the Meier and Frank department store. City officials demolished the concrete structure to reclaim the space for the public, embedding thousands of engraved bricks paid for by local citizens into the terrace floors.