We meet our mystery Number Man again, this time in front of 3136 and 3138 East Burnside in 1929. Both houses are still there, as is the garage.
(City of Portland Archives)
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Vintage Portland 
I wonder when the store in front of the left house was built? http://goo.gl/maps/WOIH4
I thought someone had guessed these pictures with the man in the hat with numbers were documenting buildings that were going to be demolished?
These were built in 1905. The Music Millennium building in 1931. Note there is a garage off to the left of 3136 which is no longer there. Our friend with the hat may have been doing some sort of surveying for the future building rather than signing for intended demolition. I couldn’t find info on addition of commercial space.
And panning to the left, you’d have this view 8 years later: http://goo.gl/VEdgft
I think there are actually two guys who usually carry the number. The other guy is usually smoking a pipe.
Did the street get widened on this far east on Burnside during the street widening project? The front yard is much smaller now.
These houses are mirror image twins, lots of them around Portland built right before 1905 and up until WW.I After the 1905 Exposition, Portland had a housing boom because of the rapidly increasing population.The roofs and sometimes decorative features differ.
This house plan is the same as my grandparent’s .Only it was built
on north Ivy St. and still stands. It was built in 1906.
The numbers weren’t necessarily about demolishing structures I presume, but documenting properties that were affected by some public works project. In some cases, such as the extension of Sandy Blvd., that meant destruction of homes, but in others, like road widening, that could simply mean taking part of the front yard. In other words, I suspect this was used to document eminent domain takings by the city.
And, as quiet1ne noted above, these homes definitely lost some of their front yard so this photo is likely related to the widening of Burnside.
Regarding the discussion of the number guy and widening, I found this in the City Auditors records from August of 1929:
“Map title : Showing property to be acquired in connection with the widening of E. Burnside St. Map represents an area from SE 13th St. to SE 32nd St.”
http://efiles.portlandoregon.gov/webdrawer.dll/webdrawer/rec/3663070/