Portland, OR Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

A public monument may be considered for review based on one or more of the following reasons:

1. There is sustained and significant adverse public reaction or reasonable large-scale community opposition to the public monument.

2. The artist, donor, or subject of the public monument, or their descendants, provides a written request to the City seeking removal of the monument from public display.

3. Community members most affected by the monument’s historical and cultural context have expressed a negative impact on community wellbeing.

4. The subject or impact of a public monument is significantly at odds with the City’s values of anti-racism, equity, transparency, communication, collaboration, and fiscal responsibility.

5. The public monument is damaged or requires restoration in gross excess of its value or is in a deteriorated state that restoration is either not feasible or impractical.

6. The public monument interferes with the practical use of the site or significant changes in the use or character of design of the site affect the integrity of the monument.

7. The location of a site-specific public monument provides an environmental risk or is so severely altered that the work’s installation is no longer physically possible or conceptually relevant, or no suitable site for the monument is available.

8. The monument requires excessive repair or unreasonable maintenance or has physical faults in design or workmanship.