historic portland

back when i had free time to do things like volunteer, i worked with an organization called the bosco-milligan foundation. this foundation is focussed on preserving historic portland artifacts big and small- from the building all the way down to a door knob. bosco and milligan were two gentlemen who's passion was to go around portland collecting old bits of buildings that otherwise were headed to the landfill. they amassed quite a collection of architectural salvage before they both passed away quite prematurely.

for a while the historic preservation league of portland was responsible for their collection but it required more attention than they could give and thus the bosco-milligan foundation was formed and has been run ever since by a close friend of benny and jerry's, cathy gailbraith.

the photo above is a buidling that the two owned and ran their stained glass business out of. for many years it sat untouched lacking the funds it needed to be renovated. if you have been in portland for a while, you will know this building over on se grand ave. well, a few years back, the renovations were completed and the building was reopened as the architectural heritage center and the home base of the bosco-milligan foundation. this building works as a resource center and library for all things old portland.

i mention this now because the archtectural heritage center has some really cool programs on a regular basis and this spring they are hosting walking tours of portland. the tours begin in april and run through the summer. there are some really great neighborhoods on their list of tours-belmont, hollywood, yamhill, vista and reedwood. i can't wait for the reedwood tour, i've always wanted to check out the reed college campus and this tour focusses on the mid-century houses on and near the campus.

many of the tours require pre-registration since there are only so many spaces available. so go to the ahc site for more information and to register for the tours.

when i was in interior design school many years ago, i went on several walking tours of portland and let me tell you, there are some amazing gems in our community often designed by very well-known architects.

so what better way to spend the warm months here than getting out and getting to know the historic neighborhoods of portland!