Belvedere School for Historic Preservation Offers Building Workshops November 11, 2008
Posted by history in : Classes, Opportunities, People, Travel , add a commentBob Yapp founded the Belvedere School for Historic Preservation in July of 2008. The school is dedicated to teaching students from all over North America how to become artisans in the preservation trades.
Over the last 20 years Bob has travelled across the country conducting hands-on preservation workshops as well as helping other organizations and communities to set up preservation schools and training programs. He has been involved in the hands-on rehab of over 150 endangered, historic properties over his career.
The school headquarters is located in the historic Lamb-Munger House in Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal is a very historic Mississippi River town and the childhood home of Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain.
All of the sessions listed below are fun and intense learn-by-doing workshops. Student’s work side-by-side with Bob to gain a thorough understanding of how to efficiently and cost effectively learn a variety of preservation skills. For detailed information, email Bob- yapperman@msn.com or call him - 217-474-6052
Diving in a Gas Tank??? Preserving Industrial Heritage October 2, 2008
Posted by history in : Industrial, International, Resources, Technology, Travel , add a commentTruth be told, I am a big fan of You Tube. I will be the first to admit that some of the HP and related videos on You Tube are a sometimes a bit, well, dull. If the meeting was borning when you were actually there, will posting it make it less boring. Yes, I know, they need to be there for the public record and public participation is a key component of the preservation process but it does not always make for compelling entertainment (although I have been at some community meetings that played like an early Dynasty episode without the pool fight). Every once in while, I come across something more interesting, such as this homage to the Whitemarsh Hall in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. Forgotten Places features a series of images of abandoned structures in Poland. Perhaps historic preservation isn’t the best tag for these videos but I’m not sure what is? Memorials? There are a whole slew of videos showing arresting images of abandoned, neglected and forgotten places. Most of them are set to music, like “Irresponsible” by Hip and Swagger Photography, Greenday’s No One Knows provides the musical backdrop for images of the abandoned Spaulding Fibers Company in Towanda, NY. The structure was demolished in 2006.
Watching this videos made me think about the plight of our industrial heritage. Much of our industry has disappeared and with it our industrial heritage. Brooklyn’s Industrial Waterfront is but one of many examples. It was listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Eleven Most Endangered List in 2007. As described in the listing, the”historic dockyards and factories are being demolished by developers anxious to cash in on the area’s newly hip status.”
Some sites succumb to development pressure, others to a lack thereof. Issues obsolescence, scale, and economics are often compounded by contamination making reuse incredibly complicated.
But reuse and revitalization of industrial heritage does happen.
In Europe they have created the European Route of Industrial Heritage which is a tourism information network of industrial heritage in Europe. The Route includes more than 830 sites in 29 European countries. As stated on their Web site, “among these sites there are 66 Anchor Points which build the virtual ERIH main route. On ten Regional Routes you can discover the industrial history of these landscapes in detail. All sites relate to ten European Theme Routes which show the diversity of European industrial history and their common roots.” There are so many amazing and diverse properties included on the route, like the Duisburg-Nord Country Park in Diusburg, Germany where industry and nature meet. The majority of the industrial structures remain but now they are encircled by walking paths and cycling trails. Adventuresome travelers can clamber around the industrial structures by signing on for the High Wire Experience. Those aquatically inclined can go diving in an old gasholder. Sign me up!
Duisburg is amazing. It is a really visionary project. Part of the challenge with launching preservation projects today is that we spend a lot of time thinking about why it it is impossible to save X rather than dream the dreams of what might be. We have a lot of conversations like this….
Imagine being at the meeting….
“Clearly we will have to tear this down. It is contaminated. It is an eyesore! It has no use anymore.” The speaker pounds his fist on the table.
A hand shoots up in the back of the room. The speaker stands and to make a suggestion.
“It would be a really cool dive site.”
Rather than saying, “diving in a gas tank? Your a madman/woman. Those in charge said, “Diving? In a gas tank? I’ll get the scrub brush (they had to clean and decontaminate the tank). Great idea! I’ll even build a fake reef.”
So here is to those who dream the big dreams and make it happen. All these sites could simply be memorialized on video rather than enjoyed by people.
What can be done to preserve our industrial heritage and identify what sites should be preserved?
Dump the Pump Convoy in Historic Baldwin Park October 1, 2008
Posted by history in : Events, SCAD, Sustainability, Travel , add a commentDump the Pump Convoy Friday October 3:
Mayor Otis Johnson, in his support for helping Savannah become a more Bicycle Friendly Community, is joining our first Dump the Pump Convoy, a group bike commute this Friday morning, October 3, leading up to a 9am press conference to open new bike racks in front of Panera at Bull and Broughton. One group will meet at 8am in the Habersham Village parking lot, and the mayor’s group will meet in Baldwin Park (Atlantic and 41st) at 8:15am and depart shortly after. Both groups will join together on Lincoln Street for the rest of the ride downtown.
These first two convoys will be a way to introduce commuting by bike to people who might be interested but intimidated about riding to work. Baldwin Park is a great neighborhood from which to ride a bike downtown, and we want to help you see how fun and easy it can be. We plan on organizing additional convoys for future Dump the Pump events.
The press event at 9am in front of Panera Bread will include free coffee and bagels for bike commuters.
We hope to see you there!
Baldwin Park Convoy Route: 2.5 miles
Habersham Village Convoy Route: 3.3 miles
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Drew Wade
coastalgeorgiagreenway.org
bicyclecampaign.org
SCAD SPONSORS GREEN LUNCH July 12, 2008
Posted by history in : Alumni, Events, People, Places, SCAD, Students, Sustainability, Travel , add a commentI am in New Orleans attending the NAPC (National Alliance of Preservation Commissions) Forum. Thus far it has been a great conference. I have met a few SCAD HP Alums, like Lilian McNee. Lilian is now an Architectural Historian with the City of New Orleans and I will be interviewing her in an upcoming blog. Laura Lavernia, who is finishing up her M.A. in Historic Preservation in the E-Learning program is attending her first historic preservation conference. She reports that she is having a great time and meeting lots of people. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Laura is one of NAPC’s conference scholarship winners. I’ll be posting photos and more details about the conference in future posts. Today, I will be attending the Green Luncheon sponsored by the Savannah College of Art and Design E-learning. Carl Elefante, AIA, LEED, AP will be discussing the relationship between green building principles and historic preservation. Mr. Elefante is principal architect and director of Sustainable Design at Quinn Evans. Check out his article, “The Greenest Building is the One…that is Already Built,” which appeared in the NTHP Forum Journal.