After six months of negotiations between preservationists, builders, neighborhood leaders, and City staff, Restore Oregon is set to endorse a compromise proposal that would greatly strengthen the City of Portland’s demolition code. As Portland’s real estate market has boomeranged out of the recession, established neighborhoods have witnessed sharp increases in the number older houses being […]
Portland City Council Denies Application to Demolish Historic Building
At their December 18th meeting, the Portland City Council voted to deny a controversial application to demolish the Buck-Prager Building, a 1918 contributing building in the Alphabet National Historic District. The proposal sought to replace the existing three-story unreinforced masonry building with a half-block six-story apartment complex, the design of which had yet to be […]
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 […]
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, […]
Preservation Pubs to Discuss Demolition Epidemic
By year’s end, it is estimated that a record 400 Portland houses will be lost to demolition. With modern McMansions and high-density apartments quickly filling lots that once housed single-family homes, the recent demolition trend means millions of pounds of waste are going to the landfill, the character of established neighborhoods is rapidly changing, and tangible reminders of […]
Addressing Portland’s Demolition Epidemic
UPDATE: On July 31st the Portland City Council heard three hours of presentations and public testimony regarding the state of preservation in Portland. Commissioners promised to return to the demolition issue at a future meeting. This Thursday, July 31, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission will present their annual State of Preservation report to the Portland […]
Join Restore Oregon’s Campaign for a State Rehabilitation Tax Credit
Many of Oregon’s traditional downtowns are at a tipping point, half-empty, their historic facades in decay. Since 2010 Restore Oregon has hosted workshops across the state seeking solutions to revitalize these economic and cultural centers, and we believe the single most important thing we can do to revitalize Main Streets across Oregon is to pass […]
Can a New Vision Save Salem’s Historic School for the Blind?
Four years after purchasing the former site of the Oregon State School for the Blind, Salem Hospital has submitted an application to demolish the last remaining building standing on its campus: Howard Hall. Originally built as a boy’s dormitory, Howard Hall served as a central part of the school from the 1920s until the school’s […]
From Saved to Razed: An op-ed on Portland Demos
Northeast Portland has lost yet another lovely home. A 1947 building on NE 35th Place was sold to a group of developers in October who are currently demolishing it to build two large houses in its place. This morning I saw one of the many people who walk and drive by this partially demolished house […]
Is Demolition the Only Option for Pendleton’s St. Anthony’s Hospital?
Pendleton is one of those storied communities that conjures up vivid images for most Oregonians. Roundup. Woolen Mill. Old West Main Street. Cowboys and girls. But few people think of St. Anthony’s Hospital as a distinguishing feature of Pendleton. As first reported by the East Oregonian, the 290,000 square foot hospital complex will be demolished […]