On our refrigerator door, along with photos of grandkids, jokes and notices of upcoming events, we have posted the draft map of the proposed historic district for Munjoy Hill. Only good news gets posted here. We think this recent proposal for establishing a historic district in our neighborhood is good news indeed.
Six years ago, we moved from the West End, where we had lived for 40 years. There we took for granted the security provided by a historic district. We painted the trim on our brick homes whatever color we wanted, consulted the Historic Preservation Board about adding shutters (which did not pass), jumped through hoops to put up a fence and pergola, and got turned down on our proposal to build an outside staircase to an apartment. In retrospect, we are grateful for the guidance received.
Historic district regulations assured that the homes around us would be protected from careless additions, incongruous dormers, new exterior fire stairs or removal of original external detailing. Historic District guidelines did not hamper several conversions from single family homes to apartments or condos. They were done carefully after having been reviewed, maintaining the right scale and style for the neighborhood.
Based on our experience in the Western Prom Historic District, the inconvenience of getting approval or permits for exterior changes was far outweighed by the value added to the home. Our West End house sold in under a day for a fair price. While the West and East Ends have different histories, both are city treasures which deserve protection.
Since we moved to the East End, we have become alarmed at the popularity of our new neighborhood. Original wood frame one-story and two-story houses have been coming down right and left as developers rush to replace them with ungainly condominium blocks. We knew Munjoy Hill to be a high-density neighborhood with few protections against development, but we feel blindsided by how rapidly development has occurred.
We love walking this neighborhood and seeing the variety of styles; often the contemporary homes offer a nice contrast to the original wood-frame single-family homes or three-decker apartments. But we find new structures of an oversized scale that loom over the surrounding houses, with garage doors right off the street, with “front doors” leading to elevators, without surrounding green space, and with no “eyes on the street,” are depressing.
Those who argue that these new projects are providing needed housing should understand that families are not moving into these units – they are too expensive, and they are not family-friendly. High-end condos with no yards, dangerous rooftop terraces and elevators are not what families are looking for.
Portland’s Munjoy Hill still has most of its original stock of middle-class housing from the latter half of the 19th century. The houses on the Hill tell the stories of workers at the Portland Company and the Grand Trunk Railway, of stevedores who worked on Portland’s piers, of African-American Portlanders with their own community and church on Munjoy Hill, and of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe who came to Portland to start new lives.
A historic district for Munjoy Hill will help preserve the architectural record left by these middle-class Portlanders that tells the story of how they lived. The many bus and walking tours of the Hill evidence our interest in maintaining a sense of connection with our past.
The problem is that this 19th-century wood-frame architecture is fragile. It is easy to change, modify and destroy. Too many new condos will quickly compromise the Hill’s sense of historic authenticity.
We are convinced that a historic district similar to the 11 other historic districts in Portland will help the Hill maintain its sense of historic integrity, while permitting thoughtful improvements, rehabilitations and appropriate new construction that do not undermine the value of what has been here for a long, long time. Once we commit ourselves to preserve and enhance the treasures we have here, we will experience the same kinds of positive effects that our fellow citizens in other parts of the city have enjoyed for years.
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