Charles Landry Lecture, Tuesday, July 8, 7PM June 26, 2008
Posted by history in : Events, People, SCAD , add a commentChris Miller of Creative Cities Consulting in Savannah writes,”As some one who is interested in good city governance, urban design,city planning and creative economies, you will want to know thatCharles Landry, one of the leading world authorities on how to build”creative cities” and has literally written THE book on the topic, iscoming to speak in Savannah on Tuesday, July 8th at 7pm in the Morris Centerin Trustees Garden. The event is free and open to the public. Highly recommended for urban planners, architects, economic developers, municipal employees,planning staff, the preservation community and anyone who isinterested in how great cities are made.If Richard Florida is the guy who described what a “creative”city/economy is and why you might want one, Charles Landry is the guywho wrote the book on how you actually build one and what they looklike when you get there. His ideas could be put to great use in Savannah as we consider our various options. He will be in town for two days speaking with civic leaders and touring various projects.This will be a great event.” Here is more info on Charles Landry: “(he) helps cities transform their thinking so that they lookat their potential imaginatively and can plan and act with originality. He assesses the interplay and the impacts of deeper global trends, andattempts to ground these in practical initiatives. He inspires,stimulates, challenges and facilitates transformation.”"Charles is an authority on creativity and its uses and how city futuresare shaped by paying attention to the culture of a place. His recent book The Art of City Making (September 2006) now in its third editionand published by Earthscan has been highly acclaimed. It focuses on howcities can be more “creative for the world” so that the energies ofindividuals and companies can be brought into alignment with theirglobal responsibilities.”For more info, click here.
SCAD Students Rock NAPC Scholarships! June 23, 2008
Posted by history in : People, Places, SCAD, Students , add a commentEvery other year, the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions hosts Forum, a action-packed conference which brings together historic preservation commission members, staff, state officials, and other preservation professionals. It is the only national conference that focuses solely on the issues of local historic preservation commissions. This year the Forum will take place in New Orleans from July 10-13. There is still time to register. This should be one of their best yet. You can find more information by clicking here.
Even better, SCAD students won scholarships to attend the conference.Thanks to the generosity of NAPC Chair’s and Founder’s Circle members, NAPC s able to provide limited scholarship assistance to students who want to participate in the National Commission Forum.
Scholarship winners include:
E-Learning Students Latrica Nelson and Laura Lavernia and B.A. Students E. Nicole Stutts and Matthew Welker.
Congratulations to Laura, Latricia, Nicole and Matt!
I will be attending the conference and blogging from there. Hope to see you!
Fall Classes! A New Class! June 18, 2008
Posted by history in : Classes, SCAD , add a commentIt’s never to early (but sometimes too late) to start thinking of fall courses. When you are immersed in your classes, working and doing all the things that you do when in school, it’s easy to lose track of the fact that part of the purpose of going to school is to get a job in your field. If the thought of a job search keeps you up at night, fear not! Now there is a brand new class to help you navigate the fascinating world of a career in historic preservation. Actually, that is one of the many amazing things about a career in preservation, there are so many different things you can do.The official course description is: students are introduced to practical strategies which lead to success in obtaining employment in their field. Students develop strong ethical models as well as an understanding of successful business practices framed in the paradigm of ecologically sustainable preservation.
Prerequisite Course(s): HIPR 307
This class is for undergraduates only.
For those of you approaching graduation, this would be a great choice!
It’s a Wonderful House June 16, 2008
Posted by history in : Structures, Views , add a commentOne of my favorite movie moments is in It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey is back and he is hopping around the house overjoyed by everything in his life that he didn’t know he loved. He is bounding up the staircase to see his kids and grabs the cursed-always-coming-off-in-his-hand newel post, and it does as expected. Rather than cursing it once again, as he had done just hours earlier, he kisses the newel post, sets it back in place, and bounds up the stairs.
Houses are like that. Love, hate and everything in between.
My then fiancé (now husband) and I bought a house, our first house, in a tiny town called Mineral Point, WI. The realtor described as a bungalow; to me it was more of a transitional Victorian vernacular bungalow. We knew the house needed a lot of work but we didn’t know how much work it would take.
I lived here for a month by myself. I’d work during the day and at night, I’d peel back layer after layer of wall paper. Our house went through an excess of interior decoration the first half of its life. There were holes and cracks in the plaster to repair, carpet to pull up, carpet staples to remove from the floor, dropped ceilings and acoustic tile to pull down. And there was the carpet, yes carpet in the kitchen, walls that hadn’t seen paint in forty years, new electric, new plumbing, new custom wood storms windows to paint and install, masonry to repoint, trim to paint, the new waterline to install. We worked and worked and worked and still it was not done. There was always “the next project” Money and time were always in short supply.
Five-and-a-half years later, we are finally in the process of almost finishing up, I say almost because for all of you that have ever lived in a old home know, you are never done. Ever.
We are finishing the house and we will never get to live in it. On Friday, the realtor came by and put the sign in the front and my heart broke a little bit. For as many times as I cursed this house, shook my fist at the proverbial newel post, wondered what in tarnation we were thinking when be bought it, was weary of talking about it, thinking about it working on it, that sign going up in the front yard reminded me of how much I will miss it. It is a great house and we managed, despite the never dwindling to do list, to have a really good and occasionally wonderful life in it
In the beginning of It’s a Wonderful Life, George and Mary are standing in front of the Granville house and he threatens to throw a rock at it the old Grandville house which is described in the screenplay as “a weather-beaten, old-fashioned two-storied house that once was no doubt resplendent.” She implores, “oh, no, George, don’t. It’s full of romance, that old place. I’d like to live in it.’ They then make wishes and throw rocks and the house anyway. Mary eventually gets her wish and over the years, transforms the weather beaten old house into a home. Even if she never did get around to fixing the newel post, who knew Mary was so handy?
Mary also had the eye. The ability to see beyond the rot and see the resplendent. In an era of new, new, shiny, shiny, this ability is increasingly short supply. But it’s still around. That is what is wonderful about teaching HP, in the classroom, I am surrounded by people who have the eye.
I salute Mary Bailey (nee Hatch) and the millions of other people who have purchased weather-beaten old homes and brought them back from the brink. I wish there were more like her, the real estate boom has and will continue to have many far reaching consequences. How many houses were weather beaten old houses purchased, unsympathetically gutted and flipped? How much trim work, wood siding, how many original windows, doors and other features is now rotting away in landfills? Romance be damned.
Its hard to believe that this house won’t be mine anymore. Maybe it never was, maybe we’re all just stewards for the passage. Taking care of things till we pass it on to the next owner. I don’t have a newel post but if I did, I’d kiss it.
I hope the new owners, whoever they might be, will be very happy here.