Irvington is a neighborhood in the Northeast section of
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
. According to the city's Office of Community and Civic Life, it consists of a rectangular area extending east to west from NE 7th Ave. to NE 26th Ave., and north to south from NE Fremont St. to NE Broadway. It borders the
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
,
Sabin, and
Alameda neighborhoods to the north;
Alameda and
Grant Park to the east;
Sullivan's Gulch and the
Lloyd District to the south; and
Eliot to the west. (The Sabin and Alameda neighborhoods extend into the northeastern part of Irvington, creating two areas of overlap.)
The neighborhood is distinguished by a number of large stately homes, often positioned on multiple or oversized lots. The Irvington Community Association funds its activities by holding a well-attended tour of these homes each spring.
History
The Irvington Addition was platted in 1887 and underwent its initial development in the 1890s under the oversight of developer Ellis Hughes and the Irvington Investment Company. The addition was planned as a self-contained middle to upper class residential district in which commercial activity was to be prohibited, so as to maintain property values.
After a period of nominal growth, development in Irvington began to slow due to competition from the
Rose City Park and
Laurelhurst developments, as well as the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
The neighborhood was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
as the Irvington Historic District in 2010.
Proposed boundary decrease
In December 2014, the Irvington Historic District Northeast Boundary Decrease Committee proposed removing 34 blocks from the Irvington Historic District. Citing differences in physical appearance and historic development, the committee of Irvington property owners advocated trimming an area roughly bounded on the south by NE Knott Street, on the north by NE Fremont Street, on the east by NE 27th, and on the west by NE 21st. The committee suggested that the proposed boundary decrease area more closely resembles an early-to-mid twentieth century residential working-class neighborhood, not the core area of historic Irvington.
References
External links
*
History of Irvingtonby Carl Townsend
Irvington Street Tree Inventory Report
{{Portland neighborhoods
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon
Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon