[MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20

James Hadley jameswhadley at hotmail.com
Tue May 26 12:41:31 EDT 2009


I strongly recommend the consultants list at PreservatiONMASS for finding 
qualified consutants and craftspeople.
James Hadley AIA, chair, Orleans Historical Commission.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Joanna_Doherty at nps.gov>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:28 PM
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 39, Issue 20


> Jane:
>
> Mendon passed the Community Preservation Act, which provides a source of
> funding for historic preservation projects like the restoration of the
> cobbler's shop.  I'd get in touch with your local Community Preservation
> Committee to find out how to request funds for this project.  You could
> request funds to hire a consultant or contractor with experience working 
> on
> historic buildings to assess the condition of the building, make
> restoration recommendations and develop cost estimates prior to 
> undertaking
> any physical work.  Then, once you have a better sense of the scale of the
> project and how much it will cost, you could request funds to actually do
> the restoration.
>
> Joanna
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Joanna M. Doherty, Community Planner
> John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley
>     National Heritage Corridor
> One Depot Square
> Woonsocket, RI  02895
> (401) 762-0250 x14
> (401) 762-0530 fax
> joanna_doherty at nps.gov
>
>
>
>
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>                                                                   Subject
>             05/26/2009 11:51          MassHistPres Digest, Vol 39, Issue
>             AM                        20
>
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. cobbler's shop (Jane Lowell)
>   2. Re: cobbler's shop (Jack Authelet)
>   3. workshops (Marcia  Starkey)
>   4. Tour of the Somerville Milk Row Cemetery tonight,            6:30PM
>      (BMangum411 at aol.com)
>   5. Boston Early Modern (Ttorwig at aol.com)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 22:36:25 -0400
> From: "Jane Lowell" <jel42 at comcast.net>
> Subject: [MassHistPres] cobbler's shop
> To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Message-ID: <FC605A8F16B34DF9A0D29919FD2AC3B9 at IBMT41SO11897>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> The Town of Mendon was deeded a Cobbler's Shop by a 40 B developer.  It 
> was
> built c. 1850 and the Mendon Historical Commission would like to restore
> it.  The roof needs shingling, although no daylight can be seen, there are
> panes missing from the windows and there is a slight amount of rot on the
> floor boards, a couple of rafters, and one sill. It is a two story
> structure consisting of the main shop and two rooms with dirt floors 
> below.
> The floor joists seem ok.  All of us on the Historical Commission are new
> at this.  Of course funding is almost nonexistant.  Does anyone have
> suggestions on how to proceed?  We really don't want to make any grave
> errors.  Regards, Jane Lowell, Mendon Historical Commissioner
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 23:20:00 -0400
> From: "Jack Authelet" <jauthelet at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] cobbler's shop
> To: "'Jane Lowell'" <jel42 at comcast.net>, <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Message-ID: <003601c9ddb0$dabdbc60$90393520$@net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Jane,
>
>
>
> You have already made one major decision that is very much in your favor,
> and that is to ask for help and suggestions when in unfamiliar territory.
>
>
>
> My humble suggestion, which has worked many times over, would be to:
>
> 1.       Do you research. When was it built, by whom, anything you can 
> find
> to build a case for saving the structure.
>
> 2.       Bring the public on board. Use your local media, web page,
> whatever
> means you  have to share the story, publish photographs, build the case 
> for
> preservation.
>
> 3.       Establish ownership (municipal or a non-profit group) for tax
> purposes.
>
> 4.       If the structure is eligible for National Register listing, it
> might quality for matching funds.
>
> 5.       Invite local contractors - those with expertise - to join you in
> your project, giving them recognition for donated time and labor.
>
> 6.       Set up a special fund to which the public can donate, make
> memorial
> gifts, whatever.
>
> 7.       Establish an end use for the structure when the restoration is
> complete.
>
>
>
> I believe your chances for success improve each time you are able to
> broaden
> the base of people willing to 'buy' into the project with their time,
> talent, donations, whatever.
>
> You can make this work.
>
>
>
> Jack Authelet
>
> Foxborough Town Historian
>
>
>
> From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
> [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Jane Lowell
> Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 10:36 PM
> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> Subject: [MassHistPres] cobbler's shop
>
>
>
> The Town of Mendon was deeded a Cobbler's Shop by a 40 B developer.  It 
> was
> built c. 1850 and the Mendon Historical Commission would like to restore
> it.
> The roof needs shingling, although no daylight can be seen, there are 
> panes
> missing from the windows and there is a slight amount of rot on the floor
> boards, a couple of rafters, and one sill. It is a two story structure
> consisting of the main shop and two rooms with dirt floors below.  The
> floor
> joists seem ok.  All of us on the Historical Commission are new at this.
> Of
> course funding is almost nonexistant.  Does anyone have suggestions on how
> to proceed?  We really don't want to make any grave errors.  Regards, Jane
> Lowell, Mendon Historical Commissioner
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 14:02:23 -0500
> From: "Marcia  Starkey" <mdstarkey at crocker.com>
> Subject: [MassHistPres] workshops
> To: "MassHistPres" <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Message-ID: <7F570D064FB541DD9DA73EB9501E5AA0 at Marcia>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
> Hello,
>
> As you know, workshops on a variety of topics are being held across the
> Commonwealth for local historical commissioners. My experience has been
> that these are very helpful both with assessing how specific preservation
> tools fit with needs and community priorities in Greenfield, and as an
> opportunity to ask (sometimes wierd) questions.
>
> I also wonder if these workshops should include a system of  recognition 
> or
> "accreditation" for this municipal training which can result in enhanced
> local government status, leading to  more weight.
>
> Conservation Commissions, Planning and Zoning Boards, Building and Health
> Departments as well as Assessors have standards and training. Why not HCs
> and LHDCs?
>
> Marcia Starkey, Greenfield HC
>
>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 11:24:34 EDT
> From: BMangum411 at aol.com
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Tour of the Somerville Milk Row Cemetery
>             tonight,          6:30PM
> To: somartscouncil at yahoogroups.com, masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> Message-ID: <d54.50546437.374d63b2 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> The City of Somerville and Historic Somerville, Inc. will continue to
> celebrate May as Preservation Month with a tour of historic Milk Row
> Cemetery,
> 1804- about 1900.   This cemetery was founded by Samuel Tufts on his farm
> in
> what was then Charlestown.  It is quite small, but contains an
> extraordinary
> memorial to those who died from Somerville in the Civil War.   The 
> memorial
>
> was dedicated in 1863, prior to the war's end.
>
> Milk Row Cemetery is located in Somerville, at 439 Somerville Avenue, next
> to Demoulas' Market Basket.   The tour will last about an hour.   We will
> meet at the front gate.
> Hope to see you there!
> Barbara Mangum
> President
> Historic Somerville, Inc.
>
>
> **************
> A Good Credit Score is 700 or
> Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!
> (
> http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377034x1201454326/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.asp
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 08:18:10 EDT
> From: Ttorwig at aol.com
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Boston Early Modern
> To: Ttorwig at aol.com
> Message-ID: <bd1.54ee7819.374a9502 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> _http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/24/a_look_a
>
> t_the_hub_of_early_moderns/?page=full_
> (
> http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/24/a_look_at_the_hub_of_early_moderns/?page=full
>
> )
> The  Observer
> A  look at the hub of early moderns
> Bauhaus  design found a following in Greater Boston
> By  _Sam Allis_
> (
> http://search.boston.com/local/Search.do?s.sm.query=Sam+Allis&camp=localsearch:on:byline:art
> )
> Globe  Columnist /  May 24, 2009
> Boston  has been accused of many things, but being a hotbed of
> distinguished modern  architecture is not one of them.
> Chicago,  L.A., and  Houston, yes, but not the Hub of the Solar System. 
> For
>
> the longest time, the  city's low skyline was defined by the charming,
> tiresome, red brick of our  Colonial past. This was our conceit. We were
> proud
> of it and visitors  swooned.
> In  the 1980s, we saw a spasm begin of forgettable modern buildings in
> Boston. I'm thinking of  ones like One Devonshire  Place, the generic
> downtown
> structure of glass and  steel. Most of our modern office buildings are
> mediocre. The notable exception  is the John Hancock Tower, which everyone
> excoriated when it went up as a blot  on our fragile sense of scale.
> But  Greater Boston turns out to have been, along with greater Los 
> Angeles,
>
> the center of  early modernism in this country. Who knew? The Observer 
> sure
>
> didn't until Keith  Morgan, who teaches the history of architecture at
> Boston University, took me on a tour last week to  prove it.
> Early  modernism was the revolution in design that ran from the early 
> 1930s
>
> through the  mid-1950s, influenced heavily by the Bauhaus school in 
> Germany
>
> founded  by Walter Gropius in 1919. He also founded the influential The
> Architects  Collaborative in Cambridge in 1945.
> The  Bauhaus design is known for its simple white facades, cubic,
> flat-roofed  buildings with great use of ribbon windows. But early
> modernism here
> also drew  from Frank Lloyd Wright and modern movements in Europe - thus
> appropriating the broader term  "International Style." Whatever you called
> it,
> H.H. Richardson it was  not.
> One  of the finest examples of Bauhaus in the area is the Gibbs House at 6
> Chilton Street in  Brookline, amid  rows of Tudor revivalist brick homes.
> Dr
> Frederick and Erna Gibbs vacationed in  Germany in the 1930s and were
> smitten  by the Bauhaus design. They returned with a mission to replicate
> here
> what they  saw there. Architect Samuel Glazer designed a beauty - a
> substantial home with  white concrete facade, flat-roofed, full of square
> glass blocks
> that must have  stunned everyone else on Chilton.
> I  say "Greater Boston" about early modernism because most of the prime
> examples  are located in the suburbs north and west of the city - places
> like
> Lexington, Belmont, and  Lincoln.  Lexington has  more examples of early
> modernism than any other community, says Morgan. "One  project spawned
> another,"
> he says.
> Morgan  showed me the Lexington enclaves of Six Moon Hill Road,  built in
> the late 1940s, and the larger Peacock Farm development, begun in the
> early
> 1950s. Also the smaller Belmont community on Snake Hill Road,  where the
> noted architect Carl Koch designed nine homes, including one for  himself,
> in
> the early 1940s. These are small wooden, flat-roofed houses in earth 
> tones
>
> and a lot of glass to merge with landscape.
> All  of these suburban enclaves were designed to accommodate young
> professionals and  their families entering postwar society. We're talking
> artists,
> academics,  fellow architects, engineers - people on tight budgets - who
> wanted to live in  nature. These houses look small today, inside and out.
> The
> Gropius house in  Lincoln, a National Historic Landmark, is all of 2,400
> square feet. I found it  claustrophobic. But then small houses are in 
> vogue
> now,
> as we move to what  architect and early modernism preservationist Gary
> Wolff
> calls "the not so big  house" with a small carbon footprint.
> At  least these early moderns improved on the traditional Cape house, a
> small, depressing structure notorious for  dark, cramped rooms, low
> ceilings,
> and tiny windows. The modern house had more  open space, better light. 
> What
>
> space it had was flexible, and linked with the  environment. "They were
> very
> Yankee," says Morgan. "They were cheap, small  20th-century equivalents of
> the houses of the first  settlers."
> I  wouldn't have looked twice at the aging wooden houses on Snake Hill 
> Road
>
> had  Morgan not explained their significance. By now, they appear
> nondescript and  insubstantial. Many of the early moderns look a bit
> rundown, and,
> says Morgan,  maintenance can be a problem with them. Beyond that, the
> early
> moderns became  victims of their own success and increasingly produced
> yawns.
> The  early modern movement didn't stop in the mid-1950s so much as lose 
> its
>
> early  purity. It got modified, endlessly, over time. For example, deck
> houses, whose  bloodlines run straight back to the early modern movement,
> became as common as  the Golden Arches of McDonald's
> Or  worse. In 1964, Peabody Terrace, the ghastly modern housing for 
> married
>
> Harvard  students along Memorial  Drive appeared, the progeny of the early
> moderns.  Morgan tells me it actually won awards. I speak for many in
> declaring it one of  the major eyesores in the Western  Hemisphere.
> And  then came the challenge to the early moderns in the 1970s by the
> preservationist  juggernaut that arose to protect much older buildings of
> historical  significance. It remains much easier to gather support to
> preserve an
> early  18th-century home than an early modern one appreciated by a 
> relative
>
> few.
> Still,  Boston wasn't  the flop I assumed when it comes to modern
> architecture. It was an incubator of  early modernism. But like so much
> else in the
> city and its surroundings, someone  has to tell you it's there in the 
> first
>
> place.
> Sam  Allis can be reached at _allis at globe.com_ (mailto:allis at globe.com) .
> ?  Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper  Company.
> **************An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy
> Steps!
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>
> ExcfooterNO62)
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