Note there was another located at 515 SW 13th Ave per http://heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic/index.cfm?do=v.dsp_siteSummary&resultDisplay=50467

Note: The Franklin Hotel was listed in the National Register on October 31, 1985. 

HOWEVER, no mention of any steam bath facilities. 

Per the nomination: The second, third and fourth floors each contain approximately twenty-five guest rooms. The plans of these floors are identical, and each has a hall system which encircles a central rectangular section. This area contains the staircase, elevator, common bath and shower rooms, the central light well and some guest rooms. Guest rooms line the exterior walls of each floor. Few guest rooms have private baths. 

Headlines in the Oregonian, dated December 17, 1906, announced; "BUILD ON UPPER WASHINGTON NOW" "One of the Busiest Sections of the City For New Construction" "No Holiday Lull Noticed" "Activity in Realty Continues with Prices Continually Advancing, which Shows the Healthy Condition of Portland" The article went on the describe the amount of actual construction going on above Tenth Avenue of new brick structures which were replacing, “...only vacant cottages or wooden structures of cheap appearance."

In describing the Franklin Hotel the newspaper stated: At the corner of Fourteenth and Washington Street, excavation is underway for the Lazarus and Van Fridagh brick (building). The original intention was to build only three stories, but the owners have now decided upon a structure which will have a five-story front upon Washington Street and four stories upon Fourteenth. The cost will be about $50,000. The upper four floors have been subleased for an apartment house by Mr. Lazarus, who has leased Mr. Van Fridagh's interest in the building. One of the features of this building will be a palm garden on the ground floor near the Fourteenth Street entrance. 

“… the hotel was opened in the fall of 1906. It is first listed in a city directory for 1907-08 as the "Hotel Franklin, Michael Foley, proprietor." 

Although originally planned as an apartment house, it has been operated for almost 80 years as a hotel. Two years after it opened as the Franklin Hotel, the name was changed to the Hotel Ramapo, a name it retained until 1956, when it became the Taft Hotel. Ramapo is an unusual word and may have been derived from the village of Ramapo in southeast New York State, which is located on the river and flows through the mountains of the same name. 

citations & references:

• Cited one and that is Jeff Taylor’s Gay Guide for the Pacific Northwest – Summer 1975 edition, page 15 “Franklin Hotel Baths, 1320 SW Washington Street. Steambaths, lodging available in the hotel; Buddy Nights, noon-day specials, discounts offered to military.” 

• Per Oregon Leather History Timeline February 19, 1975, Tom Dobson, Manager – the Franklin Hotel & Baths ‘opens’. 

• National Register of Historic Places nomination

Per a Facebook post on Monday, August 5, 2024, “Earlier today, it was announced that the McMenamin Brothers had recently purchased the former Taft Home located at 1337 SW Washington for $1.5 million. This is great news for the 118-year-old building designed by noted architect Edward M. Lazarus whose best-known work would later become the Vista House in the Columbia Gorge. In 1906, having just designed the highly ornamental domed Agriculture and Horticulture Palace at the Lewis and Clark Exposition the previous year, Lazarus designed this new hotel and leased it to its first operator, Mrs. Anastasia Norton Hogue who named it the Nortonia Hotel. Within a year, the name changed to the Danmoore Hotel. It was next known as the Hotel Ramapo from 1909 to 1955 when it became the Taft Hotel. E.M. Lazarus owned it until his death in 1939. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

In later years, the Taft Home For the Aged became an assisted living facility serving low-income and at-risk seniors, but was shuttered and vacated in December 2021 for financial hardship of its operation and projected upgrades that its then-owners weren't able to handle. Today's announcement brings new hope that the McMenamin brothers with their long-standing reputation as stewards of many other successful preservation projects will breathe new life and vitality to this old hotel for the future enjoyment of Oregonians.”