Nearly 30 years after efforts were initiated to add Portland’s iconic Laurelhurst neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places, it finally happened.

The Laurelhurst Historic District was added to the register March 18. John Liu, head of the Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association‘s Historic District Committee, said the designation recognizes the historical, architectural and urban design characteristics of the neighborhood and follows the listing of Laurelhurst Park on the register.

“It protects Laurelhurst’s historically contributing houses from needless demolition,” he said. “It allows the neighborhood to continue adding housing through accessory dwelling units, and will also allow internal conversion of larger houses to multiple housing units.”

Early in the process, some Laurelhurst homeowners were initially concerned about restrictions on remodeling, Liu said. When the city confirmed that there will be no restrictions other than on demolitions of historic houses, those concerns were largely addressed. Ultimately, during the six-month objection period at the end of the nomination process, only 14 Laurelhurst residents – less than 0.5 percent – objected to the historic district designation, he said.

“It is an emotional moment for many in Laurelhurst, from those who started the effort in 1990 to others who joined the effort several years ago,” he said. “The effort has brought our neighborhood closer together. Old and young, longtimers and newcomers, our community organized and worked together to accomplish a common goal. We are taking that community energy forward to work on other causes and needs of the neighborhood and our neighbors.”

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of buildings, districts, structures, sites and objects important to local, state or national history. The program is run by the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., and administered locally by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

A historic district is defined as an area or neighborhood that has a concentration of buildings and associated landscape and streetscape features that are at least 50 years old. To be eligible for listing in the register, the majority of the buildings in the district must maintain their historic appearance, or be “contributing,” and the district must be associated with an important aspect of the area’s history and/or be notable for its architecture or design.

The Laurelhurst Historic District is bounded at the north end by Northeast Multnomah and Senate streets; the east by Northeast 44th Avenue and Southeast 44th Avenue; on the south by Southeast Stark Street; and on the west by Southeast 32nd Avenue and Northeast 33rd Avenue. The district comprises 1,751 properties constructed between 1910 and 1987, consisting of 1,315 contributing buildings, four contributing sites, seven contributing objects, 436 noncontributing buildings, and six buildings and one site, Laurelhurst Park, already listed in the national register. The listing allows the district’s signature arches to be designated as historically protected structures, making them eligible for historic preservation grants.

The Laurelhurst Historic District was listed in the national register as a local example of community planning and development and for notable architecture. The district is significant as Portland’s only residential subdivision illustrating both fashionable “City Beautiful-era” planning principles and for representation of popular trends in American architecture between the 1910s and the 1940s, according to the National Park Service.

“Largely built out between 1910 and 1930, the neighborhood’s picturesque layout with curvilinear streets, abundant natural landscaping and tree coverage, and varied building styles represents a unique streetcar suburb built in Portland’s Eastside during a period of rapid residential expansion,” the agency stated.

In 2016 and 2017, hundreds of neighborhood volunteers conducted neighborhood meetings and public presentations by representatives of SHPO, the city of Portland, other historic districts, and both proponents and opponents of the listing, as well as a neighborhood, door-to-door information campaign.

The neighborhood association worked with Peter Meijer Architect to prepare the nomination document. The PMA team led by Kristen Minor, with volunteers from Laurelhurst and the University of Oregon‘s Historic Preservation program, completed in April 2018 a neighborhood survey that identified the properties to be included in the nomination and finalized the project in July 2018. A draft nomination for the district was then submitted to SHPO for consideration in October.

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Milwaukie High School‘s main building, constructed in 1925, has received renovations or additions in nearly every decade since. That presented a challenge for the project team taking on a new, sizable expansion.

While some community members expressed desire to see elements of the building preserved, there just weren’t many original portions left.

“As you studied it you realize that the building had just changed over time,” BRIC Architecture associate Matt Jacoby said. “The original entry wasn’t there anymore. Windows had been replaced. Doors had been replaced. I mean, there wasn’t much (originality) left interior-wise.

“We found some crown molding that was hidden, and we found a few pieces that were parts here and there, but a lot of original stuff was gone over 80-plus years.”

So, the North Clackamas School District decided to forge ahead with a simple plan: demolish the old building and replace it entirely with a new classroom and administrative wing. Jacoby and the design team then worked with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office to salvage what they could.

“We came up with a list of salvaged items and made a list of ways to honor the old building,” Jacoby said. “So, we took old woodwork, trim and signs, and other elements – even some old timbers from members, old growth timber – those were salvaged and incorporated.”

The old south entryway was largely salvaged for reuse in the new building. One of two giant cedar trees planted in 1926 in front of the school was kept. The other had to be removed.

“One basically blocked the entry to the new school,” Jacoby said. “So, an artist in Salem is carving a 10-, 11-foot-tall mustang from the salvaged logs. It’s going to be on display in the new lobby of the new building, a one-of-a-kind piece.”

Another chunk of tree will become a historic timeline for the school to display.

The initial budget was slightly more than $77 million. Work is being paid for with money from a bond approved by voters in 2016. Skanska USA Building is the general contractor for the project.

In addition to demolition of the old building and construction of a two-story wing, plans call for a remodel of the cafeteria, an upgrade of the emergency generator, upgrades of HVAC equipment, applications of new roofing and new paint, and construction of new parking.

Work on the project started last summer with demolition of the old building. To allow classes to continue without delay, 33 new modular classrooms were ordered and installed on the school’s football field. They will serve for only the next two years until the new building is delivered to the district in 2021.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and this is probably the most complicated project of my career,” said Steve Nicholas of CBRE, the owner’s representative.

Aside from the new U-shaped wing, new baseball fields and tennis courts are being constructed off of Lake Road at Rowe Middle School.

“Right now we have all the slab-on-grade in place except for a small area in the southeast corner,” said Shaun Aubrey, Skanska USA Building project superintendent. “So most of the slab-on-grade is done and we have big, large brace frame footings in the ground to help support the structure of the building. So, steel-wise we’re about two thirds of the way done right now.”

The project schedule is designed around the school year, Aubrey noted. Work is largely restricted to the new building while classes are in session. But once school is out, workers plan to fan out across the campus to address smaller renovation projects in remaining campus buildings.

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A state agency has dealt a potentially fatal setback to a push to add Portland’s Eastmoreland neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Oregon State Historic Preservation Office on Wednesday announced that opponents had submitted enough objections to prevent listing the proposed Eastmoreland Historic District on the federal register.

The National Park Service will make a final decision, and the federal agency will accept public comments until it issues the decision.

The state office received 5,952 objections, or 82.8 percent of the property owners in the proposed district. According to federal rules, if more than half of the owners in a district submit objections, the property cannot be listed.

The state decision recognized nearly 5,000 legal trusts that were counted as voters. Eastmoreland has approximately 5,000 residents, according to a Portland State University analysis of census data.

Supporters of the bid for historic district status decried the use of trusts in the vote count. Only four properties were the source of the 5,000 trust votes, swaying the result, said Kristiana Nelson, a board member of the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association.

“I’m disappointed and disgusted,” she said. “I think it’s a deeply cynical and deeply unethical move.”

Historic district supporters could potentially adopt the same tactic in a new application to the State Historic Preservation Office, but Nelson said the designation effort may be at an end.

“I’m not sure what the appetite is to continue this work,” she said.

George Beard, another historic district supporter, said counting the trusts violated democratic principles.

“In a country in which the principle and even the court decisions favor the principle of one person, one vote, this is the most outrageous and rigged and contemptuous, undemocratic act I’ve seen in years,” he said. “I’m aghast.”

Opponents “gamed the system to seize thousands of votes that don’t exist,” Beard said.

Yet he couldn’t help but admire the audacity of the trust-splitting maneuver.

“As a Saul Alinsky guerrilla tactic, touché,” he said, referring to the late Chicago political activist. “I don’t respect it, but I get it.”

The neighborhood association began the drive to establish a historic district to slow the pace of demolitions of historic homes, board members said.

“It’s not a remote thing,” said Andy Payne, an Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association board member. “You can see it. You can feel it. You can hear it.”

The application to form a historic district sought to recognize Eastmoreland as a 475-acre residential neighborhood in Southeast Portland. The district would have encompassed about 1,275 single-family homes built primarily from 1910 to 1921, and 1952 to 1961.

The move came amid advancement of Portland’s Residential Infill Project, which would open the door to more duplexes and other building types in neighborhoods including Eastmoreland. Some residents fear it could increase the pace of historic home demolitions in Portland, although city planners say they expect the opposite.

Not everyone backs the drive for preservation in Eastmoreland.

Amy Rosenberg, an Eastmoreland resident who owns a public-relations firm with her husband, Mike, created a podcast after struggling to make up her mind on the issue. She interviewed neighbors on both sides for the podcast, StreetTalk. Eventually, she came to oppose formation of a historic district.

“Change happens; change is good,” Amy Rosenberg said. “Portland is changing; that’s OK. You can’t put a pause on construction and development and think everything will be OK.”

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After more than three hours of debate Monday, the only sure thing about the design of the Portland Building improvement project is that the team in charge will return before the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on July 24.

City staff had recommended that the commission approve the team’s restoration plan with conditions. But the commission held off on making a decision Monday after Kate Kearney, communications director for Docomomo Oregon, requested that the public record be kept open to allow further testimony. Docomomo Oregon is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the architecture, art, landscape and urban design of the modern movement.

That request triggered an automatic 21-day period for further testimony to be taken and various rebuttal statements to be entered into the record.

Even if the delay had not occurred, it was unclear exactly what action the commission would have taken.

“I am up in the air,” Commission Chairman Kirk Ranzetta said.

Commissioner Matthew Roman indicated that he would have voted to approve the proposed design. Commissioners Wendy Chung and Annie Mahoney were troubled by the plan, but noncommittal as to which way they were leaning.

The Portland Building, designed by the late Michael Graves, is considered an iconic example of postmodern architecture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. A sticking point in the proposed improvement plans for the building at 1120 S.W. Fifth Ave. is whether installing a rain screen over the structure could cause it to be removed from the national register.

That concern was spurred by a letter from the National Park Service in which it addressed the materials in the proposed rain screen. Its early opinion was that aluminum in the rain screen would constitute a substantial change to the building and could lead to it being delisted.

“We have a disagreement with SHPO (the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office) and NPS (National Park Service) over the definition of preservation,” said Erica Ceder, an architect with project designer DLR Group. “I think that this is part of a larger conversation in preservation. This is a different building type. The principles of preservation are hard to apply.”

It’s unclear if proposed modifications would result the Portland Building being delisted. The NPS based its letter on an earlier version of the plan presented at a design advice request hearing last year. The building could be removed from the national register only if requested by someone and if an ensuing investigation by the NPS found the changes were so significant that they affected architectural significance.

Commissioners were even split over whether the possibility of the building being delisted would be reason enough to deny approval of the plan.

“I am not swayed by the materiality argument,” Roman said. “It’s an iconic building, but not because of the materials that were used, but more of the overall forms. I think all of Michael Graves’ design intentions are carried forward. What the building represents, whether it’s on the national register or not, to me is unaltered by what is being proposed. What it symbolizes won’t change whether it’s listed or delisted.”

Patrick Burke, senior architect at Michael Graves Architecture & Design, was a student when Graves worked on the Portland Building project. He said Graves would likely have approved of the preservation plan and was always more concerned about his vision coming to life than which materials were used.

Burke told a story of contractors coming to Graves and telling him that the only way to build the structure within budget was to use a concrete skin and paint it instead of using stucco as he preferred.

“There is a famous quote that we have used since,” Burke said. “Michael said, ‘I don’t care if we make it out of bleeping oatmeal; we are going to get this thing in the budget.’”

Also, Burke doesn’t believe the building’s listing on the national register was a focus of pride for Graves.

“In all honesty, I am not sure that was important to him,” he said. “The building design mattered to him more than what list it was on. When this was put on the national registry, he didn’t exactly jump for joy.”

For commissioners, however, the possibility of the building losing its national recognition is a serious concern.

“To me, in this particular matter, we have an obligation to protect the resource,” Ranzetta said. “If it is delisted as a consequence of operation that we authorized, I would say we failed in that obligation.”

Portland’s rainy weather and the tight budget for original construction are big reasons why the 35-year-old building needs improvements totaling $195 million. Tiles were stuck on a concrete structure, and an inadequate seal has resulted in water leaking into walls and causing significant structural damage.

The city considered other options, including demolition, but decided the rain screen fit within its budget and preserved the building’s unique look and architectural importance.

The basic plan is to cover the building with aluminum plates that closely, but don’t exactly, match the building’s current appearance. The plates will shield the structure from the elements. Under the plan, tiles will be larger than the originals and structural changes will increase seismic strength.

The possibility that those changes could result in Portland losing one of its few structures on the national register was enough to convince Restore Oregon to oppose the proposed plan.

“Do not alter the building in this way,” said Dan Everhart, preservation programs manager for the group.

With the 21-day delay, the design team will have a chance to seek additional guidance from the NPS and possibly learn whether the current plan would allow the building to stay on the register.

“NPS doesn’t normally weigh in until after construction,” Ceder said. “There is really no time for a response.”

Given the timeline that the city and the commission are working under, the commission may have to choose between risking the listing on the national register or saving the building.

“If it got delisted, but got saved,” Roman said, “that, for me, is the higher goal.”

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