Old homes are endangered species

It's not just happening in Portland.  Million-dollar houses on the lake are tone down to make way for bigger homes, and smaller, older older homes in and around town are disappearing fast, making Lake Oswego less affordable than ever.  When it happens next door, and the new neighbors are peering into your formerly private backyard (or bedroom windows), or blocking the sunlight, to your home and yard, gentrification isn't pleasant at all.

New endangered species: old homes 
Population growth spurs demolitions, new infill projects

Portland Tribune  |  July 10, 2014  |  By Jim Redden

by: TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE - Local home builder Jeff Fish is chairman of a city advisory committee working with neighbors upset about demolitions and infill projects.

Neighborhood activists and preservationist are scrambling to prevent the demolition of another old house in Portland, the Markham home at the entrance to the Laurelhurst neighborhood. A developer has bought the rambling 1906 structure and requested a meeting with the Bureau of Development Services to discuss its future.

“I’m not against change, but this is a historically important home to the neighborhood,” says Terra Wheeler, who was circulating fliers asking people to sign an online petition to save the home. She operates the Facebook page Portland Historic Building Demolition Alert.

The buyer, developer Peter Kusyk, says he has not yet decided what to do with the home. But the property has been heavily modified over the years and the house shows signs of serious deterioration.

“I’m still in the planning stages, but I’m leaning toward tearing it down, dividing the lot, and replacing it with two homes that reflect the character of the neighborhood,” Kusyk says.

Local homebuilder Jeff Fish says such controversies are being driven by Portland’s growing popularity and land-use planning laws that limit available homesites.