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Present: Bill Barry, Eric Breitkreutz, Matthew Bronski, Rachel Consolly, Marilyn Fenollossa, Allan Galper, David Hart, John Hecker, Lyn Hovey, Steve Jerome, David Kelman, Bill Mack, Ivan Myjer, Roberto Rosso, Chris Skelly, Jay Stanbury, Jeanne van Orman, Eric Ward, and Sara Wermiel 1. Massachusetts Historical Commission - the next five years: Every five years, the MHC maps out a preservation plan. All MHC's goals and objectives for that five-year period must relate back to the plan. As part of creating their preservation plan for 2005-2010, the MHC has been holding meetings at locations around the state to solicit public input. Meetings have been held at Springfield, Barnstable, and here at the BSA-HRC in Boston Christopher Skelly of MHC distributed copies of the 2000 five year plan and draft copies of the 2005-10 Goals and Objectives to help spur suggestions and input. David Hart suggested a need for better training of Local Historic District Commissions, noting that many volunteers lack knowledge of even basic things like the Secretary of the Interior's Standards. Eric Breitkreutz spoke highly of Elsa Fitzgerald's "Preservation 101" class, and suggested this class and similar classes are invaluable to new volunteers on LHD Commissions. Bill Barry mentioned the need for preservation education to reach out to the next generation coming up and get kids today thinking about the value of our built heritage. Bill also mentioned the often misunderstood need for those involved in Local Historic District Design Review roles to understand and respect their charge to "review" a design for appropriateness and not overstep their authority and attempt to "control" design by dictating changes to height, width, roofline, materials, details, etc. Chris Skelly mentioned a trial-run "how-to" DVD on Design Review that MHC is preparing. Jeanne van Orman noted the need for public education on the economic value of preservation. Many people understand the value of economic development, but fail to see the role of beautiful, intact historic districts in promoting economic revitalization. Sara Wermiel observed that with affordable housing, some towns don't necessarily want it, but it is so important that statewide laws allow it to happen, even over local objection - could there be a similar mechanism or law for historic preservation? Matthew Bronski mentioned that the state seems to rely heavily on local initiative for surveys of the historic resources of each town and thus, for the cumulative survey of historic resources in the Commonwealth. Matthew has found that some towns have relatively adequate surveys of their historic resources, while other towns are sadly lacking, leaving the state with spotty knowledge of its statewide historic resources. Chris Skelly confirmed this disparity, stating that for example, East Brookfield has only three properties in the entire town surveyed, while Cohasset has surveys of all properties in the town up to the 1980's! On the MHC's 2005-2010 draft list of goals and objectives, both the first goal and the first objective relate to identifying and documenting historic and cultural resources locally. Chris stated that often, the top priority for a Local Historical Commission should be surveying or updating the survey of historic resources in their town. With limited resources it's important to plan and prioritize what properties a survey will cover, prior to starting. MHC and Chris have begun a pilot program with Heath, MA to help the town prioritize what properties and areas will be surveyed first. MHC has a form on their website that you can use to give input on the 2005-10 State Historic Preservation Plan; you may also e-mail comments to mhc@sec.state.ma.us 2. Hurricane Katrina - Heritage at Risk on the Gulf Coast: Bill Barry, a native of the New Orleans area, led a discussion on how we, either as a group or as individuals, might be most useful in offering assistance to help save the historic built heritage of areas of the Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina. David Hart hoped that those in charge of rebuilding could resist the first inclination to demolish everything in the severely afflicted areas, noting that this is not the first time New Orleans has flooded. Ivan Myjer noted that first response, and determining whether buildings will be demolished or saved, are typically handled by structural engineers. Ivan suggested that perhaps project teams could be composed that include an engineer, an architect, and a conservator to provide multi-disciplinary input for that initial decision. Some noted that given the toxic soup that saturated many afflicted buildings for days on end, and the rapid onset of mold growth, it seems likely that industrial hygienists, microbiologists, and environmental specialists will need to be part of the initial assessment/determination teams. Unfortunately, few of us practicing as preservation professional know enough about toxic environmental effects and microbiology to provide any sort of crosscheck on the point of exposure to toxins beyond which a building cannot be saved without undue risk to the inhabitants. Marilyn Fenollosa and Matthew Bronski both expressed concern over the potential wholesale loss of modest vernacular dwellings, which define the streetscape and character of certain neighborhoods in New Orleans. Modest one-story vernacular Victorian "shotgun" houses define the streetscapes of much of the Ninth Ward and other lower working-class areas of the city. While much attention will likely be given to restoration of tourist-attracting areas filled with elegant buildings, such as the French Quarter and the Garden District, loss of virtually the entire Ninth Ward seems to be a real risk. As a start, Bill has assembled some basic information on how you can offer assistance, which is posted on our HRC website: http://committees.architects.org/hrc/neworleans.htm Bill mentioned that the immediate needs tend to fall into three main categories - money, muscle, and applied expertise. A quick glance around the table suggested that our committee possesses far more of the latter than the two former. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott Architects (Bill's firm), and HRC have joined forces to establish an interactive site where members can make postings to supplement the basic information we've gathered thus far and alert members to other volunteer opportunities and needs. Clink on the link to this site from the HRC webpage, or go directly to http://project1.sbra.com/heritageatrisk. 3. Members on the Verge… Many HRC members were on the verge of departing for the annual Assoc. for Preservation Technology (APT) International Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Others staying close to home were looking forward to attending a lecture on 'The Maya and their Sacred Architecture' given by the Mayan spiritual elder, Don Cerilo Perez Oxlaj at the Ayer Mansion. Reports on these events at our next meeting.
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