BREAKING NEWS

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You did it!  Hundreds of Laurelhurst residents and other Portlanders, working together, successfully raised the funds needed to finish preparing Laurelhurst's Historic District Nomination!

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There will be critical Historic District work to do after the Nomination is submitted in July.  

The LNA will continue to gratefully accept donations and merchandise purchases for the Historic District.

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Thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do.  

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HOW TO DONATE

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Donate and buy "Laurelhurst" merchandise securely online at https://www.laurelhurstpdx.org/donate

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Donate by check payable to “Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association” and delivered to

LNA Treasurer, 3734 NE Hassalo St, Portland OR 97232 “marked For Historic District”

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Funds donated for the historic district effort will be held by the LNA, a registered 501c3 charitable organization, in a dedicated account segregated from other LNA funds.  These funds will be used only for the historic district effort, until Historic District listing is achieved; any remaining funds will support the LNA's other work for the neighborhood.  All donors will receive documentation for tax purposes.  Donations may be recognized or anonymous, as you choose.

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DEAR LAURELHURST NEIGHBOR

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All over Portland, historic homes and historic neighborhoods are being torn down.  Over three thousand of the city’s older houses have been demolished in recent years.  Classic homes, hand crafted from Oregon’s original forests, are being bulldozed and dumped in landfills.  Once-intact neighborhoods are being ripped apart.  Exquisite small bungalows are being replaced with boxy, hulking infill developments.  

 

WE ARE CARETAKERS AND CUSTODIANS

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of one of the loveliest, most intact historic neighborhoods remaining in Portland, indeed on the West Coast.   Laurelhurst was founded in 1909.  America’s greatest landscape architect, John Olmsted, designed these curving streets in four quads around a central circle, with gentle slopes and thousands of street trees in a livable, walkable urban forest, anchored by Laurelhurst Park, the first public park listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  

 

Laurelhurst represents a remarkable concentration of Portland's residential architecture from the city’s formative years, beginning with the 1905 Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition to the start of the Second World War.  The first houses were built near the Glisan and Sandy streetcar lines.  By the start of World War I in 1914, 300 houses had been completed, each hand-built in the classic home styles that still represent Portland today.  By 1929, over 83% of our houses were built, and by the start of World War II, this neighborhood was nearly complete.  

 

These thoughtfully designed, gracefully detailed, solidly built houses have sheltered Portland families for a century and will carry our history for centuries more.  Unless they are demolished in Portland’s rush to infill without regard to design or neighborhood impact.  Infill is important, but our neighborhoods deserve density without demolition.    

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Laurelhurst has endured for over a century as one of the nation’s most intact historic residential neighborhoods.  Many Portlanders think Laurelhurst is already a protected historic district but it is not.  This historic neighborhood currently has no protection from demolition. The preservation of Laurelhurst is up to all of us.  Will you help?

 

Portland’s popularity is attracting aggressive investor-driven redevelopment, without regard for the history, character, and livability of our neighborhoods.  Classic bungalows are being snapped up by developers armed with cash and bulldozers, and replaced by new construction which is often out of place, out of scale, and out of reach for young and middle income families.  

 

Since 2006, about 30 original Laurelhurst houses have been demolished outright or stripped to a fraction of original structure, doubled in size and often height, and sold at prices in the million dollar range.  As the 2018 Residential Infill Project draws more infill developers, flattening original houses to build expensive new duplexes and triplexes, Laurelhurst will be a prime target.  

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UNLESS WE ACT NOW, THIS UNIQUE HISTORICAL

NEIGHBORHOOD MAY BE LOST

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Our neighborhood overwhelmingly supports the Historic District.  This year, every household in Laurelhurst was asked to declare their position.  83% of responders declared SUPPORT for the Historic District.   The LNA board, elected with over 80% of the largest voter turnout in Laurelhurst history, backs the historic district.  Hundreds of neighborhood volunteers are working to make the Laurelhurst Historic District happen.  There is much work to be done but first:

 

We need to raise enough money to retain experts to prepare the Historic District Nomination necessary to have Laurelhurst listed as a historic district by the National Park Service and by the city of Portland.  While the exact funding required will not be known until bids are finalized, we do know that we must raise several thousand dollars by early September to start work, and the remainder by year end.  

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Historic District listing will 

• Protect our historically contributing houses, as well as the Laurelhurst arches and Coe Circle, from demolition. 

• Promote environmentally responsible re-use and rehabilitation of houses, supported by State and Federal tax benefits available in National Register Historic Districts. 

• Preserve Laurelhurst’s smaller, more affordable houses for families, not developers.  

• Permit remodeling, upgrades, expansions, and additional dwelling units that don’t destroy the essential exterior character of our historic houses.

• Prevent uncontrolled redevelopment of Laurelhurst that is out of character and out of scale.   

• Protect the neighborhood in which we have all invested so much love and care.

 

Laurelhurst Needs Your Financial Support

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To become a historic district, Laurelhurst needs your energy, your passion, and your financial support.

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Please considering donating to the LNA today to preserve this unique historic neighborhood for tomorrow’s generations.  

 

Donate securely online at https://www.laurelhurstpdx.org/protectlaurelhurst

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Donate by check payable to “Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association” and delivered to

LNA Treasurer, 3734 NE Hassalo St, Portland OR 97232 “marked For Historic District”

​

Funds donated for the historic district effort will be held by the LNA, a registered 501c3 charitable organization, in a dedicated account segregated from other LNA funds.  These funds will be used only for the historic district effort, until Historic District listing is achieved; any remaining funds will support the LNA's other work for the neighborhood.  All donors will receive documentation for tax purposes.  Donations may be recognized or anonymous, as you choose.

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To learn more, please contact:

Karl Keener     karl.keener@gmail.com

John Liu          johnyaoliu@gmail.com