It was completed in 1894 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as "Imperial Hotel".

[6] In the 1910s, the Imperial's bathrooms were named as popular gay cruising site as the Portland vice scandal hit.

[9][10] A major expansion was built in 1909 in the form of a separate building, adjacent, known as the New Imperial Hotel.

A glass false storefront was removed in a renovation done in the 1980s, revealing the structure's lower level stonework.

[12] However, it suffered from a high vacancy rate, attributed in part to an excess of available office space in downtown Portland.