It is rewarding to see the amazing accomplishments of the Oregon Main Street Network communities over the past few years in breathing new life into their historic downtowns using the nationally recognized Main Street Approach® to preservation-based economic development. Main Street programs and communities have a vital role to play in ensuring that the historic […]
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 […]
Morrow County Courthouse Clock Tower Restoration Complete
After waiting nearly a year, the historic Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner is complete once again. On June 26, a crowd of eager spectators watched as the courthouse’s domed cupola, which houses an original turn-of-the-century Seth Thomas chiming clock, was hoisted back into place atop the venerable structure’s clock tower. Built in 1902–03, Morrow County […]
What’s Next for Salem’s Dome Building?
One of Salem’s most prominent public buildings will be sold to a private developer if all goes according to a State-sponsored plan to divest the property later this year. Listed as a 2013 Most Endangered Place, the 1912 Dome Building was once part of the sprawling Oregon State Hospital campus in Salem, an institution made […]
Midlife Crisis: Will Eugene City Hall Survive Beyond 50?
Eugene City Hall, a full-block building at the heart of the city’s downtown, has become the most-recent epicenter of debate about the preservation of Oregon’s Mid-Century Modern architecture. Built in 1964 by the firm Stafford, Morin and Longwood, local leaders for the past several years have discussed options for rehabilitating or replacing the aging building. […]
Saving the Windows in the Historic Oregon Governor's Mansion to Create Energy Efficiency
Mahonia Hall, the Oregon governor’s mansion, was nicknamed Pneumonia Hall by past gubernatorial residents because of the building’s energy inefficiency. Built in 1924 for hop farmer Thomas Livesley by Ellis Lawrence, founder of the University of Oregon School of Architecture, it’s beautiful and grand. But also drafty and cold. Last year, First Lady Cylvia Hayes […]
Historic Hillsboro House to be Re-purposed for Community Use
On May 31, 2013, the Hillsboro Parks & Recreation Department officially acquired the historic Malcolm McDonald House, an in-holding along the northern boundary of the 42-acre Orenco Woods Nature Park. Sitting on .7 acre this building is a historically significant and architecturally intact structure with the primary public spaces preserved in their original layout and […]