PORTLAND, Ore. – A distinctive synagogue building constructed in 1965 on Southwest Barbur Boulevard is proposed to be demolished and replaced by a 30-unit apartment complex.
Located at 3225 SW Barbur Blvd., the synagogue was constructed in 1965 by the Ahavath Achim congregation.
Photo credit: Google Maps
The congregation moved into this location after the South Auditorium urban renewal project displaced them from their former location at Southwest Third Avenue and Sherman Street, according to an Oregon Encyclopedia article.
The urban renewal designation “certified the area as blighted,” and “the city wanted to clear the area to make way for newer, more commercially viable buildings.”
Although the congregation tried to move its former synagogue building, the move did not go well.
“Fewer than a hundred feet into the move, the road began to cave under the weight of the building, and cracks appeared in the support beams of the dome,” the encyclopedia article explains. The building sustained major damage and was condemned and demolished.
With the move scrapped, the congregation instead built what a 2015 Metro article described as “one of the most distinctive structures on Barbur Boulevard: a bleach-white and red-tile roofed beehive pressed against the woods of Marquam Hill.”
Photo credit: Historic Resource Inventory
The building was included on the city’s 1984 historic resource inventory, which noted the architectural significance of the structure’s “domed roof with terra cotta shingles and skylight” and “stucco exterior wall finish.”
The detailed Metro article was written last year as the synagogue’s congregation was considering moving again. Changes in the surrounding neighborhood have led to traffic and parking crowding around the synagogue, and the Portland Aerial Tram also passes directly over the synagogue’s skylight, casting a shadow that darkens the building each time the tram goes by, according to the article.
Since early 2016, the congregation has moved to hosting Shabbat services at a different space in Hillsdale.
Now, it appears the distinctive dome on Barbur Boulevard will be no more. Although there have been no sales recorded of the property, a recent land use application offers some hints at its future.
Photo credit: Google Maps
On June 17 the city received an early assistance application to build two buildings forming a 30-unit apartment complex. The 20,100-square-foot property is zoned for one unit per 1,000 square feet of land, so the application indicates density bonuses will be utilized to allow the desired 30 units.
The application, which lists Stewart Straus of Stewart Gordon Straus Architect as its applicant, also makes clear the existing building is planned to be demolished.
An early assistance application is an initial step toward new development. The building’s status on the historic resource inventory means a 120-day demolition delay would be applied once a demolition permit is sought — however, the property owner could remove it from that list at any time, removing the delay requirement.
Photo credit: Google Maps
Records show the congregation wrote to the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission last year, voicing concerns with the Southwest Corridor Plan the city is developing. Among other things, the congregation requested its property be rezoned from residential to commercial during the comprehensive plan update process.
Doing so would “correctly reflect use of the property and give us a hedge against encroaching development of OHSU, Tri-Met and other property interests,” the letter reads.
In the recently adopted 2035 comprehensive plan, the zoning remains unchanged from R1 residential.
Construction of the synagogue in 1965. Photo credit: Oregon Historical Society Research Library, via Oregon Encyclopedia