Tagged: Preservation Nation
This Week
A weekly round-up of my favorite preservation related stories from around the web and in the news.
Diana Vreeland
Vreeland in her NYC apartment. Image via Apartment Therapy.
In preservation, we often focus on the exterior of the building and the architectural details of the interior. However, the furnishings and wallpapers and other decorations are important points as well. The history of interior design in the US is pretty fascinating and is filled with quotable women with BIG personalities. Diana Vreeland is one of those women. Her long running career influenced American design and left us with such bon mots as “Pink is the Navy Blue of India!”
To the Vomitory!
Check out those vomitories! #BBN Image via Lexington Center
For the last several weeks, Preservation in Mississippi has been writing an “architectural word of the week” series that has been entertaining and informative. Today, one of the words is vomitory – click through to read the definition of this mighty gross sounding word. MissPres makes the point that it is a great word for football season, but being from Kentucky I have to point out it is a great word for basketball season. The vomitories in Rupp Arena were full of fans just last night!
Raising the Dead in DC
19th-century skeletons uncovered in the 3300 block of Q Street. Image via Preservation Nation
In large cities, it is not uncommon to find that a park or development is built atop the site of a former cemetery. In DC, four 19th century burials were found near a former cemetery that is now Volta Park off of Avenue Q during construction work. Check out the story for more information about how DC grew up around and over its cemeteries! Or check out Scouting New York for info about the smallest graveyard in Manhattan, all that remains of a once MUCH larger cemetery.
Preservation Prodigy II
Linley in front of his Indiana home. Image via PreservationNation
I didn’t think that Preservation Nation could top their story last week about sixth-grader/preservationist Nate Michalak until this week when they profiled 12 year old preservationist Daniel Linley. For his sixth grade science project, Linley proved that the ca. 1920 windows in his home in Elkhart, In are more energy efficient than new windows. Yeah science! With Linley and Michalak already rising stars, I’d say the future of preservation is very bright indeed.
Preservation Is…
I think this is an important point as we all look for meaningful ways to actually use old structures. They can’t all be museum houses, but they can be saved and be useful, if enough care and thought is put into them.
-Merry Powell, Interior Designer
The music room at Braehead in Fredericksburg, Virgina as designed by Powell. Image via Preservation Nation.
This Week
A weekly round-up of my favorite preservation related stories from around the web and in the news.
Aleppo’s Landmarks Burn
- The Umayyad Mosque, set ablaze over the weekend, is the latest landmark damaged in Aleppo’s walled Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo: AFP
“Since the start of Syria’s civil war eighteen months ago, the country’s abundance of cultural heritage sites — which include some of the oldest and most important cultural centers on earth — have found themselves repeatedly caught in the crossfire. Archaeologists around the world have made devoted efforts to assess the damage, but actually protecting the sites has been impossible.” – The Global Heritage Fund
Park Slope’s Pink Brownstone
- Park Slope’s pink brownstone. Image via Animal New York
If you’ve ever been to Park Slope, you probably noticed the Pepto Bismol pink brownstone on Garfield Place. Since it was painted in 1971, it has become an neighborhood icon. Fortunately/unfortunately (it’s a matter of opinion), the pink hued townhouse will soon be painted brown. Check out Brooklyn Paper for more information about the Landmark Preservation Commission’s decision.
Race Impacts Place
My tagline is a little misleading (but it rhymes!). This story (from Rustwire) is more about how people shape their communities through culture (which is connected to race, and ethnicity, and heritage). Until the 1970s, the Buckeye Road neighborhood in Cleveland was a cohesive Hungarian enclave. When it began to integrate, the community was broken apart by blockbusting (and fear-mongering) realtors and developers. Despite the its best efforts to reshape itself into an multi-ethnic and integrated community, depressed real estate prices took their toll. Today the neighborhood stands in stark contrast to the once vibrant community it was.
Preservation Prodigy
- Nate Michalak hard at work. Image via Preservation Nation.
Eleven year old Nate Michalak is already an active historic preservationist. He’s helping his family restore three historic houses in Toledo, Ohio. And he writes a column for Heritage Ohio! He says of his projects, “I think that’s not right that a lot of these kinds of houses are being torn down to make new houses or shopping malls and I wonder, why? Why would you tear down a beautiful old house and make something brand new?” Right on, little guy! Jump over to Preservation Nation for more Q&A with this pint sized preservationist.
This Week
A weekly round-up of my favorite preservation related stories from around the web and in the news.
Tax Credits are No Joke
Baker Chocolate Factory (side view) in Dorchester, Massachusetts via Preservation Nation
Architect Robert Verrier has helped to restore over 150 historic buildings using historic tax credits. In his post over at Preservation Nation, he discusses how historic preservation and tax credits boost the economy, encourage business, and are a savvy investment. Preservation can also buoy a community, revitalize neighborhoods, and it’s green! Be sure to check out his post to read more and to see examples of his beautiful work.
Public Art Inspired by the Past
First Conundrum via heritagelandscapecreativity
It seems like I’ve been talking a lot about public art here on Bricks + Mortar lately. Once I started thinking about its relationship to historic preservation, I just can’t stop. And I see it everywhere now. So I really loved this post over at heritagelandscapecreativity, which delves into the relationship between sculpture and archeology in Scotland. It highlights the piece, First Conundrum, based on geometrically refined neolithic Scottish stone spheres. The large scale replicas are as engaging as they are beautiful. Check it out! (See more photos here).
Spindletop Hall deTour Photos
If you enjoyed this, this or this post about last month’s BGT deTour at Spindletop Hall, you should definitely pop over to the Kaintuckeean’s Flickr to see more photos from the behind the scenes tour!
This Week
A weekly round-up of my favorite preservation stories from around the web and in the news.
Preservation and Place expanded on an NBC News story about a new trend at cemeteries – QR codes. The same codes you see on product packaging and advertisements are now being encoded with information about the life and death of the deceased. P&P pondered how this technology could be applied to historic cemeteries – creating a dialogue between the past and present. Expanding on this idea – could QR codes be the future of interpretation at historical sites in general? I can easily imagine a QR code tucked into the corner of informational signs and panels offering access to more information and resources – photographs, audio, video, etc.
Is this being done anywhere yet?
Gensler proposed a floating airport in the Thames estuary as a solution for London’s aviation needs. The futuristic design seems completely unrealistic, but it would provide a solution to the large land needs of airports, which sometimes swallow up entire neighborhoods.
Careful Cataloging is Important, Ya’ll!
Turns out that the small arts and science museum I grew up going to has had a rare Picasso piece in storage for half a century. I had no idea! Know why? Neither did they! The piece had been mislabeled as a work by Gemmaux (the plural of the glass working technique used to make the piece). Museum curating and preservation are not the same profession, but there is some overlap. Take heed historic house museums with collections! Catalog them carefully! (And maybe review what you have every now and then).
The National Trust pulled together 10 common preservation terms for their Ten on Tuesday series. If you get confused between renovate, remodel, and reconstruct, head on over to find exactly how they are different and more!
Bricks + Mortar 