Author Archive

Hurricane-Battered Church Still in Need of Repairs

Posted on: May 15th, 2013 by Lauren Walser No Comments

Kadesh A. M. E. Zion Church, Edenton, Chowan County. Credit: B. Garrett, State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State, North Carolina State University, Libraries, Special Collections Research Center

Hurricane Isabel ravaged the East Coast nearly a decade ago, and in Edenton, N.C., its effects are still seen at the Kadesh African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

Spanning an entire block on East Gale Street, the church complex sustained such significant damage from the 2003 storm that it was deemed unsafe for parishioners to continue worshiping there.

“Now it’s just kind of sitting there, an empty shell,” says Sam Dixon, a local attorney and an adviser to the National Trust who has long been rallying for the restoration of the church.

Congregants moved to another venue across town, but as Dixon says, “They’re ready to go home.”... Read More →

Lauren Walser

Lauren Walser is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. She enjoys writing and thinking about history, art, architecture, and public space.

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Uncertain Future (and Contentious Past) for Kansas City Church

Posted on: May 10th, 2013 by Lauren Walser No Comments

Elevation from street level of St. John the Divine Church in Kansas City, Kan.

Once the center of the Mexican-American Catholic community in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan., today, St. John the Divine Catholic Church faces possible demolition.
... Read More →

Lauren Walser

Lauren Walser is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. She enjoys writing and thinking about history, art, architecture, and public space.

More Posts (26)

[Slideshow] Global Tree Project: A Conversation with Artist Shinji Turner-Yamamoto

Posted on: May 3rd, 2013 by Lauren Walser No Comments

When Osaka-born artist Shinji Turner-Yamamoto stepped into the abandoned 1895 Holy Cross Church in Cincinnati, he got goose bumps. He knew that it was there, among the crumbling plaster and peeling paint, that he would create his next art installation.

“Hanging Garden,” as seen in the slideshow below, is one of 11 site-specific art installations that make up Turner-Yamamoto’s Global Tree Project. Other installations have been created at the Sutra Hall of the 8th-century Kiyomizu Temple, a garden in New Delhi, the Mongolian Gobi Desert, and a ruined folly on a cliff overlooking the Celtic Sea.

While he seeks to forge connections between his viewers and the natural world, in the case of “Hanging Garden,” he also created a striking connection with a historic building. We talked with Turner-Yamamoto, who now splits his time between Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., to find out why he was drawn to the church, what he hopes to inspire in viewers, and why he considers it important to save historic places.

(Please note that no trees were harmed or killed in the installation of this work.)... Read More →

Lauren Walser

Lauren Walser is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. She enjoys writing and thinking about history, art, architecture, and public space.

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If Seats Could Talk: Richard Nixon and Sammy Davis Jr. Share the Stage at Miami Marine Stadium

Posted on: April 18th, 2013 by Lauren Walser 1 Comment

In July 1971, President Nixon appointed Sammy Davis Jr. to his National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity.

Though it’s been closed for 20 years, the 6,566-seat Miami Marine Stadium has seen its share of excitement since it was built in 1963. You’ve read about the boat races, concerts, and boxing matches held there in both the Spring 2013 issue of Preservation magazine and in the first two parts of our “If Seats Could Talk” series, a collection of stories compiled by the Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium to raise awareness and increase support for the venue’s restoration.

In part three, Stuart Blumberg shares his experience attending a political rally at the stadium -- and witnessing an embrace that went down in history.... Read More →

Lauren Walser

Lauren Walser is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. She enjoys writing and thinking about history, art, architecture, and public space.

More Posts (26)

[Slideshow] Largest Craftsman Ever Built in U.S. Celebrates Its 100th Year

Posted on: March 22nd, 2013 by Lauren Walser 1 Comment

The wood shakes on the house were deteriorating by the time Fenton purchased the property. He consulted with architects, fellow historic homeowners, and manufacturers of products designed for historic buildings in order to learn how to best repair them. He eventually stripped and re-stained each shake by hand.

It is said to be the largest Craftsman residence ever built, and now, after an extensive 25-year restoration, the three-story house in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles known as Artemesia is celebrating its centennial.

Built in 1913, Artemesia was designed by architect Frank A. Brown for the family of engineer Frederick E. Engstrum, whose father founded a major Southern California construction company.

After passing through the hands of several owners, the house sat largely neglected since the early 1940s, until advertising executive Leonard Fenton purchased the house in 1987 at the tender age of 23.... Read More →