Main Street is still a happening place.  Don't be discouraged by the construction traffic downtown; there is still a lot to experience downtown including great restaurants, shops, and new preservation projects.

As announced in the November 13th Salt Lake Tribune, Vasilios Priskos of InterNet Properties recently completed purchase of the historic (former) Tribune Building at 143 S. Main.  Built in 1924 by former Salt Lake City Mayor Ezra Thompson as a speculative venture, the Salt Lake Tribune purchased the building in 1937 for their offices and used the building until 2005.  Plans for reuse of the building have not been announced and the building is currently not recognized or protected by any historic designations.

However, just one block south, Priskos has hired contractors to dismantle a screen to reveal a long-hidden historic façade on another building he owns at 260 S. Main.  The contractors are now in the process of addressing masonry issues on the façade and replacing windows.  Rehabilitation plans for the upper stories are currently being considered.  This is one of the last few screens that block historic facades left in the city's central business district and the historic façade recalls the successful commercial Victorian era of downtown.

Lastly, the Daft Building is undergoing a storefront remodel and interior renovation.  We look forward to learning more about this project and will post more as we learn about it.

 

Stay tuned for more to come.

Sometimes historic preservation might seem like a big puzzle.  Maybe that's why I like it.  But that might also be why you might be wondering how all the pieces fit together?  Ogden's current debate about how to resolve rehabilitation issues with the Windsor Hotel served as an excellent opportunity to talk about how we work and our work in Ogden, printed in the Standard Examiner on Sunday, November 16.

http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDgvMTEvMDkjQXIwMDcwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Unfortunately, in the week before this editorial was published, the developers applied for a demolition permit to "keep all their options open."  This application will come before the Ogden Landmarks Commission in early December for discussion and a vote.

For more on this story, see:

http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDgvMTAvMzAjQXIwMDEwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDgvMTEvMDcjQXIwMDgwNA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

http://wcforum.blogspot.com/search/label/Windsor%20Hotel

You may have heard that "Preservation is local."  For the most part, I believe there's truth in that statement.  What we all do ‘locally' - select your own geographic area of focus - to make these the best places to live is the best way to implement historic preservation.  But we should not forget that there are extremely important national preservation agendas that benefit what we do locally.

We start today looking forward with President-elect Obama to what he sees as the future for historic preservation in our country.  Senator Obama has recognized that federal urban policy is fundamentally flawed and how it inadvertently undermines cities and regions by encouraging inefficient and costly patterns of development.  For more on his strategies in his Blueprint for Change, see the Historic Preservation for Obama website.

And if you would like to provide some input into what you believe should be the top federal preservation priorities for the new administration, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is taking the Change Starts Here poll.  Should it include protection of archaeological resources on public lands?  Do we need more economic resources?  Should the National Parks system be given more resources for protection?  Please give your input.

The Hoffman Building, a handsome yet simple, two-story commercial building from 1897 and 1924 at 4828 South State Street in Murray is the latest victim to fall prey to the facadectomy compromise in the name of historic preservation.

Utah Heritage Foundation strongly advocated for the preservation of the entire building using a combination of preservation tax credits and local incentives, and given that the developer, Robert Azarvand, bought the historic structure knowing that it was protected by Murray's Downtown Historic Overlay District.  However, after going through a process of the History Review Board, Design Review Board, and Planning Commission, we understand that a compromise was reached with Azarvand so that he would only need to preserve the façade which will be incorporated into a new building that will stretch north to the corner of 4800 South and State Street.

As a general principle of historic preservation, removing the core of building stock that has been found worthy of protection ("façadism") does not constitute an appropriate mean of structural intervention.  This creates a falsehood of history, preservation, and sense of place in a community.  It also creates extremely new challenging of proportion and design that must fit into the particular type of historic pattern and architecture.

The Hoffman Building may be just the first to face this fate as Mayor Snarr has not been shy about sharing his vision for the city's future, which doesn't often include historic buildings.  So it would be a great idea for you to get to know Murray's history sooner than later, and I suggest picking up one of the best walking tour booklet's around Utah - the Murray History Spotter's Guide - to enjoy a walk around historic downtown Murray one afternoon.

If you are interested in more, here is the story from the Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10708498?IADID

Utah Heritage Foundation and Salt Lake City's YouthCity collaborated on this pilot program to produce a short documentary about Ottinger Hall on Canyon Road in Salt Lake City.  Discover how the next generation of preservationists think about our built environment.

http://www.utahheritagefoundation.org/education/179-listen-up

If you've ever wanted to see how local activists can make a difference, you'll want to see the heartwarming documentary, Courthouse Girls of Farmland.  You won't believe how a group of bridge-players turn preservationists when their landmark courthouse is threatened.  Plan to attend this free screening by the Salt Lake City Film Center and co-sponsored by Utah Heritage Foundation and AARP, as well as the great panel that will discuss saving our great places in Utah, like the currently threatened Davis County Courthouse.

 

SCHEDULE

7:00 pm  Film Screening of Courthouse Girls of Farmland at City Library (Auditorium) Free

8:00 pm  Short Q and A with the film's director, Norman Klein, and the three "girls" who will be there

8:15 or 8:30-9 pm  Panel Discussion  featuring:

Pete Ashdown, Chair, Board of Trustees, Utah Heritage Foundation

Wilson Martin, Utah State Historic Preservation Office

Robin Zeigler, Senior Preservation Planner, SLC Planning Commission

NaVee Vernon, Historical Director, Summit Co. Historical Society

Alysa Revell, Chair, Farmington City Historic Preservation Commission

Wayne Goodman, Director, Eastern Regional Office, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana

Last Tuesday, the debate about how to rehabilitate buildings on Ogden's Historic 25^th Street came to another peak.  After the City Council defeated a proposal to amend the zoning ordinance on September 23^rd, lobbying efforts convinced Councilman Stephens to reconsider his vote enough to request that the amendment be reconsidered by the Council on October 14^th.

[...]

There's something more cooking on Market Street than the great food these days at Gastronomy or Takashi.  If you haven't been by the historic Odd Fellows building lately, it's being prepared for its move across the street.  As the first step for the move, it is slowly being lifted and it's about 15 feet in the air off the original foundation.

Of course this is a HUGE success story for historic preservation in Salt Lake City and for Utah Heritage Foundation, the State Historic Preservation Office, National Trust for Historic Preservation Office, and Salt Lake City as the building was saved from the courthouse expansion project.  The U.S. General Services Administration is executing the courthouse expansion project which will include a new courthouse on West Temple that will be completed in 2012.  This week's Tribune story gives more details - http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10711637.

Also see a flash animated version of how the move will happen here - http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10711637.

Here are more great photos of this move courtesy of Steve Cornell, project architect with Cooper Roberts Simonsen Associates, and a great UHF volunteer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Historic adobe granaries will be the topic of a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Opera House at 200 North and Main Street. Local historian and former Dixie College President, Doug Alder, will be joined by Kirk Huffaker, director of the Utah Heritage Foundation, to discuss the history and use of granaries on Plat of Zion town lots in St. George.

Besides storing grain, early residents used these structures as washrooms and even living quarters. Granaries and other adobe outbuildings can still be found on some lots in the heart of the city.

To conclude the meeting, historical landscape architect Susan Crook will give a brief description of the study that is being done to document the location and condition of existing granaries. The city of St. George won a $1,600 seed grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Utah Preservation Initiatives Fund to support the adobe granaries project. One result of the study will be the publication of a brochure about the historic granaries.

The meeting is sponsored by the St. George Historic Preservation Commission and is free.

From The Spectrum Daily News

Read The Spectrum's next-day story, "Historians seek out granaries."

At last night's Ogden City Council meeting, Historic 25th Street came out the victor as the council voted 5-2 to deny a zoning amendment to allow taller buildings and rooftop additions in the downtown historic district.

As one of the great downtown historic districts in the state, 25th Street has been on the revitalization course for many years through a patient and well-managed preservation