News & Events

Painter Preservation - Celebrating 20 years
Painter Preservation turns 20 this year! To celebrate, we will be posting some of our favorite projects that we’ve undertaken since 2002 on our Painter Preservation Facebook page, beginning on our anniversary date of March 22, 2022. Check it out!
Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation
Diana Painter is pleased to have just completed her first year as president of the Spokane Preservation Advocates (SPA). SPA was founded in 1997 with the goals of advocating for historic preservation in Spokane to maintain its quality of life, but also to educate the public about historic preservation.
More Information: SPA Website | SPA Membership Current Events
Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation
We are tremendously pleased to learn that the First United Methodist Church won the Outstanding Rehabilitation Award for 2019 from the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Painter Preservation prepared the first in-depth Historic Resource Survey for the church in 2003 for the Environmental Impact Statement, in which we found it highly significant in Seattle's history. We always hoped for an outcome like this!
California Preservation Foundation
Diana Painter will be speaking at the California Preservation Foundation conference on May 9th from 11 am to 12:30 pm as part of a panel discussion entitled, "Preservation in California's Changing Climate." The focus of this first of two panel discussions will be on fire. Diana will be speaking with Julianne Polanco, the California Historic Preservation Officer; Robert Melnick, Professor Emeritus of the University of Oregon; and Cheryl Miller, a landscape architect who specializes in wildfire prevention. Diana's presentation will focus on the Sonoma Valley Post-2017 Survey Update. More about the conference can be seen here.
Sonoma Valley Historical Society
Diana Painter to speak on historic preservation in the Sonoma Valley Diana Painter will be giving a talk on Saturday, November 10th at 2:00 pm at the Sonoma Community Center (276 E Napa St in Sonoma) entitled, "Preserving the Sonoma Valley: 115 Years of Community Activism." In 1903, the Sonoma Valley Woman's Club began their successful quest to save the Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma from the ravages of time and the Sonoma Plaza from its use as a cow pasture. Recordation, recognition, and preservation of the Sonoma Valley's historic buildings and landscapes has since been continuous throughout the last 115 years, from documentation as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey under the New Deal programs of the 1930s, to the present release of the Sonoma Valley Historic Context by Painter Preservation. Come learn about Sonoma's rich history of preserving its matchless historic resources! More information can be found at: www.depotparkmuseum.org. PDF of flyer
Sonoma Valley Historical Society
Sonoma Valley Post-2017 Fire Survey Update is now online The October 2017 Nuns fire damaged homes, businesses, and the Sonoma Valley's iconic landscapes. It also damaged the Valley's priceless historic resources. A report documenting the impact of the fires, funded by a National Trust for Historic Preservation grant to the Sonoma Valley Historical Society, was prepared by Painter Preservation and is now available online. . The report updates the survey of over 275 properties in the Sonoma Valley conducted between 2012 and 2014. Featured properties include the Justi Adobe, the Bouverie Audubon Preserve, the Buena Vista Winery, the Chateau St. Jean Winery, the barns at Glen Oaks Ranch and Sunnyslope Ranch, Larigne's French Resort, and Eldridge Farm at the Sonoma Developmental Center.
Sonoma Valley Historical Society
Article featuring Pietro Belluschi's Aloha Farmhouse is now online In 2014, while employed at the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Diana Painter wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for Pietro Belluschi's Aloha Farmhouse in Beaverton, Oregon. Internationally recognized modernist Pietro Belluschi remodeled the modest country farmhouse for his own family, who lived there from 1944 to 1948, and used it as a venue for experimenting with his ideas on regional modernism. Today it is the last intact building in the Portland metropolitan area that Belluschi designed for his own personal use. Now on the market, the property was featured in a September 2018 article in OregonLive, noting the forthcoming lecture by Belluschi's son Anthony on growing up in the farmhouse. A copy of the National Register nomination is available here.
NAPC
Painter Preservation's work on the Spokane Mid-20th Century Modern Context Statement and Inventory was recognized with a national award from the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions at their recent meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. The Commission Excellence Award went to the Spokane Landmarks Commission for their role in sponsoring the project, which was recognized for its active engagement of the public and its social media strategy. For more about the project, see the dedicated webpage.
DAHP
Painter Preservation along with Helveticka has been recognized for the "Spokane Mid-20th Century Modern Context Statement and Inventory" project, which has won the Washington State Historic Preservation Officer's Award for Outstanding Achievements in Historic Preservation in the area of Media. We designed a robust social media campaign for the project in order to "get the word out" about Spokane's great modern resources. Among the strategies was to post a different building every week on the Spokane Historic Preservation Office's Facebook page, which greatly enhanced its following. For more about the project, see the dedicated webpage.
City of Spokane
An article on the City of Spokane Mid-20th Century Modern Context Statement and Inventory, completed by Painter Preservation with Helveticka, was recently published in "This Place," the quarterly magazine of the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. The article, authored by Historic Preservation Officer Megan Duvall and entitled "Mid-Century Spokane, Appreciating a new era of historic preservation," highlights the contribution of Spokane's modern masters and the successful social media strategy employed to "get the word out" about Modernism in Spokane. Read article
Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation
Diana Painter will be presenting a paper at the March 14-18, 2018 Conference of the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation entitled, "Landscapes of Succession, Paraiso Hot Springs and Jonesboro Ranch, Two Case Studies." This paper explores two contrasting strategies for the re-development of two large rural properties that have been actively used since the time they were occupied by Native Americans. Both located in rugged, arid locations, they each present their own challenges in balancing preservation and conservation.
City and County of San Francisco
I am pleased to announce that Painter Preservation has been selected to be part of a three year, On-Call contract to evaluate historic resources in the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco is a fascinating city, and we are looking forward to the challenge!
City of Spokane
I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed to the City of Spokane Plan Commission. The Plan Commission provides for public involvement in planning issues and makes recommendations on planning goals, policies, and regulations to the City Council. A recent action was the recommendation of a progressive new historic preservation ordinance on behalf of the City's Historic Preservation Office.
Society of Architectural Historians
Diana Painter is pleased to announce that she has been elected to a third term as president of the Society of Architectural Historians Marion Dean Ross chapter. The Marion Dean Ross chapter includes members from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia and is part of a national and international organization. The chapter's main professional activities are conducting an annual conference with scholarly papers and granting research scholarships. More information on the upcoming conference in Astoria
Forum 2016 - National Alliance of Preservation Commissions
Diana Painter moderated a panel discussion at the Forum 2016 annual meeting of the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions in Mobile, AL. The panel discussion, entitled, "Preservation Plans: Community engagement, development and implementation," focused on preservation planning and featured the historic preservation officers for Tacoma, King County, and Olympia, all in Washington State.
sahanz5 logo
Diana Painter was selected to present a paper at the 2014 meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia New Zealand (SAHANZ) annual meeting in Auckland, New Zealand. The theme of the conference was, "Translations." Diana's paper entitled, "Regional Modernism on the West Coast: A Tale of Four Cities," and focuses on the similarities and differences in mid-20th-century residential design in four west coast cities. Read Paper
VAF logo
Diana Painter was selected to present a paper at the 2014 meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, which took place in Galloway Township, New Jersey this year. Her paper, entitled "Pietro Belluschi's Aloha Farmhouse, An Evolving Vernacular Vocabulary," focuses on a Craftsman-era residence that renowned Pacific Northwest architect Pietro Belluschi remodeled and lived in with his family from 1944 to 1948. The paper focuses on the influences on Belluschi's residential architecture in this time frame, as evidenced in his remodel of this modest farmhouse.
Society of Architectural Historians
Diana Painter offered a presentation on Painter Preservation's survey of mid-20th-century architecture in Montana at the 2012 meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians Marion Dean Ross chapter. The survey, which focused heavily on public and educational resources, such as college and high school campuses, took place throughout the state in 2009-10. The title of the talk was, "Surveying Mid-Century Modern Resources: The Montana Experience." The project was sponsored by the Montana Historic Preservation Office and was funded with a Preserve America grant.

Spokane Office
3518 North C Street
Spokane, WA 99205

Sonoma County Office
2681 Cleveland Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

15 year anniversary