Originally designed in an opulent American Renaissance style by Gibson and Cahill, the Multnomah Hotel was completed by architect Hans Hanselmann, who succeeded the firm and finished the design in 1911. Hanselmann was previously associated with Portland architect Emil Schacht. The hotel featured 750 rooms and was built for the cost of $2 million (in 1911 dollars), funded by the R. R. Thompson Estate Company of San Francisco. After the Thompson Estate Company went bankrupt in 1916, the hotel was taken over by millionaire railroad contractor Eric V. Hauser. Building renovations throughout the 20th century included refurbishment by the firm Tourtellotte and Hummel, and by architect Pietro Belluschi. After decades of decline, the hotel was sold to the General Services Administration in 1965, and by 1985 it was being used as office space by the U.S. Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Multnomah Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and is currently operating as a hotel again under the name Embassy Suites by Hilton Portland Downtown.

Sources: National Register of Historic Places nomination form, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1985; The Pacific Coast Architect, Portland, Oregon, May 1911 (Volume 1, Number 2), page 74.