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The 123-year-old Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple and the 109-year-old Hotel Albion both sit on a block in downtown Portland, between Southwest Second and Third avenues and Salmon and Taylor streets.

The buildings also both were added to the city’s Historic Resources Inventory (HRI) in 1985, until they were removed earlier this month at their owner’s request.

Now both could soon be demolished.

Ankrom Moisan Architects in September participated in a pre-application conference with the Bureau of Development Services to discuss a development on 7/8 of the block holding both the Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple and the Hotel Albion. Then, this month Third & Taylor Development LLC appeared with Ankrom Moisan on a design advice request document for the project that proposes new construction to replace those buildings with a boutique hotel, office space and parking.

Neither building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They were simply identified in the HRI via a survey of potentially historic assets within the city. Their fates, however, more plainly were given to their owner in 2002, when the state determined that neither a historic district nor historic property can be added to the national register without owners’ consent.

鈥淭hose two (buildings) would be a slam dunk to be put on the register,鈥� said Brian Emerick, chairman of the Historic Landmarks Commission. 鈥淏ut the owners never proceeded to do that. It’s unfortunate in a lot of ways because other states don’t have this limitation.鈥�

Even though the Temple and Hotel Albion buildings were on the HRI, they could have been demolished 鈥� only national register listings could prevent that. However, an HRI building can’t be demolished without a demolition delay period, Restore Oregon Executive Director Peggy Moretti said.

鈥淭here is a 120-day demolition delay period for buildings on the HRI intended to be used for an opportunity to explore alternatives,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t just offers a little dialogue, a little interaction with the neighborhood or the district. It doesn’t prevent demolition altogether.鈥�

Nevertheless, the Bureau of Development Services removed the Temple and the Hotel Albion from the HRI on Nov. 5. The removal process is simple. An owner needs only to fill out a one-page form and sign it. A building will be removed that same day.

鈥淚t’s a simple process to have (the building) removed (from the HRI),鈥� Emerick said. 鈥淭here’s all these loopholes. We have all of these significant resources that are essentially unprotected. They don’t have the protection in the code and now we’re seeing an intensified building period going on with the development scenario changing and making sense on a lot of projects it didn’t before. With the pressure for density, you’re going to start seeing a lot more threatened resources.鈥�

In September, the 7/8 of the downtown block targeted for redevelopment was owned by Eugene-based House of Gold. John Plew, owner of the Lotus Cardroom and Caf茅, a ground-floor tenant in the Hotel Albion, said the property will be sold.

The 91视频 wasn’t able to determine exactly who operates Third & Taylor Development LLC. It was registered by Dina Alexander, an attorney in Portland. Calls to Alexander and Ankrom Moisan Architects were not immediately returned.

Restore Oregon senior field programs manager Brandon Spencer-Hartle said that the Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple and the Hotel Albion are two of 11 properties that have been removed from the HRI in the past year. Most of those have been single-family dwellings or small commercial properties, he said.

鈥淭hese two properties are highly visible,鈥� he said.

Emerick is predicting significant outcry.

鈥淚t’s going to create quite a hullabaloo,鈥� he said of the apparent demolition on tap. 鈥淭he Temple Building is in poor shape, but it’s certainly salvageable. It’s an amazing architectural historic resource right in the core of downtown. The removal of that is going to generate quite a bit of backlash 鈥� especially in the historic community. These are our shared community cultural assets. To be able to not have a say in being able to protect those going forward is really detrimental to preserving the things that are important and define our community. That’s really what the crux of this is about.鈥�

Moretti said that closing the loophole allowing demolition without public input could be very simple.

鈥淎 sentence can be pulled out of the code and the loophole is closed,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t isn’t that big of a deal to change it if there’s will to do so. We have a sense that there’s some receptivity to look at this and make it right. We are optimistic that the city is receptive to fix it.鈥�

Saving the Ancient Order of United Workmen Temple and the Hotel Albion may be more challenging.

鈥淔or these two particular buildings, you could chain yourself to the doors, or appeal to a person higher in nature, or I don’t know,鈥� Moretti said. 鈥淵ou find yourself kind of ending up with a public cry and see if anyone on the development side cares.鈥�