Irvington Historic Home Tour
May
19
11:00 AM11:00

Irvington Historic Home Tour

The Irvington Home Tour
Returning in Person May 19, 2024

Since 1967, the Irvington Home Tour has been opening doors to our past, present, and future, giving participants an inside look at homes in the Irvington National Historic District, the largest such district in Oregon and one of largest in the country. After appearing virtually the past two years, the 2024 tour will be a live event! Don’t miss this opportunity to experience six beautiful houses, each brimming with historic character and design ideas.


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Jun
1
9:00 AM09:00

Annual Irvington Neighborhood Yard Sale

The annual Irvington Neighborhood Yard Sale is coming soon! We had a remarkable turn out in the 2023 Yard Sale, with 126 households participating!!  The weather was amazing and the streets were full of people enjoying the day AND the bargains.

This year's Irvington Yard Sale will be held on Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 9am-2pm (rain or shine).  Any households within the Irvington neighborhood are welcome to participate by hosting their own yard sale, and all peoples are invited to shop.  The Irvington Community Association (ICA) will organize and advertise the event, and there is no fee to participate. Only have a few items?  Collaborate with another family or two!  Don’t know where to begin?  Reach out to us at yardsale@irvingtonpdx.org.

  • An online Map of all participating households will be published on Friday, May 31, 2024. 

  • To participate in the Yard Sale and be included on the 2024 Yard Sale Map, please fill out this form.

  • Form submissions are due by May 29, 2024.

See below for the 2023 Yard Sale Map showing all the homes and the goods they were selling.  We will update this map for 2024 as we get closer!

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1st Annual Caroling with the Royal Blues
Dec
16
5:00 PM17:00

1st Annual Caroling with the Royal Blues

‘Tis the season! For the first time ever, Grant High School’s esteemed Royal Blues Chamber Choir will bring our holiday repertoire to Irvington neighborhood doorsteps! Register now for the 1st annual “Caroling with the Royal Blues,” in Irvington on Saturday, Dec. 16th. For $100, not only will the Royal Blues bring gorgeous holiday tunes and good cheer to your front door, you’ll be supporting Grant’s renowned choral program and we’ll donate a portion of the proceeds back to the Irvington Community Association to say thanks! How does it work? Just submit your request as soon as possible. You’ll receive an email from Friends of Grant Music confirming your request and providing easy payment details. We’ll send the final route to participating neighbors on Wed., Dec. 13th. Questions? Email virginia@friendsofgrantmusic.org.

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Jun
3
9:00 AM09:00

Annual Irvington Neighborhood Yard Sale

It’s time for the Annual Irvington Neighborhood Yard Sale! The Irvington Community Association (ICA) will do the advertising and the coordinating; you get to shop, sell, and visit.  This is a community event - there is no cost to participate. All households in Irvington are welcome to host a sale, and everyone is invited to shop.

We learned a lot in 2022, and hope to make the sale even better this year.  The sale will be held on Saturday, June 3rd, 2023, rain or shine. To have your home included on the 2023 Irvington Yard Sale Map, please fill out this form. Forms are due by Tuesday, May 30, 2023. Only have a few items?  Collaborate with another family or two.  Don’t know where to begin?  Reach out to us at yardsale@irvingtonpdx.org.

See below for the Google Map showing all the homes and the goods they are selling.  Follow this link to see a spreadsheet of the participating sales.

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Sep
8
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Classic Irvington

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →
Aug
25
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Victorian Legacy

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →
Aug
11
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Classic Irvington

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →
Jul
28
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Victorian Legacy

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →
Jul
14
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Classic Irvington

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →
Jun
23
10:00 AM10:00

Historic Walking Tour - Victorian Legacy

For the 4th year in a row, the Irvington Community Association’s Historic Preservation Committee will be sponsoring Saturday morning walking tours of the Historic District. Two different tours are planned: the Classic Irvington tour, the same as in prior years, and a new Irvington Victorian Legacy tour.

The Classic Irvington tour focuses on the boom years from 1905 to 1929, when Irvington first became a swank retreat for the newly rich, and then evolved with changing transport technology to being a middle class and working class enclave. Some of Irvington’s most notable homes will be featured as well as lots of neighborhood lore and background on the brilliant vision of developer Elizabeth Irving, who created the
neighborhood.

The Victorian Legacy tour turns to the parts of Irvington that developed in the last decade of the Victorian 19th Century which have been buffeted by economic and social forces that swept over the country, more dramatically than any other part of the neighborhood. When streetcars first arrived at 15th and Tillamook Street in 1891, enthusiastic buyers flocked to build gingerbread-adorned homes in the newly opened Irvington tract. Then disaster struck in the form of the “Panic” of 1893, which saw fortunes destroyed, millions thrown out of work, and new construction virtually stopped throughout the country. When building resumed in the last years of the decade, the homes reflected the new economically humbled reality. By 1937, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation maps introduced the first “red lining” in the Eliot neighborhood – just to the west of Irvington – and “yellow lined” Irvington west of 15 th Avenue. The influx of African Americans into the neighborhood in the 1940s resulting from the destruction of Vanport in the great 1948 flood, triggered ever widening red lining – encompassing fully half of the Irvington neighborhood by the 1960s.

Victorian Irvington survives in 2018, remarkably intact, but the effects of these dramatic historic forces are visible today and form the backdrop for the new “Victorian Legacy” walking tours scheduled for this summer. The tours make for a great introduction for newcomers to Irvington. Even long-time residents will learn a bit of the lore and history that help make Irvington such a special place that it qualified for the National Register of Historic Places.

Each walking tour will begin at 10am and last roughly 90 minutes on the following Saturdays in 2018:

  • June 9 – Classic Irvington
  • June 23 – Victorian Legacy
  • July 14 – Classic Irvington
  • July 28 – Victorian Legacy
  • August 11 – Classic Irvington
  • August 25 – Victorian Legacy
  • September 8 – Classic Irvington

There isn’t a specific charge for taking the Tour, but attendees will be encouraged to make a suggested donation of $10 each to the ICA’s Historic Preservation Committee, which will use the funds for its programming. Reservations are required. For reservations or questions send an email to Robert Mercer at Robert@househistorypdx.com, being sure to indicate which date you’d like to take the tour.

View Event →