Update on the Rayworth House

Posted on by Roy E Roos
Rayworth House 2005
The Edwin Rayworth House (2005)

In October 2012, developer Andre Kashuba purchased the Historic Rayworth House property located at 3605 N Albina in the nearby Boise neighborhood. He immediately filed plans with the city to demolish the existing 1890 single-family house and construct two attached larger homes on the lot. Around November, the city granted approval with a new proposed lot line splitting the property down the middle. In recent years, it has been a primary goal to encourage increased population density in close-in neighborhoods. Even though the Rayworth House is in the middle of a block of single-family homes between N Fremont and N Beech, most of the area is zoned for two families per lot, which explains the short of approval time by the city.

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1890 Home Slated for Destruction

Posted on by Roy E Roos
The Edwin Rayworth House - Built in 1890
The Edwin Rayworth House – Built in 1890

The Edwin Rayworth House

Another historic home in the Boise neighborhood nearby Eliot at 3605 N Albina is slated for demolition. A developer from Lake Oswego intends to replace this classic vintage home with a bland modern 2-family structure with a property split down the middle of the lot. This Queen Anne styled home is not a fancy Victorian era mansion but a decorative cottage, typical for a middle-classed resident in 1890. At the time this house was built, the Eliot, Boise, and King neighborhoods were within the limits of the City of Albina, consolidated by the City of Portland one year later.

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Eliot from Above Then and Now

Posted on by Clint Lundmark

Aerial View of Eliot Neighborhood 1955

1955 Aerial View of Eliot

Houses, houses, houses! In 1955 houses dominated the landscape in Eliot. This view of Eliot from above was taken as part of a larger photo of the downtown area.  The image shows the neighborhood before the massive changes that came in the 60’s and 70’s. Memorial Coliseum had not yet been built, I-5 had not yet tore through the neighborhood, the Emanual Hospital campus had not yet sprawled into the neighborhood and Fremont was just a street (not quite in the picture) and not also a bridge.  Also worth noticing, Lower Albina still had homes, Albina park was square, the grid pattern covered most of the area, and the now vacant lots around Russell near Williams and Vancouver had buildings.

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An 1883 House on the Endangered List

Posted on by Roy E Roos
216 NE Tillamook
216 NE Tillamook

The Eliot neighborhood may soon be losing a historic home at 216 NE Tillamook. A demolition permit was filed by the company who purchased it two years ago but the city required a 120-day demolition delay on the house due to the fact that it is inside a historic zone and the age of the house. The delay is designed to provide some opportunity for someone to move the house to another location and restore it. Fortunately for the house, the owning firm who planned a condominium development on the site had financial problems and the property entered foreclosure recently.

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Walling Building Bites the Dust

Posted on by Roy E Roos

Walling Building - 1930s
Walling Building - 1930s

Eliot lost a historic building in October 2007, but to the relief of some residents as it had been an eyesore in recent years. The two story wood framed structure was at 2240-2248 NE MLK on the corner of NE Sacramento. Over the last 50 years, it suffered insensitive alterations and neglect. In its last years, structural problems became more apparent as the elements took a toll on the exterior. It was the last of several turreted Victorian structures that formerly lined a busy Union Avenue (MLK today) during the 1890s. Under the present ownership, a future new mixed use building is planned for the site since it is a prime location for retail development.

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Russell St Then and Now

Posted on by Clint Lundmark

Russell Street Looking West 1910′s

Russell Street Looking West 1910's
Russell Street Looking West 1910’s

Lower Albina and the Factory District in the early 1900’s.  There are at least 8 buildings in this picture that are no longer standing.  In the picture, on the left side is the building that is home to Mint and 820 and further down , the White Eagle.  To the right you can see part of the Davis Block, the former hotel next door and in the distance, the Smithson Block – now home to Widmere.

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The Bakery Blocks

Posted on by Tony Green

The June 28 inPortland section of The Oregonian has an article about major development at the northern edge of Eliot.

Developer Ben Kaiser has two projects in the works: BackBridge Station, a $14 million mixed-use development with 41 units on Fremont between Vancouver and Williams; and Backbridge Lofts, a 39-unit residential project at the southeast corner of Williams and Fremont.

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