Beaverton, OR Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing chapter
- Development Code § 40.35
- Scope
- designated landmarks and historic districts only
- Alteration review
- Type 3, Planning Commission
- Demolition standard
- cannot reject bona fide relocation offer
- Exempt
- paint, signage, public art, in-kind repair
Summary
Beaverton requires City Historic Review approval before altering, moving, or demolishing a designated historic landmark, or before new construction inside a designated historic district: routine repairs, paint, signage, and public art are exempt.
The scope of Historic Review shall be limited to the exterior alteration, modification, demolition, and moving of a designated historic landmark and the construction of new structures within a designated historic district.
2. Historic Review approval shall not be required for the following:
A. Changes in use.
B. Interior remodeling.
C. Maintenance or repair of the exterior where any change to the original building materials or physical appearance is conducted in a manner that is consistent with previous approvals. Determination of the original building materials or physical appearance can be made by reviewing a historic photograph, original building plans, or other evidence of the original building features.
D. Changes in paint color. [ORD 4857; October 2024]
E. Signage located on a historic structure. [ORD 4857; October 2024]
F. Placement of public art on a historic structure. [ORD 4857; October 2024]
3. Nothing in this Code shall be construed to prevent the construction, reconstruction, alteration, or demolition of City
designated historic resources which the City Building Official certifies as required by the City's Building Code.
4. Construction of accessory structures, non-habitable buildings, or structures not considered buildings that are not attached to the historic landmark. [ORD 4697; December 2016] [ORD 4857; October 2024]
Full Breakdown
Beaverton's Development Code confines Historic Review to properties the City has formally designated as historic landmarks or that sit within a designated historic district. Within that scope, exterior alteration, modification, moving, or demolition of a landmark, and new construction inside a historic district, all require City approval before work begins. Routine maintenance using matching original materials, paint-color changes, signage, and public art on a historic structure are exempted. An Alteration of a Landmark application goes through Type 3 review before the Planning Commission; ordinary Demolition of a Landmark likewise requires Planning Commission findings that the consequences of demolition outweigh preservation and that the owner has not rejected the highest bona fide offer to buy and relocate the building. Only a Building Official's dangerous-building declaration qualifies for the faster, Director-level Emergency Demolition track.
Violations & Fines
Altering, moving, or demolishing a City-designated historic landmark (or building new within a historic district) without the required Historic Review approval is a Development Code violation subject to City enforcement; paint, signage, public art, and in-kind repairs are exempt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need City approval to repaint a historic home in Beaverton?
Can a designated Beaverton landmark be demolished?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Beaverton
Compare Beaverton to another location·View the Oregon historic preservation overview
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Historic-Cultural Monuments in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Washington County handle historic-cultural monuments.