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Demolition might not be in the cards for a vacant 95-year-old building in Northwest Portland.

Earlier this year, Portland-based Gerding Edlen announced plans to tear down the Buck-Prager Building at 1727 N.W. Hoyt St. and construct in its place a six-story, 82-unit apartment building with below-grade parking. However, the existing building 鈥� empty since a law firm vacated in 2007 鈥� is a contributing structure in the Alphabet Historic District.

On Monday, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission heard testimony from the developer and stakeholders before deciding to write a letter to the Portland City Council agreeing with and expanding upon the Bureau of Development Services staff report stating that the proposal to demolish the Buck-Prager Building doesn’t meet approval criteria, according to Hillary Adam with the Bureau of Development Services.

The next step will be for the City Council on Dec. 10 to hear testimony for and against demolition of the brick building at the intersection of Northwest 18th Avenue and Hoyt Street. The decision affecting the structure’s fate ultimately belongs to the council.

John Tess, president of Heritage Consulting Group, a real estate redevelopment consulting firm representing building owners Tim Ramis and Mark O’Donnell, said at Monday’s hearing that the decision to apply for a demolition review was made after all other options were exhausted.

鈥淲e did not arrive at the decision lightly,鈥� Tess said. 鈥淧ortland has always been a good steward of its historic properties, and we truly believe that, in this case, the city’s goals will be better met through demolition.鈥�

Rob Mawson, vice president of Heritage Consulting Group, reminded the commissioners to focus only on the issue of demolition rather than the proposed site development.

鈥淭here are those that say if you approve this, the whole world will come to an end, but if we as a team truly believed that this was an important historic building, none of us would be here,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e know if we’re allowed to demolish the building, the project design must come back to you.鈥�

More than a dozen citizens testified against demolition at the hearing. No one spoke in favor of demolition. Some voiced opinions that the proposed building would not fit in with the surrounding landscape, but others questioned Tess’ and Mawson’s assertion that the building lacks historic significance.

John Czarnecki, a principal at New Traditional Architecture and a former landmarks commission chairman, testified in opposition to the demolition, stating that the commission should consider how the historic district would be impacted if it were to lose a contributing structure.

鈥淭he demolition of this building will work to destroy the integrity of the district as a whole,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re making the building blocks for the future development of the city and this decision will be used as a precedent to go forward.鈥�

Only one contributing structure in a historic district 鈥� the Kiernan Building, also known as the Dirty Duck pub 鈥� gained approval for demolition; the site was redeveloped to hold the Blanchet House of Hospitality. That decision in 2010 was controversial, but the commission approved demolition in part because of the civic-minded nature of the proposed replacement 鈥� and citizens noted Monday that Gerding Edlen’s project would not be of the same nature.

Others who testified Monday pointed out that the Buck-Prager Building, when it opened in 1919, was home to the Women’s Hospital of Portland. It was managed by Alta B.Y. Spaulding, who also was a superintendent of the Multnomah County Hospital and is credited with opening the Multnomah Training School, a precursor of the Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Nursing. OHSU has since created the A.B. Youmans Spaulding Endowed Professorship in her honor.

In addition to the testimonies given Monday, several Alphabet Historic District residents submitted letters. Some were in favor of demolition, though most were in favor of preservation.

Earlier this month, Gustavo Cruz and John Bradley, as representatives of the Northwest District Association, submitted a letter of opposition to demolition. 鈥淒emolishing historic commercial resources in favor of more large-scale luxury apartment buildings proliferating throughout the city sets a dangerous precedent and compromises our neighborhood’s character and the rich diversity of historic buildings within it,鈥� they wrote. The letter also contained a position statement signed by 50 district residents.

Two other residents submitted letters of opposition to the project, stating that demolition would detract from the historic theme of the area and citing fears that a building of that size would block views of downtown.

Two district residents submitted letters in support of demolition, stating that the Buck-Prager Building does not use the site as well as an apartment building would. One of the two letters did include a request that the developer be required to preserve nine existing trees if it were allowed to move forward with the project.