EXHIBITS
PRESERVING PORTLAND THROUGH LOCAL ACTION: HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE ROSE CITY
Permanent Exhibit, Opened August 2023
In this exhibit the AHC comes full circle, presenting the story of the preservation movement in Portland from which the organization was born. The exhibit begins with the story of AHC co-founders Jerry Bosco and Ben Milligan, and their involvement in early grassroots movements in Portland engaging in historic preservation and salvage during a time of sweeping demolitions and new construction. Bosco and Milligan’s salvage and preservation work transformed into the establishment of the Bosco - Milligan Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Center, ensuring access to their collections and providing a home for education and continued advocacy centered on Portland’s built history.
The exhibit, traversing both floors of the Architectural Heritage Center’s Historic West’s Block, journeys through time and space, examining the local movement and people involved in preserving Portland’s built history. We explore the range of preservation efforts spanning initiatives to save large famous buildings, historic homes, and community neighborhoods, and the network of national and state influences on these local preservation efforts.
Through the nuanced presentation of many voices and stories that impacted the movement, Preserving Portland through Local Action: Historic Preservation in the Rose City prompts the questions: “what is preserved, and why?” and, looking forward, “what should we do now to preserve Portland for the future?”
WILBERT P. LEI: MID-CENTURY IDEALS RENDERED IN WATERCOLOR
Opened April 2024
Wilbert P. Lei (1909-1960) was a highly skilled architect as well as a watercolor artist. Lei mastered the technique of how a building would look in its future surroundings and somehow made the ordinary appear extraordinary. This style of perception became popular in the twenty years following WWII and established the Mid-Centruy Modern era.
The AHC is pleased to draw renewed attention to Lei's artistry and contribution to Oregon's architectural heritage.
UNBUILT: PORTLAND THAT NEVER WAS
Opened October 2022
There are a number of reasons why buildings and other development projects never get beyond the concept or planning phase. This exhibit explores a variety of never-built Portland-area projects, from a massive housing and marina project in St. Johns, to a 15-story addition to the Masonic Temple – now better known as the Portland Art Museum’s Mark Building. Other unbuilt projects include a would-be shopping mall in Linnton or a variety of plans that would have forever altered downtown or dissected the city through road construction and other public works projects. As the exhibit shows, some of the city’s most prominent architects including A. E. Doyle and Will Martin, had projects that never made it beyond the drafting table. Through architectural drawings, plans, reports, and promotional materials from the Architectural Heritage Center library, the exhibit shows a Portland that might have been.
OLD FRIENDS, NEW ACQUAINTANCES: ARTIFACTS FROM THE AHC COLLECTIONS
Opened November 2022
The recent relocation of the storage of the Architectural Heritage Center’s vast collection of building artifacts in 2020 led to the “rediscovery” of some collections items that have rarely been displayed, if at all. Also on view for the first time are exciting new additions to our artifact and archival collections, kindly donated within the past few years. This exhibit shares a number of these new and fascinating acquisitions, including terra cotta lettering from the old Portland Union Stockyards, a grotesque creature that once adorned a downtown building, a slate roof shingle from the 1889 First Presbyterian Church, a railroad freight depot blueprint, and much more.
This exhibit also features a video about a terra cotta grotesque and an accidental discovery that led to its identification – click here to view the video.
TOURING THE CENTRAL EASTSIDE
Permanent Exhibit
The architecture of Portland’s Central Eastside, the neighborhood around our center, tells the story of this district’s past and the unfolding of its distinct character over time. This exhibit traces this history through the stories of 57 of its buildings. With the oldest buildings dating to the 1860s, the district’s architecture shows how it evolved from its marshy roots in the 19th century to become a booming center of industry and manufacturing to then develop into the ever-growing hub for design, IT innovation, maker spaces, and tourism that it is today.
This project was made possible by support from Central Eastside Together.
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