Preservation Magazine

Saving Spooky Sites: The Ridges Building #26 in Athens, Ohio

Posted on: October 19th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 4 Comments

Written by Laura Wainman, Editorial Intern

When Ron Luce was invited in August to look at the Ridges Building #26 in Athens, Ohio, two things surprised him. The first was that he was invited by an employee of Ohio University -- the institution which already had plans in place to demolish the building -- and the second was that the demolition date was only two months away. As executive director of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum and a strong proponent of historic preservation, Luce was concerned.

“Letting Ridges #26 be torn down would set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the Ridges complex, and the buildings are too vital a part of our history to lose,” Luce says.

The 1924 building, listed along with the rest of the hospital complex on the National Register of Historic Places, is part of the former Athens Asylum (later Athens Mental Health Center) and one of the last remaining structures designed from the Kirkbride model for mental health facilities in Ohio. Also known as the TB Ward/Beacon School, Ridges #26 is owned by Ohio University and has sat vacant for decades.

Though the main administration building at Ridges now houses the Kennedy Art Museum, many of the other Ridges structures are empty. Luce fears that letting one Ridges structure be demolished would cause a domino effect of destruction.

Luce made a visit to the building where he found a “magnificent” but deteriorating structure with large windows, a plain uninterrupted roofline, and very few exterior adornments.

“The building has a lot of cosmetic needs that I’m told would cost around $10 million to repair, but the basic structure itself is in good shape considering its age. It was built like a fortress,” says Luce.

Sitting atop Reservoir Hill on one of the most secluded parts of the grounds, the building has become a beacon for vandalism and trespassing by students and ghost-seekers alike. In fact, the university originally intended to demolish the building before Halloween as the number of trespassers looking for haunted hijinks tends to go up around the holiday.

“A young woman died in the building and you can still see a large stain where her body lay on the first floor. So those seeking a spooky experience often break in to the building and it has become a safety hazard for the university,” says Luce.

After his visit, Luce got to work engaging the community in efforts to save the building. He made a report to the Athens County Historical Society Board of Trustees, which responded by contacting the Ohio Historical Society and state senators and representatives. Their goal was to make sure the university understood that there are people concerned by its plan who do not want to lose Ridges #26.

After agreeing to postpone the teardown, Ohio University officials met with members of the Athens County Historical Society, including Luce, on October 16 to discuss the future of the building. Luce proposed that a comprehensive plan be developed for the entire Ridges complex and mentioned possible alternative uses for the building by the university, the community, and the business sector.

“The university was very receptive to the idea of creating a long-term preservation plan for the whole Ridges complex, and they seemed open to rethinking their plan to tear down Ridges #26,” says Luce. “Now we have to wait and see what they say, but I am feeling very positive about the meeting.”

In the meantime, Luce says the community can continue to help in the effort of saving Ridges #26 by writing letters to the editors of local papers, making phone calls to local and state government representatives, and expressing their desire to keep the building.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

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

More Posts (881)

[SLIDESHOW] Behind the Scenes at the Washington National Cathedral Restoration

Posted on: October 10th, 2012 by Dennis Hockman

If you’ve had a chance to check out Preservation magazine’s Fall issue cover story, you know that most of the damage incurred at the Washington National Cathedral during the August 2011 earthquake was to the high stone pinnacles and towers.

Though I'm not afraid of much, I am definitely afraid of heights. But in spite of that, when I was offered the opportunity to take a look at the damage -- and the preservation progress -- up close, my immediate answer was, “I’m in.”

It was cool to go behind (above?) the scenes and see how much progress has been made since we last visited in April. Here is a photo gallery of my favorite details and views from my most recent visit:

Most of the cathedral’s gargoyles were carved during the 1960s and ’70s. Here’s one of a hippie with a protest sign.

To learn more about the preservation and restoration work ongoing at the Washington National Cathedral, or to donate to help with repair and preservation expenses, visit SavingPlaces.org.

Dennis Hockman

Dennis Hockman is editor in chief of Preservation magazine. He’s lived all over the United States but currently resides in Baltimore where he is restoring a 1918 center hall colonial.

More Posts (5)

New Chapter for Former Library in San Antonio

Posted on: October 1st, 2012 by Elizabeth McNamara

As part of a larger rehabilitation project, the lobby of the former San Antonio Central Library, built in 1930, has been restored. The lobby’s intricate cast plaster ceiling underwent an extensive rehabilitation, as did its brass doors, Art Deco light fixtures, and hand-carved walls.

The 38,000-square-foot structure is located along the city’s historic River Walk, and was designed in both the Art Deco and Neo-Classical styles. It operated as the city’s main library until 1968, when it then became the Hertzberg Circus Museum until shuttering in 2001.

The building was used predominately as storage until 2009, when the Briscoe Western Art Museum -- a repository for art and artifacts related to the American West -- acquired the building and started a $30 million restoration and expansion.

The museum, which will feature paintings, sculpture, photography, and art from American Indian, Spanish, Mexican cultures, is set to open next fall.

Elizabeth McNamara

Elizabeth McNamara is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine.

More Posts (3)

An Uncertain Future for a Piece of Native American History

Posted on: September 28th, 2012 by David Robert Weible 6 Comments

To see it, you’d hardly ever know that the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., was once the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Established in 1879, it was the first government-funded, all-Native American off-reservation boarding school intended to assimilate Native American children into white American culture. Though other buildings still stand, the planned demolition of the school’s farmhouse would be a significant blow to the school’s memory.

Dr. Louellyn White, an assistant professor in First People’s Studies at Concordia University in Montreal whose grandfather was one of roughly 10,000 children who attended Carlisle and was likely taught in the farmhouse, says that the school was industrial in the sense that it taught the students specific skills. But “they weren’t being trained in becoming doctors or lawyers or politicians,” she says. “They were skills that would help them to partake in industrial America to keep native people as somewhat inferior as part of the working class.”

The Gothic Revival farmhouse was built in 1859 and was used by ~~African-American soldiers~~ Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Afterwards, the building and surrounding barracks ~~stood vacant~~ continued to be the residence of the civilian Parker family until the Industrial School was established. Perhaps best known as the alma mater of the famed athlete Jim Thorpe, the school was closed in 1918 and the building ~~again~~ served African-American soldiers, this time as a social club.

During its years as part of the school, the farmhouse was used for agricultural training. Students would often spend the night there before waking at 4:00 a.m. to milk the cows, which makes it one of the last buildings left where children slept and were instructed.

Many of the other buildings that were once a part of the school have been deemed National Landmarks and continue to be used by the War College, but the farmhouse, set farther away from the main campus, was described in a letter from the barracks’ commander as “not eligible for historic designation due to the lack of architectural merit and historical associations.” But separate research from Stone Fort Consulting, a historic preservation consulting firm from Kansas, disputes that claim, citing a 1918 publication by the school itself closely linking the building to the school’s activities and mission.

Since learning this summer of the Army Garrison’s plans to raze the building, White and her group, Carlisle Indian School Descendants, Family and Friends, have embarked on a campaign to create a discourse with the Army Garrison that runs the property, as well as reach out to Native American tribal leaders across the country in an effort to save the farmhouse and perhaps get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though the building still stands, its future is uncertain.

“I think the bigger picture of this whole thing is that what the school itself represented,” White says. “Tearing down this kind of a building erases part of that memory that we hold on to as descendants. But also the public needs to be aware of that history of those forced assimilation policies that the government imposed on native peoples. We’re not preserving something that was all positive… because, as I said, it was part of a whole colonial system of oppression.”

David Robert Weible

David Robert Weible is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. He came to DC from Cleveland, Ohio, where he wrote for Sailing World and Outside magazines.

More Posts (31)

[Slideshow] Chesapeake & Ohio Canal

Posted on: September 20th, 2012 by Elizabeth McNamara 3 Comments

As you’ll read in Preservation’s Fall 2012 issue, last October my husband and I spent two nights in rehabilitated historic lockhouses along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal outside Washington, DC. We’re both native Washingtonians, and yet in less than 48 hours we absorbed more cool facts about our city’s early history than we ever anticipated. Thanks to the Canal Quarters program, which rents out six restored lockhouses to guests, we experienced the 184.5-mile-long waterway as never before.

In anticipation of our Fall issue, I hope you enjoy these pictures of the historic canal, lockhouses, and surrounding parkland.