Declared surplus property by Jefferson County and facing the wrecking ball late last year, Madras’ historic Old Courthouse and adjacent county jail building were granted a last-minute reprieve when local resident Steve Jansen stepped in to save them. County commissioners, citing engineering reports suggesting the courthouse was unsafe and impractical to repair, made the property available for purchase, with demolition and redevelopment […]
Illuminating 120 Years of Portland History
For ten nights this December, the history of Portland’s Old Town will be illuminated in the windows of the long-vacant 1881 Mariner’s Building. Illumination #1, a site-specific animated work by educator and animator Rose Bond, will use the windows of the historic building as screens for still and moving images that evoke specific gestures, story […]
Recommendations to Address Demolition Epidemic Now Headed to Council
Three months after being tasked by the Portland City Council to propose modifications to the City’s demolition code, the Development Review Advisory Committee (DRAC) on Thursday endorsed a slate of recommendations that would affect how demolitions are conducted in Portland’s neighborhoods. The package of proposed code revisions—ranging from notification processes to defining ‘demolition’—is scheduled to go before the […]
Redmond Reimagines Historic School as New City Hall
Redmond’s historic Evergreen Elementary School, once the city’s educational and social center, is slated to be redeveloped into a new Redmond City Hall. Opened in 1922 as Union High School, the school provided the city with its first real school system, as all twelve grades had been housed at a single site prior to its […]
Historic Willamette Falls Locks Program This Wednesday in Oregon City
One of the oldest and most storied historic structures in Oregon is not a building! From 1873 until their closure in 2011, the Willamette Falls Locks made navigation on the Willamette River possible. Because the locks sit opposite to the old Blue Heron paper mill site now being redeveloped in Oregon City, we see the […]
Renovation Planned for Former Oregonian Headquarters
The Oregonian’s former headquarters in downtown Portland, built in 1948 by renowned architect Pietro Belluschi, has been purchased by Seattle-based Urban Renaissance Group for $14.15 million. The building is a notable example of Belluschi’s elegant modernist style, delivered on the heels of his groundbreaking Equitable Building, and occupies a full block along SW Broadway, making […]
Home Tour to Showcase Forest Grove Landmarks
In 1854, Alvin T. Smith began work on his third house on the Tualatin Plains (now known as Forest Grove), his first two cabins having been flooded out by the unpredictable Tualatin River. An experienced carpenter from Connecticut, Smith chose to build in the Greek Revival style, its more formal and complex elements contrasting with […]
A New Day Dawns for Sonrise Chapel
It was July 2013 and we had just completed the sale of our North Eugene property to the Nature Discovery School, a private Christian school. When school leaders commented on how they were going to need a chapel for bible study, we piped up and told them to check out the “free” church recently featured […]
Reed College: 25 Years of Belluschi Designs
In May of this year, Restore Oregon hosted a tour of homes designed by Pietro Belluschi in the Portland area. For people who saw these beautiful designs and left wanting more mid-century Modernism, you are in luck: you can find more Belluschi nestled in amongst the array of architecturally interesting buildings on the Reed College […]
Going WAY Back to School
A small group of former students from a remote area northeast of Prineville have remained true to their school. When Lucy Woodward and other former students of the one room Howard School heard that the building could be facing demolition, they took matters into their own hands. Lucy, who attended the school in the 1950s, […]