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History, Memory, Trees: A Civil War Reflection at Oatlands

Posted on: November 30th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 3 Comments

Written by Katherine Malone-France, Historic Sites

Planting the first tree, from left: Sean Connaughton, Virginia Secretary of Transportation; Stephanie Meeks, National Trust president; Cate Magennis Wyatt, Journey Through Hallowed Ground founder and president; Michael O'Connor, Oatlands, Inc. board chairman; Col. Meg Roosma, West Point Alumni Glee Club and Andrea McGimsey, Oatlands executive director.

We are here today because we know there is healing power in re-planting after a bitter harvest. -- Rev. W. Morton Brown III

With that invocation, Oatlands, a Historic Site of the National Trust in Leesburg, Virginia, became home to the first of 620,000 trees -- one for every soldier who died during the Civil War -- to be planted along a transportation corridor stretching from Monticello to Gettysburg.

This effort, known as the Living Legacy Program, offered an opportunity for Oatlands, Inc., to combine its leadership in environmental sustainability with its continuing interpretation of a complex and compelling history. Eventually, 400 trees will be planted or dedicated at Oatlands, enhancing an already significant collection of historic trees. The trees will also be geo-tagged to allow smartphone users to learn the story of the soldier represented by each tree.... Read More →

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

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Prentice Hospital Granted Temporary Reprieve

Posted on: November 29th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation

While the effort to preserve Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago continues to garner national media attention -- including this segment that ran last weekend on National Public Radi0 -- the Trust continues to work with its partners in the Save Prentice Coalition on advocacy efforts to save Prentice from demolition.... Read More →

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

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Bridging the Gap Between Preservation and Conservation in Yosemite National Park

Posted on: November 26th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation

Written by Erica Stewart, Public Affairs

The Ahwahnee Bridge, Yosemite National Park (Photo courtesy Mary Rattner)

Thirty-five years ago on this day, the National Park Service added eight stone Rustic-style bridges in Yosemite National Park to the National Register of Historic Places.

This designation, unexpected because the bridges were less than fifty years old at the time, was in recognition of their “unique…architectural design” and “aesthetic considerations.” Built between 1928-1932, the bridges of Yosemite represent the second largest collection of Rustic style bridges in the entire park system -- second only to the south rim of the Grand Canyon -- and provide a stunning complement to the majestic natural beauty of the Yosemite Valley. They are also key contributors to a National Register-listed Historic District, which is based on its national significance.

Today, these bridges are at the center of a controversy that highlights the potential tension between cultural resource protection and natural resource conservation. The issue is that three of the bridges—the Stoneman, Awhahnee, and the Sugar Pine—are endangered by the Park Service’s preliminary proposals for managing the Merced River, a federally designated “Wild and Scenic River.”

The Wild and Scenic River status means that the National Park Service must identify what it is that makes a river significant (its “outstandingly remarkable values,” or ORVs) and then develop a plan to protect them. Historic and cultural values are specifically identified as eligible values.

Remarkably, the Park Service failed to identify the river’s historic bridges or any other historic structures in the valley as ORVs. In fact, four of the five preliminary proposals suggested eliminating one or more of the historic bridges. This prompted the National Trust to place the bridges of Yosemite Valley on the 2012 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list, and name them as a National Treasure.

Stoneman Bridge, Yosemite National Park (Photo courtesy Lee Rentz)

Since then, the National Trust’s San Francisco Field Office has worked diligently with the Park Service to strike an agreement that would balance the conservation of natural values with the preservation of historically and culturally significant structures. Thanks in large part to this advocacy, and that of other stakeholders, the Park Service has added a new Yosemite Valley Historic Resources ORV that represents “a collection of river-related or river dependent, rare, unique or exemplary buildings and structures.”

While this is encouraging, our work is far from over. The draft Merced River Plan is expected to be released in early December and it will likely call for the removal of at least Sugar Pine Bridge, among other actions that would harm the Yosemite Valley Historic District.

The reason that the Park Service has proposed the removal of historic Merced River bridges is that their foundations are within the river’s natural channel, impeding free flow during periods of high water. But studies have identified many factors beyond the historic bridges that impact the Merced’s hydrology, and that the Park Service has a wide range of treatment options available that don’t require bridge demolition, including “bioengineering” techniques and better visitor management to avoid human trampling of riverbank vegetation.

The good news is that there is still time to make an impact on the bridges. The public is invited to participate in the 90-day period of review and comment for the Draft Merced River Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. Together, we are confident that a Park Service management plan can be realized for the Merced River that embraces, rather than endangers, these special bridges.

Please stay tuned to www.savingplaces.org for updates on our effort and what you can do to help.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

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From Main Street: Will Lifestyle Centers Replace Downtown?

Posted on: November 19th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 2 Comments

This blog post was adapted and edited for length from an article on the National Trust Main Street Center. Read the original piece here by Michael Stumpf, consultant and principal of Place Dynamics LLC.

Lifestyle centers -- a new open-air retail format smaller than a regional mall and often unanchored by traditional department stores -- are developers' response to a changing retail landscape. These centers cater to the specialty retailers, restaurants, and service chains that continue to add new store locations. The open-air format, design and amenities, and concentration of entertainment uses seek to create a more exciting environment to attract customers.

Interestingly, developers of lifestyle centers looked to traditional downtowns as an inspiration in creating the new format. For example:

Buildings are often made to look like multiple storefronts that have evolved over time.
Shops open directly to the sidewalk. Cars have even been introduced into the center with streets and parking.
The center will usually have entertainment uses, such as theaters and fitness centers. Residential or office uses may also be incorporated into the mix.

The format also gives mall operators an advantage over traditional downtowns in that, as private property, they are able to better regulate many of the issues that present challenges for downtown programs, such as:

Location. A lifestyle center, as a new creation, can be located in the best place relative to population and transportation networks.
New design. Designed from scratch, it can also create a pattern of uses, circulation, common spaces, and parking that addresses the desires of tenants and customers alike.
Ownership. Owning the properties allows operators to approve or disapprove of potential tenants, determine where they can locate in the center, regulate facades and signs, and establish policies for hours of operation.
Available resources. Tenant fees, paid by all, go toward providing security, maintaining common areas, and promoting the center, without the need for a member-based organization or business improvement district.

Historic downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin.

But do lifestyle centers really succeed in recreating the experience of a true downtown? While there are some very good examples of lifestyle malls as “new town centers,” the majority fall short in their design, more closely resembling the open air malls that were built until enclosed malls became the norm in the 1960s.

Even the best of the centers, though, still miss the mark in a few key areas. Despite their design appeal, lifestyle malls are filled with the same shops selling the same merchandise and the same restaurants with the same food as every other mall in America. Although safe and clean, they may also appear a bit sterile.

A close look at the buildings reveals them to be large structures with tacked-on facades, rather than individual structures with their own history. In fact, it is history that is missing from the picture. A true downtown has a patina, a unique feel, a randomness that can’t be duplicated.

Downtowns will not compete by trying to be like lifestyle centers, even though there are lessons to be learned from their design and management practices. Instead, downtowns will succeed based on their ability to differentiate themselves from the homogeneous aspects of these malls. They will build on their history, promote their unique shops and restaurants, incorporate residential and employment uses, provide flexibility in design, and celebrate the quirks, scars, and oddities that have appeared over time.

All of these characteristics tell a story that can be compelling, if the district tells it well. These things have an emotional appeal. People will talk of loving their downtown. How many people love the mall?

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

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This Veterans Day, Help Save Places That Serve Our Soldiers

Posted on: November 12th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

Written by Erica Stewart, Public Affairs

In recognition of Veterans Day, we’re taking a look at two of our National Treasures that have a special connection to our armed forces.

Old Main Building at Milwaukee Soldiers Home.

The first is the Milwaukee VA Soldiers Home. Located on the grounds of the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, the Milwaukee Soldiers Home first started serving area veterans shortly after the Civil War. It’s one of three original National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and was named a National Historic Landmark District in 2011 because it retains the oldest buildings in the system and is a largely intact “village” and designed landscape.

Unfortunately, some of these structures, such as the Ward Theatre and the 1869 Gothic Revival style Old Main building, are in serious disrepair and in need of help. In winter 2010, for example, Old Main’s roof collapsed, leaving it exposed to the elements for nearly two years. The Ward Theatre faces a similarly grave threat.

The VA has taken strides recently to stabilize Old Main, a significant step in the right direction. But, as Stephanie Meeks stated in a recent op-ed, much more work is needed -- and fast -- to ensure these vacant buildings can once again serve veterans.

Ward Theatre, Milwaukee Soldiers Home.

The National Trust is working closely with several local organizations and elected officials to push for preserving the Soldiers Home and re-using its vacant buildings. The coalition includes a Community Advisory Council made up of veterans, neighbors, preservationists and civic, community and business leaders.

To help engage the public in this effort, the coalition just launched the #MySoldiersHome campaign, which invites individuals to share stories, photos and other remembrances -- reminding us how the Soldiers Home has positively impacted so many people.

Also exciting is that starting in 2013, for the first time in many years, the public will be able to see the grandeur of this place for themselves through self-guided walking tours organized by the National Trust and the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance. More information on all of these opportunities to get involved can be found at www.SavetheSoldiersHome.com.

Battle Mountain Sanitarium.

A similar fight is taking place at the Battle Mountain Sanitarium in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Like the Milwaukee Soldiers Home, Battle Mountain Sanitarium is one of the original branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (a precursor to the Department of Veterans Affairs).

The campus was established by Congress in 1902 as the sole medical facility of the National Home network and opened to patients in 1907. Its locally-quarried sandstone buildings helped earn the campus National Historic Landmark status.

Today, the complex provides essential medical services for veterans in the area, yet the VA wants to shutter it and construct a new facility 60 miles away. Not only would this place the future of this remarkable campus at risk, it would also severely impact the town of Hot Springs, where the medical center is the single largest employer. The ramifications would be felt widely, as veterans from Nebraska and Wyoming also currently seek treatment in Hot Springs.

Corridor at Battle Mountain Sanitarium.

Working closely with the Save the VA Campaign, the National Trust is fighting to make the VA recognize its responsibility to safely steward this historic resource, including involving public input and considering the harmful effects of shuttering the complex, as required by federal law.

There are signs that we’re gaining ground. Most recently, our campaign received a shot in the arm from South Dakota’s congressional delegation. First, the tri-state congressional delegation (South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming) requested that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki visit Hot Springs and meet with stakeholders.

But after they received no response, the South Dakota congressional delegation decided it had had enough. South Dakota’s members publicly communicated to the Secretary their flat-out opposition to the VA’s current proposal to reconfigure services in the VA Black Hills Health Care System.

This is a bold move by the South Dakota congressional members and one that we were hoping they would exercise. The support of Congress on this matter is of the utmost importance to help ensure that veterans, locals, preservationists, and other stakeholders are heard.

This Veterans Day, while we reflect upon the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the armed forces, we should do what we can to support the places they rely on in times of need. It is the least we can do.

Stay tuned to SavingPlaces.org for campaign updates and consider making a donation to support this work.