Located at 1209 SW 6th Avenue, on prime downtown real estate, the Ambassador

Apartments is a historic building in downtown Portland, Oregon.  Since 1979, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ambassador is one of the oldest and most celebrated residences in Portland. Commissioned in 1922 by Richard Wassall and Donald B. McBride (owner of D. B. McBride Woolen Company) and designed by famed Northwest architect Carl L. Lind,  the nine-story ornate H-shaped building is built in Jacobean style – an early phase of English renaissance architecture with a free and fanciful use of columns, pilasters, round-arch arcades and flat roofs with openwork parapets -- featuring Columbian brick facing and cast Boise sandstone trim.  It features tiers of bay windows and a crenellated parapet in the eastern recess.  Noted lighting designer Fred C Baker designed the original exterior lighting fixtures located in the entrance recesses on either side of the front door.  The Ambassador Apartments is unique in Portland for substituting Idaho sandstone instead of the glazed terra-cotta common in the facades and trim of structures dating from the 1920s.  With about 6,000 square feet (560 m2) per floor, ownership of the building was transferred several times and in 1978 the Ambassador Apartments were converted to condominiums.   

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​The ground floor contains commercial units in the verticals of the “H” while the cross bar contains residential common areas.  The front hall contains elevators and stairways while the back hall features an office, mailroom, an apartment and a guest room.  The basement includes a laundry room, bicycle storage room and individual storage units. The building also features controlled access and a rooftop deck available to all residents. Originally, the upper eight floors offered 6 units per floor – three in every vertical – each with two bedrooms and one bath. Due to alterations, there are currently 45 residential units including 1 studio, 3 one-bedroom units, 33 two-bedroom units and 8 three-bedroom units.  Most units have been remodeled from the original footprint and no two are alike. 

 

The Ambassador is located in downtown’s Cultural District, near the Portland Art Museum, Park Blocks and Portland State University.  Light rail and streetcars are conveniently located within a short walking distance.