Present: Matthew Bronski, Mike DeLacey, Sarah DiSano, Jack Glassman, Patrick Guthrie, David Hart, Lisa Howe, Jame Igoe, Richard Jarvis, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Laura MacKowiak, Ellen Lipsey, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Albert Rex, Brian Roche, Maggie Roth, Susan Schur, Stacy Small, Jonathan Smith, Kim Sykes, Sara Wermiel 1. Historic Massachusetts, Inc. (HMI): a. Jim Igoe, Executive Director of HMI, our statewide advocacy organization for historic preservation, introduced himself and his organization's program. For the past seven years, Jim was the Director of Preservation Worcester. For thirteen years prior to that, he worked at the Mass. Secretary of State's Office, so he has been able to observe preservation needs, activity, and relevant government policies from multiple perspectives. Jim began by commenting that the concentration of energy in preservation advocacy, planning, and technical matters is intense in the Boston area but does not extend far into the regions beyond. Jim pointed to the City of Holyoke as a shocking example (where the downtown is losing buildings almost weekly). HMI has been developing a strategic plan during the past two years, and their intent is to work toward a more coordinated preservation effort across the Commonwealth. HMI has created a Coalition of Preservation Organizations, which meets regularly to compare problems and projects. This coalition is working to restore funds for the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund (MPPF) and Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) staff, and is pushing for a State Historic Tax Credit. b. Sarah DiSano is the staff person at HMI who manages the annual Ten Most Endangered program that solicits, sieves, and presents to a selection committee about forty nominations for the list from local proponents (often local historic commissions, sometimes individual advocates). The program will be ten years old next year. There is clear evidence that the publicity and recognition from HMI has kept historic buildings, landscapes, and engineering structures from being demolished. Not always, but often. Sarah showed examples from previous years and noted how the nominations and selection process seem to illuminate vulnerable sectors of the historic built environment, ranging from dairy farms and steel bridges to early Modern houses. HMI will announce this year's list at their fund-raising event on November 19. 2. Modern Houses and Their Communities: Henry reported that DOCOMOMO-US/New England is working with other preservation groups to create a series of oral history interviews with designers and developers of Post WWII residential communities, individual house types and other buildings and landscapes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Society of Architectural Historians, SPNEA, and several local historic commissions are involved. Mike DeLacey noted the difficulty he experienced in finding support for protection of the Northeast School in Waltham, a building that Gropius worked on with Chip Harkness developing prototypes for sympathetic additions to earlier buildings. Sara Wermiel mentioned that Newton has a planning grant for a survey of residential areas built from the 'Thirties through the 'Sixties. Meanwhile, who can describe the differences among Techbuilt, Acorn, and Deck houses? 3. Mortar Forum: Ivan Myjer and Lisa Howe developed the idea for an ongoing forum on lime mortars that will begin on October 10 at our Historic Resources Committee meeting. Ivan has invited Pennsylvania architectural conservator Lorraine Schnabel of John Milner Associates to present her thoughts about a variety of "lime mortar" formulations. Ms. Schnabel's background includes a degree and five years' professional experience working as a geologist. As early as the mid-19th century, the mortar industry began to standardize. Ms. Schnabel will help us think about "what is knowable" from mortar analyses and discuss the analytical tools at our disposal. This is sure to begin a series of useful technical exchanges as we reevaluate our tried and sometimes true rules of thumb about mortar mixes in the light of new ideas and recently recovered lost knowledge, often from far away places. 4. Vermont Quarry Tours: Association for Preservation Technology (Northeast Chapter) and BSA Historic Resources Committee stone masonry genius, Lisa Howe, have organized a full day tour covering two quarries on Saturday October 12, 2002. The quarries are Danby Marble in Danby, Vermont and Vermont Structural Slate in New Poultney/Fair Haven, Vermont. The Danby tour will start at 11:00 AM (Leave Boston by 7:00 AM - the last 60 miles or so are back roads, so it's a full four hour drive). This is a rare opportunity to see the stone quarries and learn about their associated fabrication capabilities in the company of other smart practitioners. Please contact Lisa Howe at lhowe@gcassoc.com to RSVP, learn more about the logistics, and to coordinate carpools. 5. Zimmerman House Tour: Matthew Bronski has also organized a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House in Manchester, New Hampshire with Site Administrator Hetty Startup of the Currier Gallery of Art for Saturday November 2, 2002, starting at 10:00 AM. This tour will have a small entrance fee ($15 or less). Contact Matthew to reserve a spot before October 11 (space is limited) and to get more details: mbbronski@sgh.com 6. Ayer Mansion: Brian Roche announced Elizabeth Bell's talk on preservation in Antigua at the Ayer Mansion on Sept. 18. Lyn Hovey's Studio organized Ms. Bell's talk. Brian said that SPNEA is also organizing a tour of the Ayer Mansion in October. 8: 00 a.m., Thursday, October 10, 2002 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, Fifth Floor November Meeting, NOTE DATE CHANGE!!! 8: 00 a.m., Thursday, November 21, 2002 |