The October meeting of Oregon’s volunteer State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation (SACHP) recommended four nominations to the National Register of Historic Places be forwarded to the National Park Service for review. Additionally, in September, the Black Historic Resources in Oregon, 1788-2002, Multiple Property Document was officially listed in the National Register, opening the possibility of streamlining future nominations for historic resources related to Oregon’s Black history statewide – a huge accomplishment for helping to diversify and expand official recognition.

Above: Exterior image of the Burkes-Belluschi House in Portland (image courtesy of Sally Painter). 

The four National Register nominations considered include:

  • Burkes-Belluschi House, Portland:- This residence is eligible for listing in the area of architecture as the work of a master and for possessing high artistic values designed by architect Pietro Belluschi. It is his only western Oregon residence to display elements of the International Style and the Northwest Regional Style.
  • Juniper House, Portland:  Located at 2006 SE Ankeny Street in Portland, Oregon, holds historical significance as Oregon's first end-of-life care home specifically for people with HIV/AIDS. This nomination is part of the City of Portland’s LGBTQ+ Historic Sites project and is significant for social history.
  • Lee-Janouch House, Medford: Located 1202 East Main Street in Medford, Oregon, this residence was completed in 1934 and rises one and one-half stories above a full daylight basement level.  Built in the National Park Service (NPS) Rustic or “Cascadian” style with battered stone clad walls on the first floor and board and batten siding above. 
  • McLean House, West Linn: Located at 5350 River Street, directly facing the Willamette River in the Bolton neighborhood. This 1927 exhibits an eclectic Colonial Revival style.  It is significant for being both a well-designed local example of its style and socially as West Linn’s only resource associated with the development of the Physicians Association of Clackamas County, the first local health care organization designed to serve millworkers and their families in West Linn and Oregon City.

 Additionally, the Black Historic Resources in Oregon, 1788-2002, Multiple Property Document (MPD) was officially listed in September 2024. Oregon Heritage website states: 

“An MPD is a National Register cover document that provides a common context and targeted registration requirements for a group of related significant properties. This document facilitates the future nomination of those properties by providing a general historic context (which can jumpstart individual nominations’ context statements) and by defining the standards and requirements that those properties must meet to be eligible for listing in the National Register. This MPD presents an overview of the history of African Americans in Oregon through six different thematic contexts and establishes a set of registration requirements to guide the nomination of Oregon’s significant African American historic resources to the National Register.  View the MPD.”

Above: Hanna and Eliza Gorman House in Corvallis, associated with Black Pioneers in Oregon. (photo courtesy of Kim Moreland)