The Return of Streetcar Architecture

This article in The Oregonian is an introductory but thorough look at the return of mixed-use and streetcar-oriented development in Portland. Randal O'Toole critiques the movement, while Jeff Stuhr of Holst Architecture talks about some of their new streetcar-type buildings.

"While planners map out details for a modest east side streetcar loop that will open in 2011, the east side's original streetcar arterials such as Hawthorne, Belmont, Alberta and Mississippi are flourishing with the new generation of streetcar buildings.

The first heyday of streetcar architecture was 1900 to 1925. "The classic size was two and three stories," Abbott says. "Now we're getting five and six stories, if you look at what's happening on North Mississippi and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It's the same, but it's also different. It's higher density than we had 75 or 100 years ago.""