BSA Historic Resources Committee Meeting Notes for February 2006
Present: Bill Barry, Maia Brindley-Nilsson, Matthew Bronski, David Coe, Marilyn Fenollosa, David Fixler, Allan Galper, Jack Glassman, Meghan Hanrahan, Jeffrey Harris, David Hart, John Hecker, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Kate Murphy, Wendy Pearl, Jessica Rowcroft, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Charles Smith, Natalie Wampler, Sara Wermiel
1. Preserving Historic Roads and Parkways in MA: Jessica Rowcroft and Wendy Pearl of the Heritage Landscape Inventory Program at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) presented DCR's initiatives for preserving and restoring historic roadways and parkways. In July 2004, Jessica and her then colleague at DCR, Joanna Doherty, gave a stellar presentation on DCR's heritage landscape initiatives and the Heritage Landscape Inventory Pilot Project in Southeastern Massachusetts. We were pleased that Jessica and DCR accepted our invitation for a follow-up presentation on their recent initiatives with historic roads and parkways.
Wendy gave a brief history of parkways. The "Park Way" concept was created by Frederick Law Olmsted as part of his design for Prospect Park in Brooklyn on 1868. In 1893, the first regional public park system was established here in Greater Boston: the Metropolitan Park System (MPS). From 1893-1903, Charles Elliot of Cambridge and Sylvester Baxter of Malden directed the development of the MPS. Baxter envisioned "special Pleasure-ways" as part of the system. In 1894, legislation authorized the Metropolitan Park Commission to build parkways, thereby creating ribbons of green space to connect open spaces and provide scenic travel ways within the system. The first generation of parkways simply provided direct access from urban areas to the major parks and reservations (e.g., Middlesex Fells, Blue Hills), while the second generation of parkways, built between 1905 and 1919, provided linkages between the different park systems.
Modern issues facing the parkways, including funding constraints, maintenance (e.g., heavy salting of roads, killing plants), and growing automobile usage have put pressures on the parkways that were never envisioned 100 years ago. After World War II, the parkways began to be seen simply as road rather than linear parks. Pleasure uses yielded to transportation concerns. Storrow Drive, a parkway, was originally envisioned as a recreational road! In the past, too, parkway management was divided among people who took care of roads, people who took care of lights, people who cut grass, etc., which hampered proper maintenance.
Early parkway view with traffic, Spot Pond (left) and recent parkway view with traffic, Storrow Drive.
In 1991, a proposal was made to move management of the parkways to the Mass. Highway Dept. (MHD), which seemed a recipe for turning the parkways into highways. For ten years, state legislators kept this idea alive. Then in June 2001, to avoid this outcome, the Mass. Historical Commission voted to proceed with the nomination of the Metropolitan Parks and Parkways to the National Register. From that point on, positive things began to happen very quickly. In August 2001, the Mass. Exec. Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) announced the creation of an historic parkways program. In September 2001, an interagency partnership between the Metropolitan District Comm. (MDC), Dept. of Envir. Mgmt. (DEM), MHD, Mass. Historical Comm. (MHC), and EOEA was formed to develop and implement a historic parkways initiative. In Oct. 2001, Secretary Durand appointed a steering committee to provide guidance for all aspects of the initiative. The first workshop in November 2001 attracted over 100 stakeholders. Demonstration projects were identified in January 2002, and planning began that spring. The overall objectives of the interagency partnership are fourfold: 1) recognize historic roads and parkways as historic and cultural resources; 2) create a preservation planning protocol, 3) develop a cooperative interagency management structure to support maintenance and capital needs; and 4) create and support advocates for wise stewardship of the parkways.
It's working. What's exciting is that people from different agencies, with different interests, who normally might not talk to one another, are working together and understanding each others' concerns. The members of the Highway Design Manual Task Force include high-level people from groups as diverse as DCR, MHD, MHC, Regional Planning Councils, Departments of Public Works, Mass. Assoc. of Conservation Commissions, Mass. Office on Disability, Mass. Bicycle Coalition, and Federal Highway Administration. See the full list at http://www.vhb.com/mhdGuide/pdf/Who%20We%20Are_a.pdf. The highway administration professionals and engineers "get it:" the roads must be managed for various uses, not as highways only. This group has led the development of bold yet kinder, gentler design guidelines. While providing for highway safety, the guidelines also recognized the parkways as historic linear parks, which must be treated as such. All users, including pedestrians, the disabled, and cyclists, must be taken into consideration. They allow input from local towns. The new 2006 Mass. Highway Department "Project Development and Design Guide" is online at http://www.vhb.com/mhdGuide/mhd_GuideBook.asp This MHD Design Guide, now in effect, replaces the 1997 version. It includes some entirely new chapters, including "Shared Use Path and Greenway," "Landscape and Aesthetics," "Traffic Calming and Traffic Management," and "Wildlife Accommodation." Truly remarkable!
Of the many tasks of the interagency partnership, DCR led on inventory and the development treatment guidelines. The inventory includes 44 parkways, parks and roads around the state, which were classified into three main types, with a few subtypes. Connecting Pleasure Roads (e.g., VFW Parkway in West Roxbury, and Memorial Drive Cambridge) are green ribbons that connect a dense urban area to a park or reservation. Internal Park Roads (e.g., Chickatawbut Road in the Blue Hills Reservation) are internal scenic roads through a park or reservation. Border Roads (e.g., Hillcrest Parkway in Winchester, bordering the Middlesex Fells) run along the edge of a park or reservation and serve as dividers between residential areas and parkland.
Connecting pleasure road (left) and internal park road (right)
Internal park road (left) and border road (right)
The interagency partnership is using a four-pronged approach to historic parks and roadways involving 1) National Register nominations, 2) parkway and inventory treatment guidelines, 3) demonstration projects, and 4) public outreach and support. The Historic Parkways Initiative recently completed a demonstration project on Memorial Dr. in Cambridge with a goal of retaining and reclaiming parkland. The breakdown lane of the wide eastbound road was narrowed and the park along the river accordingly widened.
Memorial Drive before the demonstration project (left), with a narrow park (photo courtesy Goody Clancy Assoc.). Memorial Drive with a narrowed roadway (breakdown lane eliminated) and wider park along the river (right).
DCR's beautifully designed and thoughtfully written publications are an important part of their public outreach. "Reading the Land," a gorgeous paperback book, is an essential text and guide to the identification and protection of heritage landscapes in Massachusetts. A packet on the Historic Parkways of Massachusetts includes a summary of the history of the parkways, a call to action, and even a bumper sticker that reads "A parkway is not a road, it's a park with a road in it." Another publication provides preservation guidelines for a frequently neglected historic landscape: municipally owned cemeteries. And a new series, Terra Firma, provides separate issues that each tackle a particular topic in landscape preservation (they are roughly to landscape preservation as the NPS Preservation Briefs are to building preservation). If you don't own copies of these publications, they are available for free from your state government (you need only pay for shipping). Go to http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/histland/publications.htm
The intelligence, hard work, and exceptional accomplishments of Jessica Rowcroft and her colleagues in the Heritage Landscape Group at the Department of Conservation and Recreation continue to impress this committee. As the meeting was ending, and people gathered their coats and belongings, one committee member said that in the wake of abysmal government failures with Medicare and Hurricane Katrina, their work has restored his faith in all that government can be and can do to serve us.
Don't miss the national conference, Preserving the Historic Road that DCR is helping to organize: Thurs.-Sun., April 27-30, at Faneuil Hall and the Omni Parker House in Boston. It offers an array of sessions on historic roads and parkways (covering, e.g., legal, funding, marketing, legislative, historic significance, documentation, stewardship, design, and technical) as well as tours. Note the startling title of one session, "Flexibility in AASHTO," given by AASHTO representatives! John Stilgoe, Prof. in the History of Landscape at Harvard, will give the keynote address. More info and registration at www.historicroads.org
2. Historic Preservation Certificate Program at the Boston Architectural Center: Maia Brindley-Nilsson, the Director of Continuing Education at the BAC, told us about the recently accredited certificate program in historic preservation at the BAC. Six courses must be completed to obtain a certificate, including two required courses. The BAC preservation program doesn't compete directly with the BU program - each has a different focus. BAC is a certificate program, while BU is a degree program. BU tends to attract full-time students, while the BAC is geared toward part-time, evening students who are working full-time. The BAC program tends to focus more on the design aspects of preservation, while BU tends to focus more on the history/stewardship/regulation aspects of preservation. The BAC certificate program would seem to be a good fit for those already working in the design/construction aspects of preservation, who seek to obtain a certificate in preservation while continuing to work full-time in the Boston area. Maia is also interested in course proposals from preservation practitioners who would like to teach at the BAC - a couple HRC members already teach there. If you are interested in either taking or teaching courses at the BAC, visit the BAC website at http://www.the-bac.edu or contact Maia at maia.bnilsson@the-bac.edu. N.B., effective June 2006, the Boston Architectural Center will change its name to the Boston Architectural College.
3. Filene's Downtown Store: Several committee members mentioned a recent note in the Globe about a proposal for a mixed use/residential conversion on the Filene's store at Downtown Crossing. Some reports indicate that Mayor Menino is interested in an accelerated schedule to landmark the building, to ensure that it and the surrounding streetscape are treated respectfully. Stay tuned.
4. HRC Tour of Historic Construction Techniques, Salem: On Saturday February 4, an unseasonably warm and sunny day, David Hart and Matthew Bronski led HRC and Historic Salem members on a brief tour of several Salem buildings as a primer on identifying historic construction techniques from several different centuries. Attendants were fortunate to have numerous other experts on the tour willing to share their insights and observations.
In the House of the Seven Gables, Rick Detwiller expertly read subtle clues in the fireplaces and hearths, and pointed out differences in the chamfering techniques on various exposed wood beams and posts, while Bill Barlow critiqued architect Chandler's early twentieth century restoration philosophy as observed in his extensively reconstructed and convincingly "faked" kitchen. David Hart used his extremely powerful deer-hunting spotlight at a raking angle along beams and paneling to show marks of hand-hewing and hand-planing. David assured us that he's never used it for 'shining' deer, as he pulled a tin of Skoal from his shirt pocket. With the aid of David's powerful light, we all tried to discern original hand-planed wood paneling from very convincing early twentieth century replicas (directed by Chandler), made with similar tools and techniques as the originals. It was almost like the Keno brothers of Antiques Roadshow fame, but on a larger scale. In the unfinished attic, Matthew showed and explained the differing load paths and member sizes for common rafter/principal purlin roof framing versus common purlin/principal rafter framing. We viewed salmon brick nogging infill portions of the wood framing. Although the salmon brick were in good condition in the dry interior environment of the attic, Matthew described how under-firing and lack of adequate vitrification make these salmon brick non-durable when exposed to the outside. David used his powerful deer light (order before midnight tonight and you'll also receive a battery charger at no additional cost!) to show and contrast the distinctive non-parallel pit sawing marks on some rafters, versus the parallel marks from a later "up and down" mill band saw, versus the circular marks from an even later mill circular saw. Bill Barlow explained the process of pit sawing, how the person on the bottom doing the harder, dirtier work became completely covered in saw dust clinging to sweat, hence the etymology of the term "this is the pits". A couple blocks up Derby Street, we stopped to discuss relatively long-spanning concealed lintels supporting a thick brick masonry wall above a storefront. Directly across the street, we noticed a nice example of an early twentieth century storefront with small leaded transom lights above large expanses of plate glass in a pressed-metal storefront frame with separate corner frame pieces. We wished aloud that we had Chuck Parrot with us to provide one of his peerless storefront exegeses.
A few blocks later, we stood in one spot and observed three neighboring brick buildings representing three very distinct generations and types of brick wall construction: a load-bearing, mass masonry barrier wall on a mid-nineteenth century single family house; a mid-twentieth century transitional masonry wall on a mid-rise apartment tower, where bricks are used as infill between an exposed concrete frame; and a multi-story, brick veneer cavity wall on the backside of the recent addition to the Peabody Essex Museum. A Salem local on the tour mentioned that the brick on the apartment tower had recently been stripped and replaced as part of an extensive exterior rehab. and that the building had reportedly experienced serious wall problems. Matthew told us that an all-too-common problem with this type of wall system is differential movement between the concrete frame (which tends to shrink and move downward through creep, shrinkage, and deflection) and the brick infill (which tends to expand and try move upward through thermal and moisture-related expansion). However, these walls typically have no provision for this differential movement; the expanding brick is rigidly constrained by the concrete and can fracture, often at the top of each panel. If floor line flashings are omitted or inadequate, leakage at floor/wall junctures is another very common problem, as the exposed floor slab ledge tends to collect water, which migrates through the mortar bed joint to the interior. New metal floor line flashing drip edges were visible, probably to address this issue.
A stroll inside the light-filled white atrium of the new Peabody Essex addition provided a soaring, sunny leap back into 21st century construction. Bill Barlow keenly observed that telltale construction dating techniques, similar to those we employed on a 17th century house, can also be used for contemporary construction, because of the rapid rate of change in construction materials and techniques today. Save your curtain wall, drywall, and fastener catalogs in case your grandchildren grow up to be preservation professionals.
5. Upcoming Events of Interest, mentioned by various HRC members:
- Forum - Design Matters: Forum II on the Providence Waterfront: Saturday March 18, 11 am - 4 pm. Event will conclude with a debate among panelists from Sasaki Assoc., the Olin Partnership, Streuver Bros., RISD, and Brown Univ. Space limited, RSVP to the Providence Preservation Society http://www.ppsri.org or (401) 831-7440
- Tour - HRC Tour of Japanese House with Prof. William Coaldrake: Thursday, March 23 at 4:30 pm at the Children's Museum entrance. Bill Coaldrake teaches architectural history at Harvard, grew up in Japan, is a member of the Kyoto Carpenters Guild, and helped install the Japanese House at the Boston Children's Museum. He will talk about everyday life in traditional Japanese houses, but especially how they were built (and when threatened by fire, dismantled and rebuilt). To prepare, see Edward S. Morse, The Japanese Home and Its Surroundings, 1885, reprinted as a Dover paperback. Only a few spaces are left on this tour - contact Matthew Bronski mbbronski@sgh.com to reserve a space.
- Conference- Clay Bricks in the 21st Century: Design, Preservation, & Care of Contemporary and Historic Architecture: Fri. and Sat. March 25-26, 2006, at MIT. Susan Schur delivers her customarily great line-up of speakers. Details at http://committees.architects.org/hrc/hrc_news.htm
- Lecture - H.H. Richardson's Brookline House: Its History, Current Status and Future Prospects by Allan Galper: Sun, March 12, 2006, 2 pm, Brookline Public Library, 2nd flr., 361 Washington St., Brookline, Mass. If you missed Allan's lecture to HRC on this topic in November, here's your chance to see it. For more info, visit: http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org
- Lecture - Preserving Boston's Landmarks by Ellen Lipsey: Wed. March 15, 2006, 6:00 pm at the Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall (in the Johnson addition). The director of the Boston Landmarks Commission examines what's new with Boston's old buildings. Part of the BSA Lecture Series, this event is free and open to the public.
- Conference -The Second International Congress on Construction History: Wed. - Sun., March 29 - April 2, 2006, Cambridge, England. Info. at www.chs-cambridge.co.uk. Sara Wermiel is participating, and John Ochsendorf is on the Scientific Committee, so HRC will be well represented. Join them on short notice if you have more frequent flyer miles than you know what to do with.
- Conference - Early International Origins of the Preservation Movement 1880-1920: Sat. April 1, 2006, at Boston University. Offers a rare, truly international look at the origins of the preservation movement. Countries covered include Algeria, America, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Sweden. For info, visit http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/news/IOPMConf2006.pdf This event is free and open to the public, but seating space is limited - RSVP to mrenn@bu.edu.
- Symposium - From World Heritage to Your Heritage (US/ICOMOS International Symposium): Wed.-Sun. April 19-23, 2006. Newport, RI. Philip Marshall, Don Jones and friends again help to bring us a broadly international view of current preservation efforts. For more info visit http://www.icomos.org/usicomos/Symposium/SYMP06/2006_Symposium.htm
- Conference - Preserving the Historic Road: Thurs. - Sun. April 27-30, 2006, at Faneuil Hall and the Omni Parker House in Boston. Jessica Rowcroft, Wendy Pearl, and their colleagues at DCR have helped to organize this national conference, which offers an array of sessions on historic roads and parkways (covering legal, funding, marketing, legislative, historic significance, documentation, stewardship, design, and technical) as well as tours. Info. and registration at www.historicroads.org.
- Symposium - Recent Research and Technical Innovations in Brownstone Conservation: Sat. May 13, 2006, at the Victoria Mansion, Portland, Maine. The symposium will feature members of the current brownstone restoration team (including Ivan Myjer), as well as researchers from Penn and Princeton. For information visit: http://www.victoriamansion.org/Brownstone%20Flyer.pdf
- Tour - College Hill, Providence, Festival of Historic Houses: Fri. & Sat. June 2 and 3, 2006, run by the Providence Preservation Society (PPS). This year's tour is on College Hill, where PPS all began. For more info, visit http://www.ppsri.org/events
Featuring Bill Barry, Bill Barlow, Ed Moll, Beth Nathan, and John Wathne on
"Heritage at Risk in the Gulf South - updates from the field"
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, March 9, 2006
The Architects' Building
52 Broad Street, 5th floor, Boston, Massachusetts
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes