High above Portland, in the West Hills, Pittock Mansion gets ready to glow for the holidays. The museum’s annual Christmas display returns November 21, 2026 through January 4, 2027, this year built around the theme Christmas Around the World, with volunteer decorators transforming the 1914 French Renaissance chateau room by room. The museum is closed on Christmas Day, December 25.
Few places tell Portland’s story like this house. Built for Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife Georgiana, the 46-room mansion looks out over downtown and the Willamette River toward Mount Hood, and today it is a city-owned museum cared for by the nonprofit Pittock Mansion Society. At Christmastime, decades of tradition fill its grand rooms — the music room, the library, the dining room and the bedrooms upstairs — with trees, garlands and displays inspired by holiday celebrations around the globe.
It makes an easy, cheerful outing: wander the decorated house at your own pace, step out to the gate lodge and the gardens for one of the best views in Portland, and stop by the museum store for local gifts. Pittock Mansion, at 3229 NW Pittock Drive, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and timed tickets for the Christmas season are sold through pittockmansion.org. Happy City News tip: go on a clear morning, when Mount Hood joins the celebration from the terrace.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
