February 28, 2006
Urban & Historic Parks
Of potential interest to advocates of Los Angeles' historic parks is a new website recently launched by the City Parks Alliance and the National Association for Olmsted Parks. ParksPractices.org is intended to assist local parks in meeting their current needs more effectively as they encounter the ever present challenges in preserving, maintaining, operating and funding their parks and in serving their increasingly diverse constituents.
The site seeks to highlight the experience of CPA and NAOP members — both successes and failures, facilitate a sharing of lessons learned, and provide opportunities for interaction among city park leaders and citizen groups. It is hoped that through this effort there will be greater investment in city parks across the country and a renewed interest in their role as centers of our common heritage.
Check it out at: http://www.parkspractices.org/index.php.
Old Spanish Trail
The Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service are seeking public input in developing a comprehensive management plan for the Old Spanish National Historic Trail. The plan will describe how the surviving elements of the trail – the route, the landscape, and the historic places – will be developed to preserve trail resources, provide access to trail sites, and tell the story of the trail and its role in American history. Designated as part of the National Trails System in 2002, the trail route crosses six states – New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California – and links some of the West’s oldest communities from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Los Angeles, California.
There was money to be made in transporting New Mexico serapes and other woolen goods to Los Angeles, and in wrangling California-bred horses and mules back to Santa Fe. But a viable overland route across the remote deserts and mountains of Mexico’s far northern frontier had to be found.
It took the vision and courage of Mexican trader Antonio Armijo to lead the first commercial caravan from Abiquiú, New Mexico, to Los Angeles late in 1829. Over the next 20 years, Mexican and American traders continued to ply variants of the route that Armijo pioneered, frequently trading with Indian tribes along the way. And it was from a combination of the indigenous footpaths, early trade and exploration routes, and horse and mule routes that a trail network known collectively as the Old Spanish Trail evolved.
Santa Fe emerged as the hub of the overland continental trade network linking Mexico and United States markets—a network that included not only the Old Spanish Trail, but also the Santa Fe Trail and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. After the United States took control of the Southwest in 1848 other routes to California emerged, and use of the Old Spanish Trail sharply declined.
Because of its rich history and national significance, the Old Spanish Trail has been designated as a national historic trail. The Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service are currently working with the Old Spanish Trail Association and a variety of federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit organizations, landowners, and tribal entities, to develop a draft Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. Once planning is completed, the two agencies will jointly administer the national historic trail, which is more than 2,700 miles in length and crosses New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California.
For more information, visit the National Park Services website on the Old Spanish National Historic Trail at: http://www.nps.gov/olsp/. The site includes links to visitor information and an interactive GIS map of the trail and its history.
Historic Preservation Guide
The Environmental Design Library at U.C. Berkeley hosts an online resource guide for historic preservation that many of you will find useful. Historic Preservation: A Guide to Resources, developed by Head Librarian Elizabeth Byrne of U.C. Berkeley's College of Environmental Design, is a guide to strategies and resourege of Environmental Design, is a guide to strategies and resources for students and others beginning research on the conservation, preservation, or restoration of historic buildings and landscapes.
The online guide places particular emphasis on resources in the California and the Bay Area, but provides generally applicable information as well. Categories of information include: research methods; reference sources; history and philosophy; legal and political environment; social and cultural aspects; economic aspects; documenation and interpretation; handbooks and manuals; archives, associations and organizations; architecture; landscape architecture; and planning.
Lists of resources are provided for each of these categories. Some are online and available for download, while others can be obtained by more traditional means...like going to the library.
Check it out at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/historicpreservation.html
February 27, 2006
2006 Preservation Grants
Application forms and guidelines for the 2006 Federal Save America's Treasures grants are now online. Grants are available for preservation and/or conservation work on nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and historic structures and sites. The National Trust has expressed that it is especially eager to identify eligible projects west of the Mississippi and those in the Gulf States impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The Federal Save America’s Treasures program is one of the largest and most successful grant programs for the protection of our nation’s endangered and irreplaceable and endangered cultural heritage. Since 1999, Congress has appropriated more than $200 million for the physical preservation and conservation of this nation's most significant collections, sites, structures, and buildings.Grants are available for preservation and/or conservation work on nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and historic structures and sites. Intellectual and cultural artifacts include artifacts, collections, documents, sculpture, and works of art. Historic structures and sites include historic districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects.
Grants are awarded to Federal, state, local, and tribal government entities, and non-profit organizations through a competitive matching-grant program, administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
The deadline for applications has been extended. Applications must be received by 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday, April 18, 2006.
For more information visit: http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/treasures/index.htm.
February 13, 2006
Echo Park Lake HCM
According to the most recent Echo Park Historical Society newsletter, the Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument application for Echo Park hit a road block last month at the City Council's Planning & Land Use Committee. The Committee postponed a vote on the nomination after the Recreation & Parks Department voiced their opposition to the landmark designation.
The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department has expressed concerned that the landmark designation might interfere with proposed work to improve the water quality of Echo Park Lake. The Echo Park Historical Society disputes this notion and is working with the City Council and the Recreation and Parks Department to resolve the issue.
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously approved the Echo Park Historic-Cultural application in November of 2005. Officials from the offices of councilmen Eric Garcetti and Ed Reyes have also voiced their continued support for the nomination.
Want to learn more about the history of Echo Park? The Echo Park Historic-Cultural Monument application, drafted by yours truly, is available for download at the Echo Park Historical Society's website, or in the PreserveLA Archive at: http://www.preservela.com/content/1/2005-08-17-EchoPark-HCM-Application.pdf.
Contact the Echo Park Historical Society for more information, or to offer support for the monument application.
February 05, 2006
Lecture on San Simeon
The Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series will hold the third lecture in a series of five on February 21, 2006, entitled "Passionate Minds: Morgan, Hearst and the Building of San Simeon." The lecture will feature a presentation by Victoria Kastner, author and Interpretive Specialist at Hearst Castle. Kastner will explore the twenty-eight year egalitarian, architect-client San Simeon collaboration between Julia Morgan and William R. Hearst, one of the most fascinating in the history of American building.
Victoria Kastner is the author of Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House, and is currently writing a history of San Simeon's landscape.
The lecture will be held at the Neighborhood Church at 2 Westmoreland Place in Pasadena, immediately adjacent to The Gamble House. A reception with the speaker follows at The Gamble House. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and the lectures begin at 7:30.
Tickets may be purchased from The Gamble House by phone 626 793-3334 x52, e-mail: gamblehs.org, or on the website: http://www.gamblehouse.org. General admission: $12; members and students: $10.00 Advance reservations are recommended. Admission at the door is $18.00.
The lecture series is sponsored by Friends of The Gamble House, a support group of the University of Southern California, composed of individuals, corporations and organizations dedicated to financial support of The Gamble House. Membership fees and Friends-sponsored events help fund the education and restoration programs of The Gamble House.
The Gamble House, Charles and Henry Greenes' 1908 masterpiece, a National Historic Landmark, is the property of the City of Pasadena and, in a joint operating agreement, is managed by the University of Southern California. The House is open for public tours Thursday-Sunday, Noon-3 p.m., closed on national holidays. For more information on tours, events and how to become a docent, visit the website: http://www.gamblehouse.org.
The remaining lectures in the series, held at The Neighborhood Church are: "Paris Between the World Wars: Modernism, Elitism and the French Esprit," by Derek Ostergard, Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. "Green Gables: Charles Greene's Iconic Arts & Crafts Garden," by David Streatfield, Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.
February 03, 2006
NH&RA "Timmy" Awards
The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association is proud to announce a call for entries to the second annual J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation. The "Timmy" awards honor outstanding rehabilitation and preservation projects based on overall design and quality, interpretation and respect of historic elements, impact on the community, and financial and market success.
Due to the unprecedented response to the inaugural competition, NH&RA has incorporated additional categories for the 2006 "Timmy" Awards and converted application submission to an electronic process. A multi-disciplinary panel of judges, boasting expertise in architecture, real estate development, construction, public policy, and historic preservation will review all entries. Categories this year include:
- Affordable Housing (Small/Up to $5 million total development cost)
Affordable Housing (Large/Over $5 million total development cost)
Market-Rate Residential (Small/Up to $5 million total development cost)
Market-Rate Residential (Large/Over $5 million total development cost)
Mixed-Income Housing (Small/Up to $5 million total development cost)
Mixed-Income Housing (Large/Over $5 million total development cost)
Most Innovative Adaptive Re-Use and/or Commercial Rehabilitation
Scattered Site/Multi-Property
NH&RA created the "Timmy Awards" as a tribute to Boston architect and preservation advocate J. Timothy Anderson. "Anderson was a singular figure in the preservation industry pioneering the adaptive reuse of historic buildings," said Peter Bell, Executive Director of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association and a close personal friend of Anderson's. His legacy includes numerous Boston area projects as well as the seminal study that helped launch preservation efforts in the art deco South Beach district of Miami Beach in the late '70s.
Anyone familiar with a deserving project is invited to submit an application today! Entries for the 2006 "Timmy" awards will be accepted until July 15th and the winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony on October 9 at the 2006 NH&RA Fall Meeting in Boston, MA.
To learn more about the J. Timothy Anderson Awards, please contact Debby Tempio, 202-939-1778, dtempio@dworbell.com or visit the website at http://www.housingonline.com.
For more than 30 years National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, a Washington, DC-based trade association has been providing an ongoing forum for professionals in affordable housing and historic rehabilitation to exchange information, assess trends and build new business relationships.