HRC November 1999 Meeting
Minutes
Present: Bill Barry, Ron Berge, Eric Breitkreutz,
Matthew Bronski, Jean Carroon, Anne Dilucia, Leslie
Donovan, Jack Glassman, Jeffrey Harris, Kimberly Konrad,
Elizabeth Johanson, Henry Moss, Linda Mackowiak, Bill
Mueller, Bob Neiley, Albert Rex, Deborah Robinson, Lance
Robson, Susan Schur, Jonathan Smith, Laurie Soave, Eric
Ward, Sara Wermiel, T. Luke Young.
1. BSA Preservation Award: [Bob Neiley and Henry
Moss presented the award to Filenes on November 17 at the
launch of the Mayors Business Heritage Brochure at the
Omni Parker House. It was Filenes 150th anniversary and
many other century-old businesses were recognized by the
Mayor- (Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott among
them). Matt Bronski, Sara Wermiel, Susan Schur, Bill
Barlow, and Bill Barry were striking figures in the
crowded room where Louisa May Alcott talked about
shopping for bonnets at Filenes.]
2. Ten Most Endangered: Henry reported that Kate
Coggeshall of Historic Massachusetts, Inc. (HMI) would
present these threatened historic sites and structures to
our group at some future meeting. [Traffic forces
conspired to keep us apart when she tried to join us on
November 11.]
3. Old Northern Avenue Bridge: The Mayors decision
to veto the Boston Landmark Commissions unanimous
recommendation that the bridge become a Boston Landmark
was a blow to its many supporters among our committee.
Sara Wermiel expanded on the topic of bridges by
describing a recent Historic Bridges Conference in
Wheeling, West Virginia (home of a suspension bridge as
old as Filenes!). Sara went further to describe the
Massachusetts Highway Bridge Inventory, which contains,
for example, 250 stone arch bridges. The committee
encouraged Sara to invite Steve Roper from Mass Highways,
where he concentrates on bridges to attend our next
meeting. We promised to be on our best behavior.
Sara enlightened us further by noting that Codman and
Despredelles of Berkeley Building fame had designed the
lovely granite balustrades on the Route 117 bridge that
recently collapsed in Lincoln. Jeff Harris told us that
Dan Costello of the National Trust for Historic
Preservations
Washington office is putting together a policy base
with technical guidelines that help respond to
replacement pressures derived from AASHTO codes. (Ask
code buster Matthew Bronski to flesh out that acronym.
American Association of State Highway Transportation
Officers is one guess.) Leslie Donovan suggested that we
also invite Lola Bennett, who has worked with McGinley
Hart on bridge projects, to visit at the next meeting as
well. Others expressed concern about privately owned and
maintained (or not) railway bridges. Elizabeth Johansen
betrayed a certain admiration for the chain suspension
bridge across the Merrimack near Newburyport.
On the subject of the Northern Avenue Bridge, the
committee noted that the Massachusetts Historic
Commission testified at the BLC hearing that they had
been misled by the City. The 106 review had been skipped
and the bridge is located in the Fort Point Channel
Historic District.
4. Tours: Matthew Bronski announced a tour date of
Dec. 1 for the Yin Yu Tang, or "China House" at the
Peabody Essex Museums warehouse site in Stoneham.
Elizabeth Randall had also offered to show people through
the Memorial Hall Tower reconstruction project at Harvard
on November 22. Bill Barry is arranging tours at the
former Sears building in the Fenway (now the Abbey Groups
Landmark Center) as well as a building fabric
investigation at the Motor Vehicle Registry building on
Nashua Street. Generally, Matthew Bronski is the best
contact for tour dates, times, locations, and ideas.
5. BSA Historic Resources Committee Home Page: Sara
Wermiel announced the quick-to-appear, zero graphics web
site that she has constructed:
http://www.architects.org/hrc/index.htm
Contact Sara if you have ideas that could strengthen
this facility (swermiel@mit.edu).
6. Boston Redevelopment Authority: Henry noted that
the resignation of Tom OBrien has triggered many
overtures to Mayor Menino about the BRAs conflicting
planning and development role and the pro-development
stance taken by the past two BRA directors. The Boston
Preservation Alliance has shown clear leadership in this
arena. BSA President Michael Hicks has arranged for a
meeting with the Mayor in December. The Mayors Office
has asked that the preservation community be more
"proactive" rather than simply oppositional (Fenway Park,
Northern Avenue Bridge, Fenway Studios, New Congress
Street Pedestrian Bridge).
7. Jean Carroons Pent-Up Ideas and Observations:
Jean described the Association of Preservation Technology
(APT) Conference in Banff which drew over 300 people.
The Boston area was well represented (David Fixler, Mike
Lynch, Tobin Tracey, Michael Bitterman, Jean, and
others). There was further discussion about the
relationship of architects and architectural
conservators, with Tom Taylor of Historic Williamsburg
and the American Institute of Conservators Code of
Ethics. Jean and her office are also developing
proposal concepts aimed at NCCPT research grants. These
are:
a. petrographic analysis database programs for early
concrete
b. web-based maintenance guides that can be
customized for non-professional building managers, such
as the congregations of historic religious
properties.
The practical significance of the concrete tests was
clear because of the numbers of instances where owners
ought to know whether the diminished alkalinity of
concrete structures is irreversibly low so that
replacement is the only reasonable course of action.
Jean cited recent experience at the Crane Estate in
Ipswich as an example where the project scope turned on
such an analysis.
Next Meeting
(Featuring Bridges)
8: 00 AM, Thursday, December 9, 1999
The Architects' Building
52 Broad Street, Boston
Fifth Floor