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Preserving, promoting and protecting Utah's
historic built environment since 1966.
<
http://www.utahheritagefoundation.org/>
www.utahheritagefoundation.org
Preservation ENEWSletter
March 23, 2009
If you are not yet a member of our organization, please consider becoming a
member. Online membership now available!
To join, please visit our web site at
<
http://www.utahheritagefoundation.org/join.php>
www.utahheritagefoundation.org/join.php.
Monster homes and the big lie
Rebecca Walsh, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 18, 2009
Millcreek has its own mythology -- complete with monsters and shadowy
fortresses, rich nobles and poor peasants, an evil overlord and a simple, if
skewed, moral.
It goes something like this: If big, bad government won't let us build
big, bad architecture, good, big families are going to move and the
neighborhood will die.
The story is told and retold by developers and real-estate agents and
even small families hoping to become big families in an effort to hold off
the county's plans to downsize building codes along the east bench.
"It stops families like us from being able to have the room to raise
our children," mother of five Nichole Chisholm said at a public hearing
Monday night.
She really believes it. Myths are powerful stuff.
They're also not true. Millcreek's mythology is overstated on two
levels: Most families are not leaving because they can't build massive dream
homes. And, faux chateaux can still be built under the new ordinance.
Still, Salt Lake Homebuilders Executive Officer Curtis Dowdle persists.
He says most Millcreek homes -- which average just over 2,000 square feet --
are only worth as much as the land they sit on.
"We'd all like to be sentimental and say, 'I grew up in an
800-square-foot rambler and it was good enough for my family. Why wouldn't
it be good enough for them?'" Dowdle says. "Well, it's not."
But Canyon Rim resident Susan Hurst and a University of Utah
architecture student have developed a computer model that shows with a few
changes to rooflines, virtually every monster home already in the
neighborhood could be built the same way -- even bigger -- under the new
rules.
"It doesn't accomplish anything," Hurst says.
And as for families fleeing to the land of mini-manses -- that might be
apocryphal, too.
Jon and Camille Smart bailed on Canyon Rim last year and moved to
Corvallis, Ore., with their two young children. They bought a modest home
the same size as the one they left.
"Who wants to live around a group of people who couldn't care less
about their neighbors?" Jon Smart wrote me in an e-mail. "The monster homes
became the symptom of the real problem, which for us was the
narrow-mindedness and short-sightedness of the people that lived in them.
"It would be exciting to live in a dream community, not just a
community of dream homes."
Turns out the monster bile itself is driving families out.
ALSO IN THIS EDITION:
SLC secures cash to study mansion restoration - Derek P. Jensen, The Salt
Lake Tribune, March 9, 2009
City needs to closely monitor vulnerable vacant properties - Editorial, Park
Record, March 18, 2009
Lonely roads: View the sights along Nevada's highways - The Spectrum, March
17, 2009
MEMBERS TOUR OF THE MAJOR DOWNEY MANSION
ARCHITECTURE AND PRESERVATION AROUND THE GLOBE
SAVE THESE DATES FOR UHF EVENTS
NEW FROM THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Utah's National Register is ONLINE!
Utah's National Register of Historic Places nominations have been digitized
and are now online.
The following link is to the National Register search page:
<
http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreghome.do?searchtype=natreghome>
http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreghome.do?searchtype=natreghome
LOCAL ARCHITECTURE AND PRESERVATION
SLC secures cash to study mansion restoration - Derek P. Jensen, The Salt
Lake Tribune, March 9, 2009
<
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11873172?IADID>
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11873172?IADID
City needs to closely monitor vulnerable vacant properties - Editorial, Park
Record, March 18, 2009
<
http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_11934349?IADID>
http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_11934349?IADID
Lonely roads: View the sights along Nevada's highways - The Spectrum, March
17, 2009
<
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990317001>
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990317001
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2
UHF Members Invited to Tour the Downey Mansion
Utah Heritage Foundation members are invited to join us on Saturday,
March 28 to tour one of South Temple's stately landmarks: the Major Downey
Mansion at 808 E. South Temple. The owners of the mansion, Jon Lear and
Phillip Lear of Lear & Lear Law Offices, will open the doors for two hours
that morning from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon for our members to view the
renovated interior. Along with Utah Heritage Foundation docents, co-owner
Jon Lear will be on hand to explain the process of refurbishing the
116-year-old structure and to highlight its features both original and new.
The Major Downey Mansion was designed by Frederick Albert Hale, one of
Salt Lake's prominent 19th-century architects. Among his local notable
structures are the David Keith Mansion, Alta Club, Elks Club, First United
Methodist Church, and the Maryland Apartments on South Temple. The Downey
Mansion is a fine example of the Victorian "seaside" or "shingle" house
originating in Bristol, England and popular along the northeastern seaboard
of the U.S. It is one of three homes on South Temple built in this style.
It was occupied by Civil War veteran Major George Downey and his family
until well into the 1920's.
Starting in the 1930's, the house served as an apartment building for
many decades, until it was converted into a mixed-use office and residential
building in the 1970's. Phillip and Jon Lear bought the house in 2005, and
began work with architectural firm Cooper, Roberts, Simonsen Associates to
respectfully transform a 19th-century structure to serve the functional
needs and energy efficiency standards of a 21st-century law office.
Don't miss this opportunity on March 28, 10:00 a.m. until noon, to tour
this fascinating rehabilitation project that incorporates both historic
preservation and "green" energy sustainability.
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ARCHITECTURE AND PRESERVATION AROUND THE GLOBE
The Greatbatch Pavilion: Toshiko Mori updates a Wright masterpiece in
Buffalo - Danielle Rago, The Architect's Newspaper, March 17, 2009
<
http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3317>
http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3317
A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners - Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York
Times, March 16, 2009
<
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/arts/design/17paris.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=ar
chitecture&st=cse>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/arts/design/17paris.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=arc
hitecture&st=cse
Rethinking Postwar Design in London - Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York
Times, March 18, 2009
<
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/arts/design/19robi.html?scp=2&sq=architec
ture&st=cse>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/arts/design/19robi.html?scp=2&sq=architect
ure&st=cse
All He Surveyed: How Palladian was Palladio? - Paul Goldberger, The New
Yorker, March 30, 2009
<
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2009/03/30/090330crsk_skyline
_goldberger>
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2009/03/30/090330crsk_skyline_
goldberger
Home: New stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets - Paul Goldberger, The New
Yorker, March 23, 2009
<
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2009/03/23/090323crsk_skyline
_goldberger>
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2009/03/23/090323crsk_skyline_
goldberger
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SAVE THESE DATES FOR UHF EVENTS
March 28, 2009
Members Tour of the Major Downey Mansion
10:00 AM - Noon
Don't miss this opportunity to tour this fascinating rehabilitation project
that
incorporates both historic preservation and "green" energy sustainability.
April 30 - May 2
Utah Preservation Conference
Modern Ideas | Historic Places
April 30
Charles Phoenix's Retro Vacation Slide Show Tour of the USA!
5:30 PM at the Salt Lake Main Library
May 1
Education Session, 9:00 AM - 4:15 PM
Heritage Award Luncheon, 12:00 - 1:15 PM
May 2
Yalecrest Historic Homes Tour
10:00 AM - 5:00PM
Register Online Today!
Traditional Building Skills Institute Workshops - Ephraim, UT
For full calendar, visit their website:
<
http://www.snow.edu/tbsi/class-schedule.html>
http://www.snow.edu/tbsi/class-schedule.html
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NEW FROM THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
NTHPlogo
<
http://www.PreservationNation.org>
www.PreservationNation.org
Story of the Week
Saving Saarinen
Two Opposing Plans for New Jersey's Bell Labs
Eric Wills | Online Only | Mar. 20, 2009
<
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/story-of-the-week/2009/saving-sa
arinen.html>
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/story-of-the-week/2009/saving-saa
rinen.html
Public Policy Weekly Bulletin
<
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekl
y-bulletin/PPWB_03-20-09_FINAL_web.pdf> March 20, 2009, Vol. 4 Issue 10 - In
this issue read about the latest procedural moves in the Senate needed to
pass an omnibus lands package with three key historic preservation
authorization bills attached.
<
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekl
y-bulletin/PPWB_03-20-09_FINAL_web.pdf>
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekly
-bulletin/PPWB_03-20-09_FINAL_web.pdf
<
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekl
y-bulletin/PPWB_03-13-09_FINAL_web.pdf> March 13, 2009, Vol. 4, Issue 9 - In
this issue read about Preservationists descended on Capitol Hill on March
10th for Lobby Day 2009
with an ambitious preservation agenda for Congress to consider in the coming
weeks and months. Among the agenda items that were being advocated for on
the Hill were increased funding for historic preservation programs such as
SAT, Preserve America, and state and tribal preservation offices;
improvements to the federal rehabilitation tax credit; and historic
preservation provisions, protections and funding that should be included in
the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.
<
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekl
y-bulletin/PPWB_03-13-09_FINAL_web.pdf>
http://www.preservationnation.org/resources/newsletters/public-policy-weekly
-bulletin/PPWB_03-13-09_FINAL_web.pdf
Seeking funds for planning your preservation project or to hire a consultant
to get that project off the ground? Apply for a grant from the Utah
Preservation Initiatives Fund (UPIF) by contacting Amy Cole at the National
Trust for Historic Preservation at <mailto:amy_cole@???>
amy_cole@??? or (303) 623-1504. Grants are available in three rounds
per year - February 1, June 1 and October 1 - and awarded on a competitive
basis!
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Utah Heritage Foundation │ P.O. Box 28 │ Salt Lake City │ UT │ 84110-0028 │
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http://www.utahheritagefoundation.org/>
www.utahheritagefoundation.org
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