Humboldt

– Humboldt Neighborhood –

The Humboldt neighborhood in northeast Portland, Oregon is bordered by the Piedmont neighborhood to the north, Boise to the south, Overlook to the west, and the King neighborhood to the west.  This neighborhood is packed with stunning architecture from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The area is often considered part of the the Mississippi or Mississippi-Albina district (technically in the Boise neighborhood), two streets with a great feel where there are lots of bars, restaurants, and coffee houses.

Architecture

Humboldt is a Portland neighborhood with some grand homes, such as the one pictured above, built by John Palmer.  The house was once used as the Multnomah Conservatory of Music and was a bed and breakfast at one time.  As of 2024, the median home price in Humboldt was around $610K.  The architecture in the Humboldt neighborhood  is widely varied and includes Foursquare, Bungalow, Portland Style, Victorian, Craftsman, and other styles. Humboldt is roughly bounded by NE Ainsworth Street to the north, NE Skidmore Street to the south, NE Rodney Avenue to the east, and N Missouri Avenue to the west.

A historic building houses a branch of the Multnomah County Library.  The nearly 8,000 sq. ft. building was constructed in 1914.

Lifestyle

Being bordered by Mississippi Avenue adds to the appeal of this charming neighborhood since Mississippi is loaded with restaurants, bars, cafes, coffee shops and tons of good street food carts.  Mississippi’s live music venues draw large crowds from all over Portland nightly.  There are also plenty of great spots along North Killingsworth Street.  Humboldt is a youthful neighborhood with a good amount of foot and bicycle traffic.  Anyone who enjoys historic home architecture will love the eye candy this area presents.  It is recommended that you walk the residential streets in Humboldt to fully appreciate the diversity of designs.

 

Demographics

The area has become quite gentrified over the past two decades.  It was once easy to find historic fixer-uppers in Humboldt, but no longer.  Most house have been rehabilitated.  In 1919, the Portland Realty Board officially adopted housing discrimination.  This was among the few places to allow blacks to settle.  By 1940, half of Portland’s black community lived in the Williams Avenue area, according to the Humboldt Neighborhood Association.  Today over half the population is white and about 30% are African American.  Roughly 12% identify has Latino or Hispanic.  About 45% of the residents are in the range of 20 to 44 years old.  About 30% of households include children under the age of 18.