BSA Historic Resources Committee Meeting Notes for April 2007
Present:Olga Bachilova, Bill Barry, Matthew Bronski, Taya Dixon, Rosemary Foy, Jack Glassman, David Hart, Erin Hester, Susan Hollister, David Kelman, David King, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Kate Neuner, Deborah Robinson, Brian Roche, Roberto Rosso, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Jonathan Smith, David Torres, Sara Wermiel, Katie Wissink, Gary Wolf
1. 133 Federal Street - Boston Landmark nomination: Jonathan Smith is leading an effort to obtain signatures on a petition to nominate 133 Federal Street as a Boston Landmark. Jonathan is part of a group, made up of people from Docomomo, the BSA board, and the HRC, who are keeping track of important Modern Movement buildings in Boston. There are 28 buildings named on a list that the BSA sent to Mayor Menino in order to bring them to the attention of city officials, since, like 133 Federal St., they are vulnerable to unsympathetic redevelopment proposals.
Some of the arguments in favor of landmarking 133 Federal St. are its unusual structural system - with the structure on the outside of the building, which creates an open interior plan; the fact that the building departed from the conventional, glass curtain-wall in its day; and that this was the first new office building in downtown Boston since the Great Depression. Mayor Menino sought proposals for a skyscraper on the site of a city parking garage adjacent to 133 Federal St.; the selected proposal, made by the owner of 133 Federal St., called for a building that covered his site as well as the city site. Currently this skyscraper project is up in the air, so to speak, and the BLC has ordered a 90 day demolition delay for 133 Federal St.
Any registered Boston voter who would like to sign the petition should contact Jonathan ASAP: jasmith02116@comcast.net. Members of the HRC and BSA met April 27 to discuss 133 Federal St. and Boston City Hall, another threatened building.
2. Boston City Hall - Boston Landmark nomination: Gary Wolf spoke of the effort to nominate Boston City Hall as a landmark. Arguments in favor of landmarking the building are based on both its historical and architectural significance. Henry Moss wrote a letter on behalf of the HRC to the BLC to support the nomination and urge that the city undertake long-range planning for City Hall plaza and retain City Hall as a cornerstone. Contact Gary for more information: gwolf@wolfarchitects.com [Update: The BLC voted to accept the petition for a study report. However, the Executive Director of the Environment Department said that this study is not part of the BLC staff's work plan and recommended postponing it. Testimony from the HRC and BSA President Hubert Murray stressed the need for a study that would allow changes to address significant problems inherent in the original design.]
3. New Orleans Recovery: Bill Barry discussed recovery efforts in New Orleans. He began by recapping how Hurricane Katrina damaged New Orleans in August 2005. Unlike other Gulf Coast areas, where a storm surge hit then receded, New Orleans was flooded as water broke through canals from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi Gulf Outlet, and most of the damage to buildings was a result of persistent water and floating objects. In New Orleans, the lower lying areas, of course, were the most inundated.
Bill described the various planning efforts that have been made since 2005, e.g., the Lambert Plan, Bring New Orleans Back Commission plan, and Unified New Orleans Plan. The latter, unveiled in January of this year, called for $14 billion in investment and gave a green light to redevelop all areas, no matter how vulnerable. The unwillingness of city leaders to take a stand and chose among neighborhoods, and risk angering some former and current city residents, has been a chronic stumbling block to any redevelopment. Also, a lack of professional capability in the city's planning office has hampered implementation.
Bill mentioned the issue of the future of public housing projects, which HUD and others have wanted to demolish, but some of these will be preserved. Matthew Bronski mentioned pertinent articles on housing in the March/April Home Economics issue of Architecture Boston, including "What Boston Can Learn from the Big Easy" and the roundtable discussion on affordable housing. The issue is online at: http://www.architects.org/publications/index.cfm?doc_id=224
Left: National Register Districts in NOLA
Right: Natural elevations in NOLA. Dark Blue is lower than -3 ft., medium blue is 0 to -3 ft., light blue is 0 (sea level) or above
Update: At the end of March, New Orleans city government released a new plan, which designated 17 "targeted recovery zones." The zones are classified as Rebuild (2), Redevelop (6), and Renew (9). The two rebuild zones - heavily damaged and requiring the most public investment - include the politically sensitive Lower Ninth Ward. Earlier this year, Mayor Nagin appointed a heavyweight urbanist, Edward J. Blakely, to the post of executive director of the city's Office of Recovery Management. The new plan, which Blakely helped devise, offers incentives and public infrastructure investment to draw developers to the zones. The idea is that these zones will be catalysts for development in other zones; in addition, the city will invest in citywide projects, like parks. Whether any areas of the city will be off limits, and what will happen to historic resources within and outside the zones, is not something the city discusses in its press release. Federal funds, which the city is counting on to help pay for the plan, are not in hand.
4. Other business, tours
-- Because of some confusion over plans for several historic public buildings in Salem, David Hart offered clarification. Two historic court buildings are scheduled to be abandoned in 2011 and residents are concerned about their futures. DCAM plans to build a new courthouse in the vicinity of these buildings and for security, wants control of the site. Its plans may jeopardize the future of three historic houses near the site. This project will be the topic of the July HRC meeting: "Challenges of rehabbing DCAM courts," featuring DCAM's Richard L'hereux, and Jean Carroon and George Perkins of Goody Clancy. George Perkins is the architect for the Courthouse Row project in Salem.
--Kim Alexander and David Hart are organizing a fabulous tour of Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH, which will deal with 19th century construction. The September tour will be preceded by an introduction to the topic at that month's HRC meeting: "Reading 19th Century Residential Construction," featuring Rick Detwiller, David Hart, and friends.
--Attention Civil War buffs! Malcolm Smiley's book Gen. W. T. Sherman's March to the Sea and the Campaign of the Carolinas from the Street is now available.
Next Meeting
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, 10 May 2007
Featuring Jean Carroon, Principal for Preservation, Goody Clancy,
"Green Buildings and Historic Preservation -
McCormick Building, Byerly Hall Radcliffe, Trinity Church"
at
The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, Fifth Floor
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes