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Present: Mark Almeda, Bill Barry, Nicole Benjamin-Ma, Tom Behrens, Susan Brauner, Susan Ceccacci, Taya Dixon, Norman Gould, Jeffrey Harris, Steve Jerome, Norman Houle, David Kelman, Ryan Kennedy, David King, Mark Landry, Doug Manley, Pat Morrissey, Henry Moss, Tom Reidy, Brian Roche, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Jay Stanbury, Kelly Streeter, Olga Vaysman, Sara Wermiel 1. Somerset Club Tour, 42 Beacon St., Boston: Rob Olson of Robert Olson Associates confirmed our visit on Friday, July 17 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The club's dress code requires men to wear a jacket and tie. 2. Energy Conservation and Historic Buildings: Henry Moss noted that the NESEA Conference in 2010 offers the opportunity for more thorough debates about responsible ways to improve energy performance in existing structures. The BSA Research Grants are another opportunity for firms and individuals to pursue technical and investigative interests that can benefit practitioners who adapt historic buildings. [The BSA has dispersed more than $500,000 in research grants during the life of the program.] Changes in the energy chapter of the Mass. State Building Code may affect historic structures in unintended ways. Susan Brauner said Savannah and Charleston are looking at their regulations for impacts of cooling on historic structures. Taya Dixon noted that Boston requests all projects to be LEED certifiable, which is difficult to do in rehabs. Pat Morrissey is on the program committee for an APT/NE conference planned for February 2010 that will address insulation of historic structures, "Energy Efficiency, Insulation and Historic Building Envelopes." He is canvassing colleagues for guidance on important topics and possible presenters. To contribute ideas contact Pat at 917 209-5363 (cell) or 203 467-4426 at ConSpec's office, or see online, http://committees.architects.org/hrc/APTNE%20Call%20for%20Presentations%202010%5B1%5D.pdf 3. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District in Worcester: Susan McDaniel Ceccacci, a historic preservation consultant, traveled from far-away central Massachusetts to bring our committee up to date on some of the pressing preservation sites and topics in the Worcester area and to present a special place of interest in Worcester, Stephen Salisbury's planned subdivision, Bancroft Heights, which dates from the turn of the last century. Worcester Preservation Issues The Worcester State Hospital site continues to bring new development proposals that conflict with some dramatic historic structures. The clock tower building is the most visible of these, but there are other potential erasures. Catholic church closings have been the subject of local opposition and media focus over the past decade, but the removal of stained glass windows and destruction of interior fittings associated with liturgy are seldom remarked upon once parishoners' opposition to closure is waited out by the Archdiocese. The loss of the 1850s Adriatic Mill in Worcester exemplifies both the underutilized industrial buildings that are disappearing throughout central Massachusetts and the widespread problem in Worcester of "demolition by neglect." Fortunately, the City of Worcester now has Demolition by Neglect notice powers. Preservation Worcester's Urban Design Committee is especially sensitive to the challenge posed by the cluster of buildings at Lincoln Square, Worcester Memorial Auditorium, the Worcester County Court House, and Boys & Girls Club building. The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District The Massachusetts Avenue Historic District was formed in 1975 to recognize and protect an area of stylish late 19th and early 20th century single-family homes, and it includes the 1910 Antiquarian Hall of the American Antiquarian Society. Susan was commissioned to write a history of the district. Among her findings was the fact that the boundaries of the LHD do not include all of the original planned cultural landscape -- actually a subdivision created by Stephen Salisbury (1835-1905), once Worcester's richest resident, and called Bancroft Heights. Its history and extent were not understood when the Massachusetts Ave. District was established. Susan showed plans of Bancroft Heights as it was laid out; it included a park with trails for riding and walking. Some of the planned park survives, the centerpiece of which is a stone tower built as a monument to George Bancroft, historian, statesman, and Secretary of the Navy. Worcester was one of the earliest cities with a public park system, and Susan thinks that Worcester-born Andrew Haswell Green, the driving force in creating New York's Central Park, may have been influential in the creation of a comprehensive park system for Worcester through contract with his friend E. W. Lincoln, Worcester Parks Commissioner, and possibly with Stephen Salisbury as well. Susan noted that memorialization played an important role increasing the character of Bancroft Heights. The name of the subdivision and two monuments honor George Bancroft. At the beginning of the 20th century, the unusually rapid growth and the associated loss of familiar surroundings and historic buildings in Worcester stimulated memorialization as well as the beginnings of the historic preservation and conservation movements. An early example of historic preservation in the Massachusetts Ave. area is the reconstructed second Worcester County Courthouse, where slavery was ruled incompatible with the Massachusetts state constitution. The 1751 courthouse was dismantled and moved by the Trumbull family to become a residence in the Massachusetts Avenue area, its courtroom converted to a library. Another of her findings was the fragility of roof balusters. Many of the Colonial Revival-style houses in the district originally had them, but many are missing today. She also noticed the popularity of sleeping porches on the houses in the district. These all-season sleeping porches represent a fad for fresh air that antedated the wide application of antibiotics. When by the mid-20th century the enthusiasm faded, these porches were often enclosed. 4. Boston Area Construction History Group: Sara Wermiel is convening a meeting to explore whether people would like to establish a construction history group in the Boston area. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 21 July at 6:00 pm at MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, AVT Room 7-431. John Ochsendorf, MIT, and Brian Bowen, a professor at Georgia Tech and a leading organizer of the Construction History Society of America, will discuss the recent international congress on construction history as well as plans for the forthcoming congress in Chicago in 2015. For further information about the session contact Sara at swermiel@mit.edu. For more detailed directions to the AVT room go to http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?zoom=level3;709690;centery=495520.
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