Present: Bill Barry, Bart Bauer, Matthew Bronski, Leslie Donovan, Patrick Guthrie, T. R. Harris, Lisa Howe, Jack Glassman, David Kelman, Laura MacKowiak, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Albert Rex, Brian Roche, Maggie Roth, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Bob Thomas, Eric Ward, Sara Wermiel 1. Plunkett Hospital, Adams, Massachusetts: [Background: The Town of Adams is struggling to find a favorable economic solution for their handsome, but long vacant, Plunkett Hospital. The 1917, 10,700 sf structure is a brick Colonial Revival design from the office of Parker, Thomas, and Rice. A study commissioned by Mass Development concluded that there is no viable new use. A hopeful and energetic local advocacy group (Save Plunkett Hospital) is searching for support. Our committee wrote to the Massachusetts Historical Commission encouraging their staff to contact the Adams Board of Selectmen to discuss alternatives to demolition.] Save Plunkett Hospital informed the committee that the Adams Board of Selectmen had refused to allow the Plunkett Hospital to be nominated for the State or National Register and, almost simultaneously, refused to accept the nomination of a preservation graduate to a long-vacant post on the Adams Historical Commission because she had spoken out in favor of retaining the hospital. Albert Rex and Matthew Bronski gave examples of several towns where strong advocacy for preservation of certain historic buildings was seen as a defensible basis for disqualification from membership on historic commissions. The committee pointed out that advocacy, interest and knowledge could easily be confused by threatened politicians. The committee suggested that we invite Chris Skelly, MHC liaison to local commissions, to attend one of our meetings to add his perspective to this discussion. [After we met, Cara Metz, the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) wrote a clear and forceful letter to the Adams Board of Selectmen that responded to some of their most egregious misconceptions. (e.g. a building on the register could never be demolished…)] 2. Vernacular Architecture Forum: Several committee members who have attended VAF annual meetings commented on their brilliant, even obsessive, tours. The tours typically concentrate on 18th century buildings (or earlier) and ALWAYS poke into places like attics and basements. Tour leaders prepare publishable-quality research prior to these visits. Once again, The local chapter of the Vernacular Architecture Forum organizes annual meetings, tours, and publications. The VAF website http://www.vernaculararchitecture.org/ provides current information about upcoming meetings and other items of interest to VAF members. Membership dues range from $15 for Students and $25 for Active members to $100 per year for Patrons. Send your application letter and check to: Vernacular Architecture Forum, c/o Gabrielle Lanier, P. O. Box 1511, Harrisonburg, VA 22803-1511. E-mail Gabrielle Lanier at laniergm@jmu.edu if you have questions. 3. Chapter 34 Code Revisions: Sara and Henry noted that the BSA Codes Committee was tackling the implications of "Substantial Alterations" whose vague definition is used by Building Inspectors to decide when various types of work must be done to new building standards. 4. Quinque Foundation Forum: Lisa Howe and Ivan Myjer described some of the masonry craft training issues that arose during the recent Quinque Foundation Forum, which brought together Scottish conservation folks and a number of U. S. east coast preservation masons, craft educators, and architects (plus Gunny Harboe from Chicago). Lisa is interested in whether our local unions and larger masonry contractors could get invested in the idea of training masons for work on historic structures. Henry mentioned the United Kingdom's vast coalition of building and natural areas conservation advocates in a politically effective umbrella organization, Environmental Heritage Conservation, that was started by the World Wildlife Fund. That model raised the question of what affinity groups are currently disconnected in our area. (How about the Conservation Law Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, Historic Massachusetts, Youth Build, and the Carpenters' Union?) Ivan Myjer, cumulatively over-stimulated by lime-worshippers, responded by distributing a proposal to our committee titled Evaluation of Mortars for Historic Buildings, A Series of discussions, Lectures, Symposia, and Workshops- Possibly Leading Up To a Major Conference. The title, fashioned after Tristram Shandy, covers a brilliant set of commonsense questions about the variety of materials (these correspond to sects among lime worshippers), how they perform over time, and when their use may be appropriate. This document is attached. Our October meeting will be devoted to this topic. This is timely (or actually, late) as the National Park Service has revised its technical bulletin on re-pointing (#2) without a single reference to hydraulic lime mortars, high calcium lime mortars, lime mortars with pozzolan additives, dolomitic lime mortars gauged with Portland cement and other darlings of the contemporary cocktail circuit. Sara Wermiel pointed out that prior to "Portland" cement's standardization there were just regionally varying arrays of cooked stone products. Ivan noted that we now are in that prior-to-Portland phase for many types of lime… If you need your prejudices challenged immediately, contact Ivan Myjer at Building and Monument Conservation e-mail i.myjer@worldnet.att.net 5. "Cobblestones, Puddingstone & More: Boston's Building Stones Walking Tour:" Lisa Howe, APT Northeast Chapter powerhouse, and Matthew Bronski organized a tour led by Dorothy Richter, Geologist and President of Hager-Richter Geoscience, Inc. on July 24. Dorothy was assisted by Hager-Richter Vice president Dr. Gene Simmons, (not to be confused with the Gene Simmons who fronted the quintessential 1970's make-up and body armor-wearing, pyrotechnic heavy metal band, "Kiss" - although Hager-Richter's Gene Simmons probably saw more than his share of homemade pyrotechnics and unorthodox attire during his years while teaching at MIT). Dorothy's narrated walking tour of over 20 buildings started at the Hynes Convention Center in Back Bay (where Gene was quick to find a few crescent-shaped spalls from concealed kerf anchors), past the retaining walls of the Prudential Center (where Dorothy warned us of the poor weathering characteristics of green granites), and along to Copley Square (where Beth Sitterly and Lisa Howe shared their first-hand knowledge of the stone repairs at New Old South Church and Trinity Church, respectively). Along the way we observed the poor durability of Newark sandstone (Arlington St. Church), puzzled over Peter Harrison's curious c. 1820 transport and use of Aquia Sandstone (with local Quincy Granite) on the portico of St. Paul's, saw why Italian breccia should never be used outdoors (take one look at the base of the Josiah Quincy Statue in front of Old City Hall), learned of the thin stone cladding mistakes and extensive, expensive remedial measures to pin each and every stone panel in the travertine-clad Keystone Building at 99 High Street (1970), and the granite-clad 28 State Street (1969). Tireless both in knowledge and energy, Dorothy trekked us around downtown until it became too dark to see the buildings, at which point she led the remaining diehards into a local watering hole for a brew and a bite to eat. The ultimate diehards, HRC'ers-moved-west Kim Konrad and Stacey Thomas drove all the way from Albany NY to join us for the tour, and said it was worth every last drop of gas. 6. MORE Tours!: Matthew is also organizing a Vermont marble and slate quarry tour in October (tentatively Oct. 12) and, on November 2, a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House in Manchester, New Hampshire with Site Administrator Hetty Startup of the Currier Gallery of Art. We're also arranging a tour of the Fletcher Quarries in Chelmsford (where the Boston Preservation Alliance stash of salvaged Roxbury Puddingstone is stored) for sometime this fall. 7. Communist Alert!: The National Park Service has dismantled its innovative and effective Historic Landscape Initiative. Why? Is the technical component lost or just the advocacy? Is Charles Birnbaum on Elba?
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, September 12, 2002 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, Fifth Floor |