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Lovejoy Columns

Lovejoy Columns
Two columns in an urban plaza, displaying reproduced artwork; in the background is the exterior of a building
The columns in April 2013
Lovejoy Columns is located in Portland, Oregon
Lovejoy Columns
Lovejoy Columns
Location in Portland, Oregon
Artist Athanasios Efthimiou "Tom" Stefopoulos
Year
  • 1927–1928 (1927–1928) (constructed)
  • 1948–1952 (1948–1952) (murals)
  • 2006 (2006) (resited)
Location Portland, Oregon, United States
Coordinates 45°31′32″N 122°40′52″W / 45.52557°N 122.68102°W / 45.52557; -122.68102Coordinates: 45°31′32″N 122°40′52″W / 45.52557°N 122.68102°W / 45.52557; -122.68102

The Lovejoy Columns, located in Portland, Oregon, United States, supported the Lovejoy Ramp, a viaduct that from 1927 to 1999 carried the western approach to the Broadway Bridge over the freight tracks in what is now the Pearl District. The columns were painted by Greek immigrant Tom Stefopoulos between 1948 and 1952. In 1999, the viaduct was demolished but the columns were spared due to the efforts of the architectural group Rigga. For the next five years, attempts to restore the columns were unsuccessful and they remained in storage beneath the Fremont Bridge.

In 2005, two of the original columns were resited at Northwest 10th Avenue between Everett and Flanders Streets. The Regional Arts & Culture Council was searching for photographs showing the murals in their original location for an ongoing restoration project. In 2006, Randy Shelton reconstructed the artworks on the columns using the photographs for reference.

The Lovejoy Columns supported the Lovejoy Ramp, a 2,000-foot (610 m) viaduct that stretched from Northwest 14th Avenue and Lovejoy Street to the Broadway Bridge. It was constructed in 1927–1928. Between 1948 and 1952, Athanasios Efthimiou "Tom" Stefopoulos (died 1971), a Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway night watchman, artist and master calligrapher in the copperplate style, drew upon the columns in chalk and later painted them. His work was spontaneous and not commissioned. Stefopoulos painted Greek mythology and Americana imagery in a calligraphic style; the designs depicted "fanciful" owls, landscapes "bedecked with homespun aphorisms", and ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope navigating the streets of Athens with a lantern. He painted around a dozen murals, though photographic evidence does not exist for each of them. The paintings became a local landmark and quickly gained Stefopoulos notoriety and media coverage.


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