Over the last decade, Restore Oregon has delivered the only statewide program dedicated to saving our unique and diverse historic resources through technical assistance.
At the close of 2021, Oregon’s Most Endangered Places program has assisted the stakeholders of 56 individual places in 27 of our 36 counties--as well as settlement era homesteads in the Willamette Valley region and rural historic theaters statewide--in their struggles against neglect, demolition, poor public policy, encroaching development and hard times. With these threats ever-present and even more extreme during a worldwide pandemic, Restore Oregon’s role in advocating for the resources Oregon needs to save, reuse, and adapt our historic places is increasingly crucial.
Our Most Endangered Places program, generously supported in part by the Kinsman Foundation, works to raise public awareness of the cultural, economic, and environmental value of the places we love and call home. Your donations support our team’s ability to provide direct consultation, advocate for pro-preservation public policy, distribute seed grants, and help owners identify and leverage additional grants and private investment to support their efforts. Every hour of service we provide to the public is multiplied many times over when we connect our network of historic preservation consultants, planners, architects, engineers, advocates, and craftspeople to the people and projects that need their expertise.
Help us help the dedicated people throughout Oregon save the places that matter most by donating today!
Here are the highlights of what the Oregon’s Most Endangered Places program accomplished this year:
- Over 100 downloads of our Preservation Toolkit, which provides a high level guide to the process and decisions to make when approaching the restoration and reuse of a historic building.
- Responses to over 200 inquiries for historic preservation information and advice.
- Travel to 10 cities in 7 counties for technical assistance (masked, of course).
Mayo House, Portland - a 2020 Endangered Place
Early this year, weatherization needed to protect the Mayo House from damage, paid for through a Most Endangered Places seed grant made possible by the Kinsman Foundation was completed. Locally-owned Albina Construction, LLC covered basement openings, trimmed back arborvitae on the property, added new downspouts and clean gutters, cleared the roof of moss and treated it with EPA-approved moss killer. Restore Oregon thanks Albina Construction, LLC, who graciously provided materials at-cost, and deeply discounted their labor in order to provide this much-needed service to their Albina-community neighbor. Now prepared to withstand future rainy Portland winters, the building is one step closer to housing the Davises’ ARTchive vision. An additional Restore Oregon seed grant distributed this summer paid for the Davis Family to consult with experts to plan the business structure of the future ARTchive and associated family businesses.
Cumberland Church, Albany - a 2019 Most Endangered Place
Efforts to save the church and turn it into a community center began in earnest in 2018 with the formation of the Save Our Cumberland Association, now Cumberland Community Events Center (CCEC). Last year, the CCEC engaged a multi-disciplined design team to develop detailed plans for the move, paid for in part by a Restore Oregon seed grant. Led by Varitone Architecture, the team includes K&D Engineering (civil engineers), FEI Testing & Inspection (geotechnical engineers), and McGee Engineering (structural engineers). Gerding Builders is providing pre-construction services as the construction manager on the project.
Through preservation planning and fundraising, the CCEC was able to work out a deal with the City of Albany to purchase the new property, move the building, and ultimately purchase it outright. As of October 1st, the church is lifted from its foundation where it awaits confirmation of the date it will be transported down Santiam Road to its new home on Pine Street, next to the Albany Skate Park. Fundraising continues in hopes of turning the building into a community center for weddings and other gatherings.
Billy Webb Elks Lodge, Portland - a 2020 Most Endangered Place
Late in 2020, in a momentous step towards rectifying the racial inequity of our historical record, the National Park Service approved Billy Webb Elks Lodge along with a Multiple Property Documentation (MPD) of Portland's African American historic properties for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Restore Oregon staff has worked with the BWEL and several volunteer consultants throughout the past year on preservation planning and potential grant funding. In September of this year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded the lodge a planning grant to fund a feasibility study to explore self-sustaining uses for the property and outline steps to optimize the building and its operations for new income-producing uses.
Sadly, in the early morning hours of September 11th, 2021, the Billy Webb Elks Lodge suffered a devastating fire as a result of trespassers. The decking attached to the rear of the building caught fire, which in turn ignited two adjacent walls and the roof above the lodge’s ballroom. Thankfully, the fire was reported quickly enough that it was contained in time to save much of the building, but, the blaze left gaping holes in the building’s roof, and burnt rafters throughout. Water has destroyed the walls and floor of the ballroom, as well as the basement below, and the entire interior has been damaged by smoke. Restore Oregon stepped in to assist with recovery and established a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds needed to cover lost revenue, preservation consulting, and emergency stabilization. With subsequent media coverage, as of October 31st, the campaign has raised $26,210, exceeding its $25,000 goal. A team of architects has been assembled to produce a condition assessment and phased restoration plan and a consultant has been contracted to pursue the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to increase the lodge’s capacity to oversee restoration work and implement a new business plan.
Santiam Pass Ski Lodge, Sisters vicinity - a 2018 Most Endangered Place
The Friends of Santiam Pass Ski Lodge (FSPSL), the non-profit restoring and working to fund the rebirth of the lodge has had much success in 2021. Following a downturn in fundraising early in 2020 because of the pandemic and a devastating season of threats by wildfires, the FSPSL has secured a Most Endangered Places record for grant awards.
For the second year, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department with the State Historic Preservation Office has awarded FSPSL a $20,000 Preserving Oregon Grant that helps pay for the installation of new Cedar siding--wood that was salvaged from the devastating Holliday Farm Fire on the McKenzie River in September 2020. The result is a dramatic change to the exterior of the lodge and protection of the structure for many years to come.
The FSPSL was also contacted by the Roundhouse Foundation of Sisters, Oregon who gave a generous gift of $5,000 and was eager to explore ways to help. They subsequently committed over $10,000 in support to pay for work performed at the lodge by crews from Heart of Oregon Corps whose workers are 16-20 year olds who take on projects that require intense labor and learning. FSPSL has also recently received two generous advised fund grants from the Oregon Community Foundation totaling $30,000. These grants are funding completion of the lodge’s first phase of restoration.
Oregon’s Rural Historic Theaters, Statewide - a 2020 Most Endangered Place Category
Through our ongoing partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD), which includes the Oregon Main Street Network and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Restore Oregon has provided over 100 hours of technical assistance to rural historic theaters awarded grants by the National Park Service through their Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program. By the summer of 2022, the program will disperse $615,000 in matching grants ranging from $15,0000 to $100,000. After providing technical assistance with eligibility determinations for the National Register of Historic Places (listing is a requirement of the grant), the application process, and final scoring, Restore Oregon has worked with awardees to provide technical preservation support throughout the grant period and write a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Alger Theater in Lakeview.