National Register of Historic Places
Portland High School
Portland, Ionia County, Michigan
The record
- Listed
- August 8, 2016
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 306 Brush St., Portland
- County
- Ionia
- State
- Michigan
- Contributing resources
- 1 building
- Coordinates
- 42.86611, -84.90413
- Reference number
- 16000508
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
Portland High School is a three-story brick school building at 306 Brush St. in Portland, Ionia County, built in 1919-1920 in the Late Gothic Revival style. Architect Thomas E. White designed it, and a 1935-1936 addition enlarged the school.
Why it's listed
It was listed in the National Register in 2016 under criteria A and C, with local-level significance in education. Its period of significance runs from 1919 to 1963, reflecting the 1919-1920 building and 1935-1936 addition.
Physical character
The walls combine light yellow-buff brick with limestone accent bands, dark red and cream brick elsewhere, and a limestone foundation. Recessed entrances are edged with limestone jambs beneath archways, and the H-shaped interior keeps a combined auditorium and gymnasium with original wood and terrazzo floors. In 1965 the stage became a corridor, and in the 1990s the former gymnasium became four townhouse apartments.
Historical context
The previous high school burned in 1918; White designed its replacement, completed in 1920. After a new high school opened on Storz Avenue in 1963, this building became the junior high school in 1967. The Old School Manor partnership donated the site to the City of Portland in 1992, and The Woda Group planned to redevelop the school into senior housing by 2015.