Conferences

Buffalo! Buff-alo! Buff-a-lo!

Posted on: July 13th, 2011 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 3 Comments

Written by Priya Chhaya

Buffalo's Central Terminal Building (Photo: Jason Clement)

Those of you that read this blog regularly know that I am a huge cheerleader for the National Preservation Conference. I believe that there is no better time to gather together and get the lay of the land, make new contacts, and solidify existing professional relationships — not to mention gathering new tools to be a successful preservationist.

And like a broken record, I know that I say EVERY YEAR, that this year’s conference is going to be better than the last one. (And yes, I did just hear the mutterings of “Buffalo—really?” through the internets.)

Super powers aside, I will be the first to admit that five/six months ago, I would have been right there with you. So what changed? I started listening, and reading, about our host city while thinking about the dramatic changes and issues that preservationists have faced in the last year. And I realized that all that talk about Buffalo being a living laboratory for the preservation field is completely true.

Fact: PUSH Buffalo (People United for Sustainable Housing), recently won an Ashoka Changemakers award for the development of a Green Development Zone (GDZ) on Buffalo's West Side. This GDZ concentrates investments in green affordable housing, geo-thermal and solar energy, green jobs training, and urban agriculture. In order to accomplish this vision for the GDZ, PUSH engaged in an extensive community planning involving hundreds of neighborhood residents.

Fact: Buffalo is the home to Steel Winds, a successful alternative energy project which is built on 30 acres of a former industrial (and Superfund) site, and serves as a model of how future sustainable projects can work without engaging in preservation concerns. (Learn more about this in the next issue of Forum Journal due out later this month.)

Fact: Buffalo Public Schools are in the final phase of a one billion dollar (yep, you read that right) project to integrate green technologies into Buffalo’s historic school system.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House (Photo: Jason Clement)

Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House (Photo: Julia Rocchi)

Fact: Buffalo is home to magnificent Olmsted Parks, along with striking rehabilitation and adaptive use success stories in architecture by American greats Frank Lloyd Wright and H.H. Richardson.

So while one my posts last year looked back at conferences of years past, this year I am aiming to look forward and talk about opportunities.

I believe that if you come to Buffalo for this year’s National Preservation Conference you will have the opportunity to look at preservation through the eyes of a city that is embracing the future through its past. The work that the community and preservation organizations are accomplishing involves taking a realistic view of the changes in our economy and a way of life—and understand that change does not only mean building new, but also looking at new ways to use existing assets to revitalize a city that many have long since written off.

So come visit Buffalo for the first time with me this October and we’ll all cheer together: Buffalo! Buff-alo! Buff-a-lo!

By the way: Early Bird Registration ends on July 31. Register early to save money!

Priya Chhaya is a program associate in the Partnerships Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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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Remembering the Importance of Industrial Heritage

Posted on: June 15th, 2011 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

Written by Priya Chhaya

Vulcan, Roman god of the forge, in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo: Alison Hinchman)

Two years ago, as a part of Preservation Leadership Training (PLT), I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, where the giant statue of Vulcan - the Roman god of the Forge - towers over the landscape, reminding residents and visitors of the city’s rich industrial heritage. As part of PLT’s requisite community tour we visited Sloss Furnaces, a 20th-century foundry being preserved and interpreted as a historic industrial site. Since I grew up in Virginia - the land of plantation homes and Colonial Williamsburg - the tour was an eye-opening experience. These furnaces are a tangible reminder of the sweeping changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution in cities across the country.

But saving places that tell the story of our industrial heritage isn’t easy. Last November a group of preservationists gathered to reflect on the challenges of saving these places, which are often quite gritty, in a state of disrepair, and surrounded by brownfields. But they are also incredibly inspiring and important. The symposium, which was called “Industrial Heritage Retooled” was funded by The J.M. Kaplan Fund. The discussions from the symposium are documented, in part, in the Spring 2011 issue of Forum Journal. Contributors identify the challenges of preserving these sites, while also defining the possible opportunities that these large-scale, abandoned sites represent for their communities. Turning them into museums is only one possible solution.

I found three articles in the journal to be particularly compelling. Each focused on the industrial heritage of a particular city or state: Pittsburgh, Montana, and North Carolina. These narratives emphasized how reusing industrial sites makes a community stronger. One of the most evocative statements was by August R. Carlino (president and CEO of the Steel Industry Heritage Corp. which manages the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area), who stated that “when the mills began to come down, the deconstruction was as much psychological as it was physical. Tearing down a mill, a symbol of permanence that had stood for lifetimes, was shocking. It represented not only the death of the mill; it was the death of a way of life - a way of life that was the only life a vast majority of the people that lived in these communities knew.”

2009 PLT tour of Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo: Priya Chhaya)

Preserving these sites is a challenge, but we hope that by continuing to draw attention to their plight and reuse possibilities, more of these places will be saved. For Forum members, Preserving America’s Industrial Heritage is available in the Forum Library; for others it is available for purchase on www.preservationbooks.org. Additionally, there will be a Forum members-only live chat with some of the attendees of Industrial Heritage Retooled on May 23, 2011. Visit the Live Chat page for details.

If you are interested in industrial heritage, then there is a good reason to attend this year’s National Preservation Conference in Buffalo. This year’s program includes a track dedicated to the topic - plus you will be visiting a city that is a living laboratory for historic preservation. Super Early Bird Registration for Forum members ends on June 30, and Early Bird Registration ends on July 31.

Finally, since today is the day that the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places, I wanted to point out that one of the sites on this year’s list is the Pillsbury “A” Mill in Minneapolis, Minn. Built in 1881, it was the largest and most technologically advanced flour mill in the world at the time of completion. This National Historic Landmark is now under threat of piecemeal development. Some great pictures and drawings can be found in the Historic American Engineering Record.

Why save sites of industrial heritage? Because, as Duncan Hay (vice president of the Society for Industrial Archeology) states in his article, “Industrial structures are central to a sense of place. They are often the most prominent features on the landscape, visible to all who enter the community, and unavoidable once you’re there.”

Priya Chhaya is a program associate in the Partnerships Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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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Register Now for the National Preservation Conference!

Posted on: June 1st, 2011 by National Trust for Historic Preservation

Sparks are flying in Buffalo. And you'll see why when you join us at the National Preservation Conference this October and experience the energy behind one of the most creative urban revitalizations in America today.

You want the heavy hitters? Buffalo's got 'em. Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson, Richard Upjohn, Daniel, Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Eliel and Eero Saarinen ... all have left their architectural mark, prompting The New York Times to call Buffalo a "textbook" for modern American cities.

But it's not just about the buildings. It's about the area's claim to fame as the birthplace for the American Arts and Crafts Movement. It's about its legacy of industrial heritage -- a town built by steel, hydropower, and industry. It's about neighborhoods, community, and pride.

We invite you to come to this living laboratory and join us in exploring this year's theme, "Alternating Currents." We're offering sessions in 14 different topic tracks, debating preservation's hottest topics (rightsizing, anyone?), and introducing you to Buffalo's preservationists, who can tell you firsthand how they're using preservation to build their economy.

Register by July 31 to take advantage of early bird savings! (Forum members can save even more if they book by June 30 -- full details here.) And if you're a professional, stay tuned for more info on continuing education credits from AIA (HSW, SD and general), APA (ethics, law and general), and USGBC.

The Nickel City -- this 'city of no illusions' as one local slogan goes -- is ready to welcome you. Come be surprised.

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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Bike Tour Highlights Austin’s Preservation Successes and Challenges

Posted on: April 19th, 2011 by Guest Writer

Written by Ellen Davis

View of Austin skyline from Long Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo: Ellen Davis)

The 2010 National Preservation Conference in Austin was outstanding, but the best part for me came during the three-hour bike ride around Austin. At the beginning of the ride, we passed through an old Hispanic neighborhood downtown. This neighborhood is the site of the city’s new Mexican American Cultural Center. Unfortunately, this cute neighborhood is located right on the edge of Austin’s growing convention center district. Most of the houses have been demolished to make way for commercial structures and the few remaining houses are in very poor condition.

We took our first rest break in an area of town called Clarksville, which was founded by freed slaves. There are not many African-Americans living in Clarksville today due to gentrification of the area. In fact, the Sunday after the conference ended, the Austin American-Statesman featured Clarksville in its real estate section. A 1,344-square foot 1920s cottage in the neighborhood was on the market for $429,900. An 836-square foot cottage was on the market for $299,900. We enjoyed drinks and snacks with members of the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church, which was built in 1871. One of my fellow Texas Scholars is trying to raise funds to restore the church, which has been the cornerstone of the community.

Bike Tour rest stop at German Free School, headquarters of the German-Texas Heritage Society. (Photo: Ellen Davis)

Our second rest stop was at the headquarters of the German-Texas Heritage Society, which is housed in a limestone building that was constructed in 1857 as a school for the children of German immigrants. Our tour organizers even had homemade apple strudel brought up from New Braunfels. The building’s tree-lined property is a beautiful oasis in the heart of downtown. We also stopped near another historic limestone building that bears an uncanny resemblance to one of the buildings on the campus of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where I work. I wondered if the two were designed by the same architect.

Seeing the historic buildings that remain in Austin made me realize how beautiful a city it must have been before the state government expanded its presence in the city and many of the historic buildings were destroyed to make room for nondescript office buildings and parking garages. The tour underscored for me a statement that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman on the day of the bike tour − the National Trust chose Austin for its 2010 national conference because of its preservation successes and challenges. We certainly saw both in the course of the tour. The tour also was a great example of how bike tours can be used as a way to promote heritage tourism and get people excited about historic preservation. I would like to commend the people who worked hard to make the bike tour possible and encourage anyone who plans to attend future National Trust conferences to consider signing up for the bike tour!

Ellen Davis is a National Trust member who lives in Georgetown, Texas. She blogs about her neighborhood at aroundoldtown.blogspot.com. She attended the 2010 National Preservation Conference through the Statewide and Local Scholars Program.

Would you like to attend the National Preservation Conference on a scholarship? We are now accepting applications for this year’s conference, which will take place in Buffalo, New York from October 19-22. The deadline to apply is June 1, 2011.

Although we're always on the lookout for blog content, we encourage readers to submit story ideas or let us know if you've seen something that might be interesting and engaging for a national audience. Email us at editorial@savingplaces.org.

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Conference Scholarship Program Offers Informative, Motivating Experience

Posted on: February 23rd, 2011 by Guest Writer

Written by Diana Molina

Diana Molina addresses fellow scholars during Diversity Scholars and Texas Scholars Opening Session (Photo: Pepper Watkins)

Privileged to attend the National Preservation Conference in Austin, Texas as a Diversity Scholar this past autumn, my greatest challenge was finding a way to take it all in.

Amazingly, amidst a hotel lobby bustling with preservationists from every corner of the nation, I ran into a familiar face upon arrival. David Romo, an engaging historian, author, and borderland neighbor was the guest speaker for our orientation session. Romo’s explanation of the plight of the historic Segundo Barrio—my birthplace in El Paso—struck a chord as his imagery walked me through the streets of my childhood, reminding me of their imperiled existence. Public awareness of the Hispanic impact and cultural influence on U.S. history is an important step in saving our sites of significance. His call to action was inspiring.

This was the first of many motivating and informative speakers and panelists staunchly advocating for the protection of structures, natural resources, culture and land. My session preferences leaned toward topics that included the changing U.S. demographics, the integration of sustainable design, the legacy of music and dance, and culinary agri-tourism’s role in historic preservation and its subsequent potential for jobs. I envision applying many of the lessons to our own community pursuit in Southern New Mexico’s Mesilla Valley to develop a sustainable cultural heritage corridor along Hwy. 28.

L-R Ernesto Ortega, NM Advisor; Diana Molina; Dreck Spurlock, Washington, DC Advisor

Culminating with a dynamic and unifying message by the charismatic Juan Hernandez at the majestic Paramount Theatre, the conference provided a plateful of new connections and information to digest. Above all, the attention placed on ecological concerns and the discussion of topics and places linked to the diversity of our cultural heritage, left me with a sense of hope for greater inclusive representation in the preservation movement and the betterment our nation’s future.

To that end, in our region’s steps for a Green Cultural Corridor, we welcome ardent supporters, needed resources, expertise and guidance to help pave the way and extend an invitation to visit the scenic Hwy. 28—its wineries, pecan groves, chile fields and centuries of history and cultural legacy in New Mexico’s Land of Enchantment.

Diana Molina works a freelance photographer and is spearheading the development of the State Highway 28 “destination corridor” to preserve the Mesilla Valley landscape in rural Southern New Mexico. She attended the National Preservation Conference in Austin, Texas as a Diversity Scholar in October 2010.

Would you like to attend the National Preservation Conference as a member of the 2011 Diversity Scholarship Program? We are now accepting applications for this year's conference, which will take place in Buffalo, New York from October 19-22. The deadline to apply online is June 1, 2011.