BSA Historic Resources Committee Meeting Notes for November 2007
Present: David Bliss, Matthew Bronski, Gregory Colling, Tom Cronin, Marilyn Fenollosa, Gina Foglia, Jack Glassman, Patrick Guthrie, Tom Hanold, Stephanie Hodal, Steve Jerome, Sarah Kelly, David Kelman, Bob Nesson, Trish Palmiere, Brian Roche, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Eric Ward, Sara Wermiel
1. Review of APTI 2007 Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico: While others were still soaking up the sun and or making their way back north, Jack Glassman had just returned from the conference and offered a brief review. The conference was truly international this year - many attendees and presenters from many, many nations. Getty grants provided for translators and covered some transportation costs for those from afar. The conference included much emphasis on adapting and merging old world traditions and new technologies. Jack noted that there were relatively few hardcopy handouts this year, in the interests of being green and saving trees, but a worthy exception was Kent Diebolt's stellar timeline graphic on the Guastavino Company. Jack noted the turnout of 739 attendees was the largest in the history of APT, more than double the usual attendance. Perhaps the sun and sand were part of the allure. Jack noted the oddity of seeing professional colleagues, whom you normally see in business attire, traipsing across the hotel lobby in bathing suits, funny hats, and sunglasses. The next APTI conference will be held in Oct. 2008 in Montreal. Bring your parka, tuk, and mittens.
2. Auchmuty Building a.k.a. The Dainty Dot, 120 Kingston St., Boston: Sarah Kelly of the Boston Preservation Alliance gave an update on the depressing state of affairs and proposal for what is tantamount to demolition of this finely detailed and proportioned building. A new proposal by the same developer contemplates gutting the building, dismantling both street facades, erecting new tower over an excavated parking story, and reassembling or reconstructing masonry façades facing Essex and Kingston Streets at their current lengths. The BPA is a strong advocate for preserving the building (bona fide preservation, not building a replica of the facades). The Auchmuty Building was proposed for study as a Boston Landmark in the 1990's, but with staffing shortages and a long backlog of study items, like so many items placed for study, it languished for years without action. The BLC's recent failure to designate the building as a landmark does not mean it is not historically significant - only that its historic significance does not rise to the extremely high threshold required for designation as an individual Boston Landmark. MHC found the building to be significant, and recommended its preservation. With the building situated at the junctures of the Leather District and Chinatown, it may fall between the cracks of neighborhoods and hence is less of a priority for local groups. Steve Jerome is an exceptionally strong advocate for the building, and he added some insights and details into the building's history, such as fire damage in the 1880's or 90's. Steve mentioned that the building was noted in its day by architects at Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge to be "one of the most beautiful buildings of its type in the country."
3. Emerson College's Campus Heritage Project - Getty Film: Tom Hanold, Emerson College's Director of Corporate Relations, and Bob Nesson, a documentary filmmaker and member of the Emerson faculty, joined us to present Bob's film documenting Emerson's exterior survey work on their historic buildings conducted under a Getty Grant. The Getty Grant requires an educational component of the grant work. As Emerson does not have an architecture or preservation program, but has extraordinary media and communications programs, they decided to play to their strong suit and make a documentary film of the survey work on their historic buildings. In the first minute, the film gives a quick overview of centuries of urban construction in Boston, tracing the advent of the automobile, decentralization, urban flight, urban renewal, and preservation, which provides a broad context for Emerson's work on these buildings. Emerson has always favored adaptive reuse. Until 2003, the school had never constructed a new building, either at their current or previous site; they always bought and adapted existing buildings. Emerson made a major decision some years ago to leave their Beacon Street site (where they had run out of room), and move to the Theater District and Common area. In a certain sense, the real estate crash of the early 1990's helped them greatly, allowing them to purchase many of their current buildings at rock-bottom prices. Their buildings mostly date from turn of the century to 1930, and most are in one or two historic districts or individual Boston Landmarks.
Emerson buildings: Top row, left to right, Emerson Majestic Theatre (1903) and Little Building (L and R) (1917)
Bottom row, left to right, Walker Building (1891-1904), Colonial Building (1900), Union Warren Savings Bank (1925)
The film shows the investigation and assessment of the building exteriors in progress. It focuses on the people and their roles as much as the physical projects themselves, and hence helps convey to laypeople in an understandable and compelling way the story of what we do as preservation professionals. Personnel from the exterior survey team of Finegold Alexander + Associates, Building Conservation Associates, Boston Building Consultants, and Shawmut Design and Construction make appearances and explain what they are doing on the side of the building, in the office or archives, or in the lab. Jim Alexander explains the process and goals, and Andrea Gilmore and Melissa McGrew are featured in starring roles explaining their documentation and conservation work.
After praising the film, HRC members reiterated their admiration for all that Emerson has done as a model citizen and steward of historic buildings downtown. As an owner they are making great things happen both for their community and for the historic city fabric of which they are a part., Emerson should be considered a role model for other urban colleges and institutions around the country. As such, Emerson College received the BSA Preservation award several years ago, as a creative owner who cares and goes the extra mile. Let's hope this film brings Emerson's excellence in the stewardship of historic buildings and in being a good urban neighbor to a wider audience nationwide.
4. News from Providence: Jack Gold, the director of the Providence Preservation Society in recent years, is leaving and moving to the west coast. Jack and his leadership and initiatives at PPS and in Providence will be missed.
Note: Henry, Sara and Matthew are planning the topics for future meetings. E-mail us with suggestions.
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, December 13, 2007
Featuring
Members' recent projects
The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, Fifth Floor
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes