Irvington, Oregon.
Few city neighborhoods in
the West have the variety and quality of early 20th Century residential
architecture to equal Portland's historic Irvington Neighborhood.
Portland's population boomed in the years after 1900, spurred by the
1905 Lewis Clark Exposition. With the west side of the Willamette River
fully built up, the city expanded to the east side trolley car suburbs
like Irvington in the years from 1900 through 1920.
Upper middle class
Portlanders built substantial Irvington houses in the styles common to
the period -- Arts and Crafts, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Prairie
Style, Bungalow -- many with an inventiveness and creative touch freed
from East Coast architectural proprieties.
Despite some losses to urban
development, Irvington retains its historic charm, with thousands of
well maintained or recently restored homes.
