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NR Nomination
NR Nom 2021 Amendment

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address: historic name:Laurelhurst Historic District
Portland, Multnomah County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr:Roughly bounded by NE Stark, NE Senate, NE 44th & NE 32nd twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:district height (stories): total elig resources:1308 total inelig resources:435
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1910 second date:1948 date indiv listed:03/18/2019
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:LANDSCAPE/Park, EDUCATION/School, REGLION/Religious Facility
second orig use: Multiple Dwelling
primary style: Craftsman prim style comments:Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Colonial, Tudor, Mission, Spanish Colonial, Prairie School
secondary style: Bungalow (Type) sec style comments:
primary siding: siding comments:
secondary siding:
plan type: architect:Walter N. Everett, Ellis F. Lawrence, William Holford, John V. Bennes, Erc Hendricks,
builder:Walter N. Everett, Albin M. Pajunen, Thomas B. Winship
comments/notes:
12/30/2021 - NPS approved additional documentation to remove 3142 NE Wasco Street from the district as it is outside the nomination boundary (NRIS #AD100003462).
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Historic Residential Suburbs in the United States, 1830-1960 MPS
   Laurelhurst Historic District Listed Historic District 03/18/2019 2018
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 03/18/2019
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
Laurelhurst is a 392-acre residential neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, located thirty-two city blocks east of the Willamette River. Most of the neighborhood is in northeast Portland, with only the southernmost quarter, below E Burnside Street, in southeast Portland. NE/SE César E Chávez Boulevard intersects with NE Glisan Street at Coe Circle at the center of the neighborhood, forming a large roundabout and dividing the neighborhood into four quadrants. Main entrances to Laurelhurst, characterized by their historic sandstone gates, are located in four perimeter locations. Overall, there are 1751 properties/ resources within the Laurelhurst Historic District. Contributing resources include 7 objects (four entry gates, two lamp-posts, and a statue), 3 sites (two alleys and Coe Circle), and 1298 buildings. There are 7 contributing resources previously listed in the National Register (1 site and 6 buildings.) There are 436 non-contributing properties. The most prevalent architectural styles are Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and English Cottage. Most resources date from the 1910s and 1920s, with a full 86% of the surveyed resources constructed before 1930. 1315, or 75% of these 1751 resources are contributing to the district. Contributing resources exhibit their original forms, materials, features, and designs despite, in some cases, minor alterations. Most commonly, alterations include the replacement of at least some of the original windows, and often the replacement of siding and/or the addition of rear volumes or dormers. Freestanding garages have often have been enlarged. As a whole, Laurelhurst has excellent historic integrity. The district includes the following character-defining features associated with the development of Laurelhurst from 1910-1948: intact curvilinear street layout with distinct quadrants and central roundabout; Joan of Arc statue; a development pattern exhibiting residential buildings in a range of period styles with planted front setbacks; Laurelhurst Park, a 27-acre property listed on the National Register; decorative pairs of “entry” markers; regularly spaced mature street trees; and associated features such as sidewalks, stamped curbs, historic light poles, and mature trees in yards throughout the neighborhood.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Laurelhurst Historic District, located on the east side of Portland, Oregon, is locally significant under National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Criteria A and C. Because of its remarkable visual consistency and its historical associations, the Laurelhurst Historic District is nominated under the “Historic Residential Suburbs in the United States, 1830-1960” Multiple Property Listing as an example of a Streetcar Suburb (Subtype II). The district meets the guidelines for evaluation and registration of an American suburb and as a Streetcar Suburb as defined in the “Historic Residential Suburbs” MPD. The period of significance in Laurelhurst began after the four quadrants were platted, in spring 1910, continued through the mid- 1930s by which point almost all lots were developed, and ends in 1948, when the last streetcar line was removed along NE Glisan Street. The primarily residential neighborhood, with 1314 contributing resources including the individually-listed 27-acre Laurelhurst Park, is significant under Criteria A in the areas of Community Planning & Development and under Criteria C for Architecture. Demonstrating significance under Criterion A, Laurelhurst is Portland’s only residential subdivision illustrating both fashionable City Beautiful-era planning principles; a picturesque curvilinear pattern as well as a Beaux-Arts radial pattern. Laurelhurst also represents an example of an extraordinarily cohesive development by a “community builder” of prominence who designed, installed infrastructure and amenities, and determined the overarching stylistic character of a single place. Laurelhurst’s association with Paul C. Murphy, developer, also reflects its importance as an aspirational marketing idea beyond the sales of lots or houses. Though not nominated under Criterion B for its association with Paul C. Murphy, it is possible that further research may support the addition of Laurelhurst’s significance in this category, if Murphy is determined to be an individual who made sufficient important contributions to the history and development of the Portland (or larger) region. Under Criterion C in the area of Architecture, Laurelhurst exemplifies popular trends across the United States in domestic architecture, extending from the enthusiasm for bungalows in the period 1905 to about 1920, to the trend towards period revivals in the late 1910s until the end of the 1920s, and finally including FHA-promoted Minimal Traditional cottages, WWII-era cottage style architecture, and early Ranch designs of the 1930s and 1940s. While some of these homes were designed by architects specifically for their sites and clients, the majority of homes appear to have been constructed by builders or architect-builders, often repeating house designs with variations in several locations within the neighborhood. As a suburb of the City Beautiful era, Laurelhurst is also significant under Criterion C for its principles of design important in the history of American community planning. Overall, the Laurelhurst Historic District retains exceptional historic integrity in the qualities of location, setting, design, materials, feeling, workmanship, and association of a Streetcar Suburb.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:University of Oregon, University of Washington
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Abbott, Carl. “Greater Portland: Experiments with Professional Planning, 1905-1925.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 1. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington, January 1985. Ames, David and Linda Flint McClelland. Historic Residential Suburbs, Guidelines for Evaluation and Documentation for the National Register of Historic Places [National Register Bulletin]. United States Department of the Interior. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2002. Bosco-Milligan Foundation, Cathy Galbraith, Project Coordinator. Cornerstones of Community: Buildings of Portland’s African American History. Portland, OR: The Bosco-Milligan Foundation, 1998. Bosker, Gideon and Lena Lencek. Frozen Music: A History of Portland Architecture. Portland, Oregon: Western Imprints, 1985. City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and Portland Parks and Recreation. City of Portland Civic Planning, Development, & Public Works, 1851-1965: A Historic Context. Portland, Oregon, 2009. Accessed online at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/299256. City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. East Portland Historical Overview & Historic Preservation Study. Portland, Oregon, 2009. Accessed online at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/214638. City of Portland Bureau of Planning. Historic Context: Hawthorne Boulevard from SE 20th to SE 55th Avenues. Prepared for the Hawthorne Boulevard Transportation Improvement Project, Section 106 Documentation, February 2003. City of Portland Bureau of Planning with the Portland Historical Landmarks Commission. Potential Historic Conservation Districts. Portland, Oregon, October 1978. Curran, Christine A. Laurelhurst Park. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of the Interior, 1999. Eastham, Helen “Best Examples of Architecture in Portland, Oregon,” The House Beautiful vol 46, Nov 1919, 308-310, 336. Engeman, Richard H. “…And so Made Town and Country One”: The Streetcar and the Building of Portland, Oregon, 1872-1920. Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a B. A. from Reed College, May, 1969. Hawkins, William J. and William F. Willingham. Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon 1850-1950. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1999. Hayward, Clarissa Rile. How Americans Make Race: Stories, Institutions, Spaces. St. Louis, Washington University: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Hedberg, David-Paul B. “Volunteer work for Laurelhurst Historic District,” 2018. Unpublished papers in personal collection. Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Johnson, Louise N. “The Laurelhurst Group of Cottages: Community Platting.” Keith’s Magazine, Vol. 41, No. 1, January 1918: 5-8. Labbe, John T. Fares, Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, 1980. Laurelhurst Company and Paul C. Murphy, Sales Agent. Laurelhurst and its Park. Promotional brochure published September 1916. From the personal collection of (and reprinted by) Bob Elston. Laurelhurst Company. Laurelhurst, The Addition with Character: The Most Beautiful Residence Park in Portland. Promotional brochure published circa 1910. From the personal collection of Bob Elston. Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association Historic District Committee. Land Use Application (LUR 91-00497 HL) for designation of Laurelhurst as a Local Historic District. Unpublished, 1991. Luken, Paul C. and Suzanne Vaughan. ‘“…be a genuine homemaker in your own home”: Gender and Familial Relations in State Housing Practices, 1917-1922.’ Social Forces, Vol. 83(4). University of North Carolina Press, June 2005. Lutino, Cielo, Blaine Merker, Robin Green. The City Beautiful Movement and Civic Planning in Portland, Oregon 1897-1921. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, United States Department of the Interior, January 25, 2000. MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1915 to 1950. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press, 1979. MacColl, E. Kimbark. The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1885 to 1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company, 1976. Marshall, Rene “In Portland, Oregon,” The House Beautiful vol 46, July 1919. McClelland, Linda Flint, David Ames, and Sarah Dillard Pope. Historic Residential Suburbs in the United States, 1830-1960. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, United States Department of the Interior. Washington, DC: National Park Service, 2002. Mead & Murphy. Laurelhurst Homes: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Upbuilding of Laurelhurst, Portland’s Premier Residence Park, Vol. 1 No. 1. Portland, Oregon: The Laurelhurst Co., June, 1912. From the personal collection of Bob Elston. Neis, Hajo, Ph.D., with Jenny Cestnik, Michael Harmon, Trevor Jones, and Courtney Nunez. The Irregular Grid in Portland, Oregon USA: an investigation of urban morphology and building typology. Portland, Oregon: Portland Urban Architecture Research Laboratory/ University of Oregon, n.d. Accessed online at http://puarl.uoregon.edu/index.php The Oregonian [Also the Sunday Oregonian, the Morning Oregonian], various dates The Oregon Journal [Also the Oregon Sunday Journal], various dates Portland Park Board, Report of the Park Board, Portland, Oregon, 1903: with the report of Messrs. Olmsted Bros., Landscape Architects, Outlining a System of Parkways, Boulevards and Parks for the City of Portland. Portland: The Board, 1903. Portland Parks & Recreation, Laurelhurst Street Tree Inventory and Street Plan, 2014. Accessed online at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/433143#plans_and_reports Ritz, Richard E. Architects of Oregon: A Biographical Dictionary of Architects Deceased—19th and 20th Centuries. Portland, Oregon: Lair Hill Publishing, 2002. Selinger, Philip and the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon. Tri-Met, Making History: 45 Years of Trimet and Transit in the Portland Region, 2015, accessed online on October 16, 2017 at https://trimet.org/pdfs/history/making-history.pdf Stern, Robert A. M., David Fishman, and Jacob Tilove. Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and The Modern City. United States: The Monacelli Press, 2013. Vaughn, Thomas and Virginia Guest Ferriday. Space, Style and Structure: Building in Northwest America. Portland, Oregon: The Oregon Historical Society, 1974. Weiss, Marc A. The Rise of the Community Builders. New York, New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. Zisman, Karen, Julie Koler, Jane Morrison, Barbara Grimala, and Alan Yost, Portland Oregon’s Eastside Historic and Architectural Resources, 1850-1938. United States Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form 1989, as amended 2012, edited by Timothy Askin and Ernestina Fuenmayor.