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The Portland Building is technically “historic” now. Last week the National Parks Service released a document formally announcing that the 29-year-old structure is worthy of historic preservation.

Now, I happen to think that the Portland Building is a hideously malformed monstrosity not worthy to bear the name of our fair city, but that is neither here nor there. The move does raise a question about Portland — where are the historical buildings, and what are we doing to preserve them? How is it that something as new as 1982 counts as “historic” in this city?

Many of the truly old buildings in Portland are clustered around the Old Town area and in the Yamhill district. (so, technically older than the state of Oregon itself, which joined the Union in 1859). Walking through Old Town, several of the more aged buildings are in various states of vacancy or disrepair.  (marking buildings as unsafe) dot the landscape. Several of the buildings bear small plaques detailing what they used to be, but a staggering number of them are wholly or partially vacant. The once-impressive , for example, is now vacant on the upper floors, and resembles a tomb more than anything else. That oldest building in Portland, the one from 1857? It’s empty.

While the Portland Building is nice in it’s own way (it did unleash Michael Graves on the world, after all) preserving it is not the most pressing thing that Portland could be doing when it comes to historical architecture. There are plenty of cast-iron buildings, old brick structures, and beautiful pieces of art from the 1800s that barely survive. ; you’ll notice that there are whole eras unrepresented in historic architecture. Very little from the end of the 1800s or early 1900s is still around, and every single original building in Portland (the city was incorporated in 1851) is gone. Iron has rusted. Bricks have crumbled. As innovative as Portland has been with planning and looking ahead, little remains of what was.

The Portland Building, as much as people might dislike it, isn’t going anywhere. It is unique and characteristic of the city, but at this point it doesn’t really need to be preserved, as it is still actively used and maintained. In the meantime, though, more than a few buildings that actually do showcase this city’s architectural heritage are wasting away.