Present: Bart Bauer, Bill Barry, Matthew Bronski, Susan Close, Ric Detwiller, Taya Dixon, Alison Gould, Donna Harris, David M. Hart, John Hecker, Lisa Howe, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Michael Lynch, Arthur MacLeod, Henry Moss, Doug Manley, Elizabeth Randall, Albert Rex, Brian Roche, Roberto Rosa, Susan Schur, Regan Shields, Malcolm Smiley, Robert Thomas, Eric Ward, Sara Wermiel 1. Build Boston, Historic Resources Committee Workshop Coordination: Richard Fitzgerald, BSA Executive Director had suggested that our committee might scan the Build Boston workshop list to see which ones would appeal strongly to those of us who work with historic preservation. The intent is to minimize scheduling conflicts between sessions that appeal to the same interest group. Henry and Richard will ask Doug Manley to choose a cohort, examine the list of workshops and suggest which ones might make up a historic preservation “track.” 2. Conservation Forum Mortar Session: Ivan Myjer had asked if we thought an evening session on mortars would be worthwhile as an evening event in the summer. There was strong interest in a session that would involve plenty of discussion and crossfire as a finale for the previous sessions that Ivan has masterminded during the past two years. 3. Pantages Theater Rehabilitation/Reconstruction, Minneapolis: John Hecker, returned to Boston after long years in Minnesota, showed us how he transformed a ruined and forgotten box along a dubious city street into a glorious recreation of an historic vaudeville theater with sumptuous interior plaster work and an Art Glass monitor light. Pantages, whose chain eventually included 60 locations, built the theater in 1916. The theater grew out of a colorful transaction. Klondike Kate lent money to Pantages to start his theater chain, but he deserted her for a more respectable wife. Nevertheless, his was the largest chain on the West Coast. The theater’s architect was Benjamin Marcus Priteca. He designed a theater that was meant to occupy the first two stories of a twenty-story building, but only two stories were built. In the 1960’s, a new owner destroyed the elaborate interior. There was no hint of the theater’s presence on the exterior. The wrecked theater soon went dark and sat vacant for 28 years. Minneapolis/St. Paul has the fifth largest market for theater tickets in the United States. With flexible rates for rehearsals, most New York productions start there. The city now owns three historic theaters and the Pantages is one of them. The Minneapolis Community Development Agency is the development arm of the city. They decided to make this theater work and found money to fuel the effort. The State Historic Preservation Officer ruled that the space had lost its integrity. John’s colleagues thought the building should be demolished. The city’s good fortune was that John was assigned to the project and people and firms of similar quality were chosen to complete the construction. The greatest difficulty appears to have been John’s colleagues who were separately responsible for a new lobby design, and an uncomprehending, passive-aggressive mechanical engineering team. John and his colleague began with precious little information. They found two drawings from a CD set of 175 and two interior photographs. Prior to construction, the interior was dark and frigid. The Art Glass monitor was painted gray. It was difficult for bidders to see what the scope of work might be. John and his colleague created molded plaster drawings from the two-dimensional ghosts where it had been knocked off the wall surfaces or dissolved by rainwater from above. Later, they found all the ornamental plaster shop drawings. A local stonecutter made clay positives from the full-size shops. The plaster subcontractor made molds from these positives for GFRC casts. John emphasized the advantages of working with GFRC rather than GFRP. First among these is the ability to sand seams for a perfect fit before adhering with casting plaster. GFRP can’t be sanded therefore seams are impossible to conceal. The profiles of John and his colleague, Jenny are integrated into the new ornamental plaster in a central position on the balcony. Another local master craftsman stripped the paint from the Art Glass monitor panels and releaded them. This was a low-tech, low-overhead operation done in the man’s garage and backyard, but done brilliantly. John was particularly impressed by the sophistication of the original ventilation and cooling system. It worked from a sealed metal plenum in the upper balcony distributing air that had been cooled over ice in the basement. The renovation substituted chilled water from the City’s distribution system for ice, but John is convinced that the original system was probably quieter than its modern replacement. The system is sized for 1,400 people in each audience. The project incorporated three new elevators- among them, one at stage rear that also serves the core and shell commercial space next door and one that climbs through an old light court to reach the balconies. The original blade sign was reconstructed using an LED system that is very bright. It required an investment of $50,000 in light bulbs, but maintenance costs are expected to offset this first cost. The project was awarded to the contractor through the public procurement process. The low bidder was in close company at a cost of $8.4 M vs. an original budget of $12 M. The built project finally cost $11 M. There were 140 Requests for Information and 10 Change Orders. 4. APT Northeast Conference: This attracted about 50 people, a good crowd on the last day in January. There were presentations in the morning and afternoon tours and reports about the quality of the sessions were very positive. 5. BSA Preservation Award: Eric Ward said that his conversations with other committee members suggest that we might introduce a second type of BSA award that could go to professional preservation organizations and individuals. This would coexist with the award that is meant to celebrate the achievement of owners and developers who have understood and supported historic preservation through their built projects. Eric is considering Ivan Myjer’s nomination of f Nuestra Communidad, especially in Dudley Square as the possible recipient of the next BSA Preservation Award because of their work with Palladio Hall and the Hotel Dartmouth in Dudley Square. 6. Granite & Marble Symposium: Susan Schur reminded people that early registration ends on March 1. She encouraged people to create posters and reserve a place for them by submitting a few sentences to her before April 20. There is an excellent line-up of speakers for the May 8-9 symposium at MIT. 7. Archdiocesan Property Disposal: Albert Rex reported that the Boston Preservation Alliance had developed a dialog with the Chancellor. His staff is working with 357 parishes in 80 “clusters” of 2 to 7 churches. Disposal will be in several waves starting soon. There are some churches on the National Register, but not many, perhaps 25 in all. (Albert was still reeling from the number of interchangeable brick Patrick Keely churches that he saw among the overall collection of buildings.) Albert said that the church expects the sale of churches to other denominations will be their most advantageous outcome financially. This is good news for those concerned about the preservation of the architecture; however, in a number of places, stained glass is being removed. At Our Lady of Pity in Cambridge, the new purchasing congregation bought back the glass. 8. Serpentino Stained & Leaded Glass Studio Tour: Roberto Rosa announced a tour for APT Northeast Chapter in Serpentino’s Needham studio on February 21. Conservation of an opalescent window from the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John in Providence (LaFarge, 1884) is the central attraction and source of problems for discussion. [For more information about the activities of APT NE, contact Lisa Howe at lisa.howe@goodyclancy.com.]
featuring Lyn Hovey, “Primer on Stained Glass Types, Problems and Various Repair Solutions" 8: 00 a.m., Thursday, March 11, 2004 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, 5th floor, Boston
Henry Moss AIA, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel, co-leaders and scribes
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