[MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

Tue Nov 24 22:37:50 EST 2009

i agree that a cell phone offers critical human access when one driver talking on their cell phone rams into another driver talking on their cell phone...a pedestrian walking by talking on their cell phone can put the first caller on hold while they dial 911....(i live in western ma and have no reception for a 10 mile radius from my home...verizon lied!)

as i understand it, the original poster stated that the phone company requested replacing the venting louvers and the top of the steeple with a 'replica' in fiberglass....there was no mention of deterioration of the components...

in both the examples given of your respective historic commission approvals, it appears the designer/installer tried more than once to pull a fast one over on y'all...beware of plastic resin precedents and those who request/install them....

there is nothing more sustainable than a an old building still standing...as one preservationist observed in a discussion regarding window restoration vs window replacement "the only thing worse than replacing original fabric is arson"....

i can certainly see the quandary inherent in making choices when a big chunk of maintenance sustaining cash is at hand...

to be continued.......
....jade
heartwood window restoration

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tristram Metcalfe 3 
  To: jade ; dgkalman4 at cs.com 
  Cc: james howard ; Robin Ragle-Davis ; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:31 PM
  Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

  Answering David first,
    Rents for cell towers are pretty steep Is there any sort of community benefit for these changes.   David Kelman
  Yes absolutely there is  HUGE public benefit to cell towers in steeples or towers of historic buildings.
  1. it gives very important financial help to churches typically sorely needing maintenance support and
  2. it provides critically important human access to community with cell radio wave technology providing life safety, quality of life convenience in both business and family connections.

  Here in Western Mass we experience some of the worst cell coverage in the developed world, as we watch the cell companies spending millions advertising with their bold faced lies about how great their coverage is while they have largely stopped building towers. Even some heavily populated areas have dead cell zones. 

  We are restoring a church into a performing arts center and it now has two cell companies inside its tower. It is a a very low cost platform for them. The funds it will produce will be critical in the pro-forma of sustainability to maintain the beautiful architecture on into the future benefiting the public many ways.

  On the topic of materials, in now over 30 years of fighting to preserve historic buildings, I have to say; If you can't tell its not wood but is a much longer lasting material holding paint much longer it then will preserve the history longer and ultimately can be seen as a better job. On the other hand If it is readily apparent it is not wood when it was before restoration, we might all agree it should remain as wood. 

  The more critical issue is the authentic proportions of the trim as being far more important than the materials in a restoration. 

  I have seen a steeple restored that used authentic materials but lost the true proportions and slope of some small detail proportions in only one area, and it is very sad to see. I would agree with Jade totally if the fiberglass is not PERFECTLY copied from the original wood to the nearest 1/4".

  Our commission recently approved a small cell antenna on the exterior of a stone steeple and it was ultimately a mistake even if not a real noticeable one. They faked the drawing dimensions twice, and then did a photo shop rendering that was obviously unrealistic and we at each stage corrected them but in the final build it still fell short of optimum. Cell antenna inside is far better but still watch out for the exterior details.

  As materials get better in sustainability and performance while being virtually impossible to identify up close, it seems very unwise to continue a false perception about the importance of what kind of molecules are under the paint if it adds performance and greatly lowers the cost of preservation into the future. 

  If we ever [hopefully] arrive at a civilization that truly understands and values historic architecture and thus the financial support is no longer critical,, then the true low performance materials can always be returned, but staying true to the detail proportions is an under appreciated value.

  Tris Metcalfe

  On Nov 24, 2009, at 7:41 PM, jade wrote:

    how sad for the town of wenham and the bell tower of the congregational church....as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving......introducing the frankensteeple....

    i mean no disrespect to any individual but it is truly beyond me how an historic commission can approve replacing architectural wood components with fiberglass especially at the request of a cell phone company for monetary gain....

    ....jade
    heartwood window restoration
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: james howard 
      To: Robin Ragle-Davis ; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu 
      Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:16 PM
      Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

      Robin,  Here in Wenham we have approved a cell antenna in the bell tower of 
      the Congregational Church in the center of the Wenham Historic District. 
      The main antenna is inside of the bell tower and cannot be seen from the 
      outside.   There were black wooden louvers on the outside walls of the bell 
      tower.  The cell company, T-Mobile requested that these black louvers be 
      replaced with fiber glass louvers.  We asked them to send us a sample of the 
      fiberglass louvers.  They did and the fiber glass louvers looked exactly 
      like wooden ones so we approved them.  They also asked to put a short 15 
      inch GPS antenna on the base of the bell tower.  We told them that this 
      short outside antenna had to be placed in the rear portion of the bell tower 
      so that it would not be visible from the street.  Unfortunately they put in 
      the front but of the bell tower but have agreed to move it to the rear. 
      There was one other outside component, and AC condenser which has been 
      placed on a portion the foundation that is below grade and thus not visible 
      form the street.  We approved this also.  All of this has been installed and 
      should begin operating in a week or so.

      We also have an application for a second antenna to be placed in the portion 
      of the steeple that is above the bell tower.  Again the main antenna will be 
      inside the steeple.  However the cell company proposed to replace this whole 
      wooden section at the top of the steeple with a fiberglass replica.  We have 
      been looking at other churches with fiberglass steeples and it is virtually 
      impossible to tell the difference.  My guess is that we will approve this 
      antenna when we get the formal application.

      Jim Howard
      Chair
      Wenham Historic District Commission
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: "Robin Ragle-Davis" <robin at rrinteractive.com>
      To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
      Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 3:37 PM
      Subject: [MassHistPres] Bell Tower Telecommunications Antennae

      > Has anyone reviewed a request for installation of antennae (75 ft or  so) 
      > within a church bell tower?
      >
      > If so does anyone have photos of what this might look like?
      >
      > Robin Ragle-Davis, Chair
      > Wareham Historical Commission
      >
      >
      >
      >
      >
      >
      >
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