presOhio

Quick view from the west -- taken yesterday, February 16, 2010:

If anyone is involved in the Gamble House situation -- could you please send along any contact info (names, addresses) of individuals, corporations, etc.. I have a meeting on Wednesday with the Executive Director of Heritage Ohio and the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, and I would be happy to bring up this subject. In any case, Preservation Ohio would be happy to send expressions of support, both written and, if need be, in person. If possible, just send them to: [email protected]. Thanks! Thomas/presOhio

As a sucker for neon, thought I would see if folks have night shots of some of these wonderful facades. To start it off, this is the Galion Theater - opened in 1949. It has seen hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovation and restoration over the last 15 years, and currently houses the local community theatre. The facade is covered with porcelain enamel, and the giant black tubes actually hide lights which reflect off the green backdrop.

A couple more: The venerable variety - Mount Vernon (on the right): The not-so venerable variety - Galion (courtesy of Google Street View):

There are interior shots of Columbus' former Masonic Temple -- now the Columbus Athenaeum -- at this link: http://www.columbusmeetings.com

As an alum, made a pilgrimage to OSU on Friday -- almost college-aged daughter in two -- to see the Thompson Library renovation/expansion first-hand. I took some pics; clearly not as nice a day as Ink had, but did the best I could. Of course, I avoided looking at the former Lord and Brown Hall sites.

Mixed feelings on the Ironton High School "solution." The new construction does blend in nicely -- but getting rid of such outstanding architecture is unfortunate. If Warren Harding's end product was a "2" on a 1 to 10 scale (which is being generous), we have moved up to a high 3/low 4 here. On the other hand, the renovated Bucyrus High School (now Bucyrus Elementary), just opened, is about as close to a "10" as you can get.

Trivia for the day -- the Desenberg Building, 2nd from the right in the 4th picture down, was designed by the noted Chicago architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan. Proud to be a native Kalamazooan.

Yes, they are a waste of taxpayer money. In almost every one of these situations, the estimated cost of renovation to meet modern educational standards -- including the technology, comfortable rooms and good lighting to which you refer -- was substantially below the cost of demolition and replacement. In Cleveland alone saving a handful of older buildings would have saved the district an additional $60 million. And, in almost every one of these situations, taxpayers are saddled with buildings that have dramatically shorter life expectancies than the buildings they replaced. As for the quality of architecture, the loss has been a pervasive and crippling one across the state. In smaller communities, the school was typically the only piece of significant local architecture. Buildings do not derive their historic value or integrity simply because they are the product of a well-known architect. These buildings were the heart and soul of almost every Ohio community under 25,000 or so in population.

Went to the City Council public meeting last night concerning the demolition program and the preservation review process -- should have a blog entry posted sometime this weekend on the subject.

No, it is not better than total destruction. Integration of this entrance into a new building would be facadism at its worst. This entrance was not designed to be standing by itself, or placed into a new structure -- it has become a "folly," as the English like to call such things. As the New York Times has said, "..to save only the facade of a building is not to save its essence; it is to turn the building into a stage set, into a cute toy..." In places like Warren, as in Ironton, Galion and elsewhere, it also serves as a continuing reminder of the travesty of the Ohio School Facilities Commission building program's skewed guidelines, the over-zealousness of architectural companies that spew out schools that are virtually indistinguishable from prisons while wasting hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, and the purposeful ignorance of school boards that fall victim to rampant and unfounded paranoias about older educational (or, indeed, any older) buildings. Sorry - hit a nerve.

Hey - I believe that the 5th pic down shows the building which houses Heritage Ohio (last building down the sidewalk, upper floor).

This was constructed contemporaneously with SOM's Lever House in NYC -- and Means is actually a rather good example of their post WW2 work. Its another example of both the problem with advancing recent past preservation, as well as OSU's rather poor recent preservation track record (Lord and Brown Hall demolitions without outside structural engineering evaluation). FYI - another SOM campus building in Ohio is the former Corry Hall on the campus of the soon-to-be-reopened Antioch College in Yellow Springs - a campus which also includes an Eero Saarinen design.

OMG. Way, way worse than a complete loss - and the fact that it backs up to a parking lot just reinforces the travesty.

The Ohio Preservation Network is open for a "sneak peek" for the next 24 hours - and this evening a member in Mansfield posted photos of a house which was saved from demolition last week at the very last minute. This is a link to details on the situation and a large photo of the facade: http://www.ohiopreservationnetwork.com/profiles/blogs/update-on-331-prescott-st Click on the "Photos" tab for more pictures. By the way - registration on the OPN is free and easy to accomplish -that way you can keep visiting after the sneak peek is over. Thomas/presOhio

Quick FYI - If anyone has questions on this they would like to ask directly of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit point person with the Ohio Department of Development, you might come on down to Columbus for our all-day workshop on September 15. Its only $50, with lunch, and qualifies for continuing education for attorneys, architects and real estate professionals. Here's a link: http://www.financialincentives.eventbrite.com

True, Ink.... but I suppose what irks me a bit about that mural is that in the very few years since it was painted, the Quinby Block (the large brick structure on the left) was lost, leaving the yellow brick building on the left, the Courthouse, and the small blueish structure in the middle as the sole surviving structures represented in that scene. Its like a huge advertisement saying "Here's what we used to be!"

OK, not responding just because I am a Galionite (and current Galion resident), although I might be a bit biased in that direction. I gotta say, though, that: 1. A massive streetscape project does not automatically result in a revitalized downtown. Unfortunately, not only has Bucyrus lost a great deal of historic fabric downtown over the last few years, back it lacks a design review ordinance to project investment in downtown buildings. It also lacks a comprehensive downtown revitalization organization or effort. 2. You are the first person I have ever known to have described Chatfield as a "stunning village." 3. As for the other cities you mention, Norwalk is very nice; Wooster has issues. Tiffin, particularly with the rescue of the Seneca County Courthouse, may well be the gem of the bunch. I will close with a handful of other Galion photos - including a bit of residential...

Ha! Actually, I didn't use "Gambier" as my Kenyon shots were all on campus...

My daughter and I took a letterboxing trip to Mount Vernon this afternoon - and, as usual, my camera seemed to find itself taking photos of buildings instead of people. Its been quite a while since I posted some pics, so here goes - a collection of several downtown Mount Vernon views and a handful of Kenyon shots.

I don't know -- from this Google Maps view, it looks like there might be plenty to restore (if I have the correct properties). I really hate these absurd blanket statements, "They need to be taken down." The building on the right apparently had a business operating in it at the time this photo was taken; there is nothing in this photo which suggests properties in danger of collapse. Demolition for the sake of speculative future development, anything but assured in the foreseeable future given the economy and the availability of other downtown lots which could be developed, seems very short-sighted.

Not vouching for the accuracy of the info (e.g., Kent) -- I simply re-posted what was there. I do think that I will take Kent off the list, however. The asterisk is mentioned in the description of "Good County Seats."

Ranking Ohio's County Seats Just posted on MyHometownOhio -- original story link: http://myhometownohio.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2009/4/22/4161153.html Some time ago, a member of an online forum compiled the following list of several of Ohio’s county seat towns, arranged by classification on how each respects and preserves its own built history. While you may agree or not agree with some of the selections made (nor do we at Preservation Ohio necessarily agree with them), it nevertheless provides an interesting point of discussion. Super County Seats: Super County Seats have largely intact historic resources, have a strong preservation ethic (or at least one strong preservation project underway and which may include a preservation-based downtown revitalization program), convey a strong sense of place, have a downtown adjacent to one or more intact historic residential districts, are highly unique and potentially regionally or nationally important. Greenville Mount Vernon Delaware Circleville Norwalk Troy Hillsboro McConnelsville Great County Seats: All of the above, but with one or more major issues that put it into this “near-miss” category. Lancaster Marietta Ashland Bowling Green Sidney Mount Gilead Millersburg Lisbon Good County Seats: These county seats have significant historic resources, however there is a preservation challenge(s) which is(are) significant and affects the ability to convey a sense of place. In the majority of these communities, it is an issue of “missing teeth” in streetscapes, the lack of a preservation ordinance or strong ethic that has resulted in several critical losses, or a general lack of maintenance or revitalization. A few of these could make their way up to the next level (particularly those marked with asterisks). Chillicothe* Medina Urbana* Hamilton* Tiffin (* provided the Courthouse remains) Van Wert* Bellefontaine Wooster* Kenton* London Athens Warren* Washington CH Fremont Marysville* Mansfield Marion Lima* New Philadelphia* Upper Sandusky* Jefferson Steubenville Others: So much has been lost that a sense of place is difficult to convey, and no significant efforts are underway to change that fact (or just, in fact, too late). Bucyrus Springfield Painesville What do you think? Are these classifications correct? Useful? Where does your county seat town fit in this mix?

There's still time to nominate a property to the 2009 List of Ohio's Most Endangered Historic Sites; nominations will be accepted through April 10 (and if any UrbanOhioers need a day or two longer, please let me know). Information and an online nomination form are available here: http://ohiosmostendangered09.squarespace.com/ Thanks!

Annamarie: I would encourage you to consider the fact that in this day and age, some forms of dynamic targeted highly marketing can occur with little expense. Right now, Preservation Ohio's marketing and communications budget is approximately $500 a year. With this amount, we: - Publish online and (soon to come) print newsletters to members and friends; - Maintain four websites that reach several thousand visitors a week, thanks to hard work in building search engine optimization; - Have hundreds of subscribers to our blog; - Build cooperative marketing arrangements with various partners. We are now moving into area of downloadable audio and video tours of historic downtowns, neighborhoods and landmarks. Glossy print display advertising, brochures and the like still have their place, to be sure -- however there is much that can be done without that level of expense.