About Our Venue

Portland’s most storied hotel, Sentinel, is located in two historic downtown Portland buildings — the former Seward Hotel (now Sentinel’s East Wing) and Portland’s former Elks Lodge (now the West Wing).

Built in 1909, the Seward was a boutique hotel designed by William Christmas Knighton, the first Oregon architect known to use Viennese-influenced Early Modern and modified Arts and Crafts styles in his designs. With its fully glazed terracotta exterior and robot-like sentinels adorning the roofline, the building is considered one of the most daring and inventive ever built in Oregon.

Over the years, the Seward underwent numerous changes in ownership and was designated a National Historic Landmark in the mid-1980s. It achieved further notoriety when director Gus Van Sant filmed portions of My Own Private Idaho on site.

Sentinel has a distinctive presence in Portland’s vibrant West End. Ideally situated in the heart of downtown, guests are steps away from high-end and eclectic boutiques full of handmade and luxury goods, Pearl District art galleries, the world’s largest and most engrossing independent bookstore, and the Pacific Northwest’s most definitive fashion purveyors.