The Laurelhurst neighborhood in Portland is an historic twentieth-century neighborhood of residences and parkland, with origins in the nineteenth century. It was developed along streetcar lines as an exclusive residential suburb and now, only forty blocks from downtown Portland, its unique street pattern and housing stock remain distinctive features of the city's landscape.

Laurelhurst began as a large dairy farm, owned by William S. Ladd, he called it Hazel Fern Farm. When Ladd died in 1893, the 464-acre farm went into probate. Ladd’s son, William M. Ladd, settled the estate and sold the farm in 1909 to the Laurelhurst Company for two million dollars. The neighborhood and company were named for a neighborhood in Seattle, which had been developed by company principal Paul Murphy.

Laurelhurst neighborhood is comprised of a mixture of vintage homes which surrounds a park by the same name. It straddles the NE and SE sections of Portland Oregon. Stone gates flank the west and south entrances to the area. The centerpoint of the neighborhood is NE Glisan St and Cesar Chavez (39th) Ave. This location is Coe Circle, which contains a gilded stature of Joan of Arc, a WW I war memorial. 









The borders of Laurelhurst are I-84 freeway to the north, 32nd Ave to the west, 44th Ave to the east and SE Stark Street to the south. At the center of the neighborhood is Coe Circle. Near the center of the neighborhood is Coe Circle, originally the site of the sales office for Laurelhurst homes and a stop on the Glisan streetcar line.


In 1909, the Ladd Estate Company sold its 462-acre Hazelfern Farm to the Laurelhurst Company for approximately $2 million. The name Laurelhurst was borrowed from a residential development in Seattle that Laurelhurst Company general manager Paul Murphy had recently completed. The name combined a reference to the laurel shrubbery near the Seattle development with the Old English hurst, denoting a wooded hill. The Laurelhurst Company platted a residential development of 144 acres with the help of co-investor and landscape architect John Olmsted. As the first houses were being built, the city purchased 31 acres for $92,000 to construct Laurelhurst Park. Advertised as a "High Class Residence Park," the Laurelhurst Company placed numerous restrictions on the neighborhood, the sale of alcohol was prohibited. Additionally, there were to be no apartments, hotels, motels, flats, stables, or commercial buildings. 

The Gates at 32nd and Peerless Place

The Gates at 32nd and Glisan St

The Gates at 32nd and Burnside St

The Gates at Chavez and Stark St

The Markham Home

Built in 1911, the Markham home is considered a gateway to the Laurelhurst District. Located on the corner of NE 32nd and Glisan, the California mission style home featured a gable roof with a curvilinear facade, square turrets on the north and east sides, arched front arcade and tile roof. The Laurelhurst gate is incorporated into the corner of the yard and retaining wall. The house was threatened with demolition in 2014, but was saved by a group of locals. The house was remodeled in 2015. The house was surprisingly small (1500 square feet) but looked much larger from the street. It's built on a double lot. The house looks different today, but still retains its charm. 

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Laurelhurst Gates Time Line