Hello Everyone:
First off, I want to welcome the readers in Algeria to the blog, hope you like what you're reading. Second, I saw this morning that we're at 13,001 page views, cool. Let's keep up the great work and shoot for 15,000 by September 21st. Now for today's subject. It's time, once again, for the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of 11 Endangered Historic Places. This list highlights places around the United States and its territories that are under natural or man-made threat. They're not the bold face places and they're often overlooked. However, they are all worthy of your time and attention. Here's the list:
 |
| Shockoe Bottom Richmond, Virginia styleweekly.com |
Richmond, Virginia
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Development
Shockoe Bottom was the epicenter of the slave trade between 1830 and 1865. Over 350,000 African men, women, and children were traded here. This area was home to slave jails, auction houses, and other businesses who participated in this evil enterprise. In a bit of history meets Hollywood, this was the place where Solomon Northup, whose life was presented in the movie 12 Years A Slave, was held in the notorious Goodwin's Jail.
Today, Shockoe Bottom is threatened by potential development of minor league baseball team. While it's tempting to say "let's get rid of every trace of this evil enterprise," Shockoe Bottom remains a valuable resource. Most of the buildings leftover from the slave trade are visible in this eight block area and many of the pre-Civil War artifacts remain below the ground. Shockoe Bottom should be protected because it allows visitors to experience this dark chapter of American history.
 |
| The New Jersey Palisades Looking north to Bombay Hook njpalisades.org |
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Inappropriate Development
The fabled Palisades, cherished by a nation, the residents of New York and New Jersey. This spectacular place not only offer amazing views but is also culturally significant to the Sanhikan, Hackensack, Raritan, and Tappan nations who used the cliffs as a shelter from severe weather for centuries. In the late nineteenth century, new quarries and other development threatened to degrade the landscape, thus spurring some of the United States' earliest conservation and protection efforts.
Today the Palisades are under threat from inappropriate development at the hands of LG Electronics. The corporation has proposed building an eight story, 143 foot high office tower next to the Palisades which would wreck the scenic views of the New Jersey Cliffs that line the Hudson River. Litigation and legislation to protect the Palisades emerged after the city of Englewood Cliffs granted LG a variance to build the office tower. If construction does go forward, it would represent the first breach of the views in its hundred year history of protecting the Palisades north of the George Washington Bridge.
 |
| Battle Mountain Sanitarium Hot Springs, South Dakota en.wikipedia.org |
Battle Mountain Sanitarium
Hot Springs, South Dakota
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Closure
For over a century, Battle Mountain Sanitarium in Hot Springs, North Dakota has provided medical care to veterans in the region. It is on of 2,000 historic properties managed by the United States Department of Veteran's Affairs and is designated a National Historic Landmark. In 2012, it was declared a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Currently, the DVA is moving ahead with a proposal to vacate the facility and relocate the medical services to Rapid City, about sixty miles away. Isn't bad enough that veterans cannot even get a timely appointment or state of the art medical care? Now the DVA wants to make it harder by moving this regionally medical facility further away.
 |
| Historic Wintersburg Japanese Presbyterian Mission, c.1910 Huntington Beach, Ca huntingtonbeachca.gov |
Huntington Beach, California
Year Listed: 2014
Threat; Demolition
Wintersburg tells the story of three generations of Japanese Americans from immigration in the late nineteenth century through the return from incarceration in internment camps after World War II. The site holds six extant structures, open farm-land, and is one of the only remain Japanese owned properties held prior to California's anti-Japanese "alien" land laws of 1913 and 1920. In opposition to other Japanese confinement sites, from the Second World War, Historic Wintersburg presents the history of daily community life and religious institutions of the Japanese settlers as they fashioned a new life for themselves. The site also depicts the history of the Furata family, Japanese pioneers who established a farm for nearly a century, created Japanese civiv and business development organizations.
Currently, the property is owned by the waste transfer company, Rainbow Environmental Service. This past November, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to rezone the property from residential to commercial/industrial. They also approved a Statement of Overriding Consideration, which allows the demolition of all six structures. Even though the company has allowed preservationists time until mid-2015 to find an alternative solution to save the property, demolition still remains a real possibility.
 |
| Palladium Building St. Louis, Missouri landmarks-stl.org |
Palladium Building
St. Louis, Missouri
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Insufficient Protection
In the forties, the Palladium was billed as the largest club in St. Louis, Missouri. The club featured three floor shows every night starring African American jazz musicians. Over the years, many well-known artists performed there. The City of St. Louis's contribution to the legacy of American music reveal a greater and more significant understand of the role this venerable club played in the story.
The Palladium is St. Louis's last remaining link to the city's rich musical history. It faces an uncertain future because it doesn't have local or national landmark status and because of its location, it isn't covered by the City's demolition review ordinance. The building has been vacant for many years and increased awareness of the Palladium's fate would draw more attention the ongoing efforts by the Landmarks Association of St. Louis and Friends of the Palladium Building who are seeking recognition of the building's historic and cultural significance.
 |
| Chattanooga State Office Building Chattanooga, Tennessee nooga.com |
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Demolition
Built in 1950 in the Art, the Chattanooga State Office Building served as the headquarters for the Interstate Life Insurance Building. This Art Moderne style building's exterior is faced with ruby granite and grayish-white limestone with a bronze frieze that was meant to represent the hardy mountain character of southeastern Tennesseans. The interior once held a penthouse lounge, auditorium, and basement bowling alley. Cool.
This showpiece in downtown Chattanooga stood for the days gone strength of the insurance industry in the city and workplace innovations during the fifties. The state of Tennessee acquired the building in 1981 and turned over to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in December 2013. Instead of rehabilitating the building, UTC plans to demolish it.
 |
| Bay Harbor's East Island Miami, Florida cnn.com |
Miami, Florida
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Demolition
Miami cool. Bay Harbor's East Island is one of the biggest concentrated collections of mid-century Miami Modern style architecture. MiMo is a unique interpretation of the Modernist movement-adapted to the local climate and embodying the mid-century concept of progress. Several of the island's buildings were designed by famous architects such as: Morris Lapidus, Henry Hohauser, and Charles McKirahan. These architects were best-known for guiding Miami's architectural tradition from Art Deco in the thirties to the MiMo of the mid-century. Unfortunately, Bay Harbor's East Island is threatened with redevelopment as large-scale sweeps through the area.
 |
| Union Terminal Cincinnati, Ohio commons.wikimedia.org |
Cincinnati, Ohio
Year List: 2014
Threat: Deterioration
Monumental isn't it? Union Terminal is the iconic landmark of Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the most significant Art Deco buildings in the country. Union Terminal was designed, in 1933, by Alfred Fellheimer and Steward Wagner with Paul Cret. The terminal is listed as National Historic Landmark and is one of the last remaining grand-scale Art Deco train stations. The enormous 180 foot wide, 106 foot tall rotunda, the second largest half dome in the world, features glass mosaic glass murals by Winold Reiss presenting the history of Cincinnati and America. Unfortunately the Terminal is suffering from deterioration and water damage and is serious need of repairs.
The Terminal is jointly owned by the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Currently, it acts as the Cincinnati Museum Center, the largest cultural institution in the city. Union Terminal greets more than 1.4 million visitors a years and is home to the Cincinnati History Museum, Cincinnati History Library and Archives, Duke Energy Children's Museum, Museum of Natural History and Science, and the Robert D. Linder Family OMNIMAX Theater.
 |
| Frank Lloyd Wright's Spring House Tallahassee, Florida floridatrust.org |
Tallahassee, Florida
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Deterioration
Spring House was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's late works, designed in 1954. It was the only private residence built by him in the state of Florida. The unique hemicycle form of the house represents a late and little noticed stage in FLW's long and prolific career. Although there about 400 intact houses around the country attributed to FLW (at least five in Los Angeles), only a small portion were part of his hemicycle series. Spring House was designated a significant structure and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 at the tender age of twenty-five. Regardless of the unique design and the connection to America's most famous architect (not Mike Brady), the house is falling apart and is need of repairs. Exposure to weather has led to leaks, and the damage is apparent throughout the house. Additionally, the cypress columns have deteriorated at the base, the woodpecker and insect damage is visible on the cypress siding. Spring House Institute is initiating to buy and restore the house.
 |
| Music Hall Cincinnati, Ohio en.wikipedia.org |
Cincinnati, Ohio
Year List: 2014
Threat: Deterioration
Looks like a cathedral doesn't it? Music Hall was designed by Samuel Hannaford in 1878 and built with private money raised in what is believed to be the nation's first matching grant fund raiser. It is located in the Over-the-Rhine, a nationally important neighborhood that has undergone major revitalization since its listing on the 2006 11 Endangered Historic Places list. This red brick Victorian Gothic building contains a large auditorium, ornate foyer, carpentry shop, rehearsal and dressing rooms, and a ballroom. Unfortunately is grand dame is suffering from deterioration, water damage, and in need of repairs. Music Hall is owned by the City of Cincinnati and is home to the Cincinnati Arts Council, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet, and the May Festival.
 |
| Mokuaikaua Church Kailua Village in Kona, Hawaii en.wikipedia.org |
Mokuaikaua Church
Kailua Village in Kona, Hawaii
Year Listed: 2014
Threat: Deterioration
Aloha. The Mokuaikaua Church was the first Christian Church in Hawaii. This large stone house of worship is located in the middle of the Historic Kailua Village in Kona, Hawaii. The iconic steeple has stood out amid the low rise village and has become a landmark for nearly 200 years, visible on land and at sea. Finished in1837 and listed on the National Registers of Historic Places in 1978, the Mokuaikaua Church represents the western-influenced architecture of early nineteenth century Hawaii. The building are believed to made from stones taken from a nearby Hawaiian temple with mortar made from burned coral. The construction beams are crafted from Hawaiian ohia wood joined with pins from the same material. The building has suffered from earthquake damage, faulty wiring, termite damage, and dry-rot. A landmark for nearly two centuries, it needs immediate attention.
For more information on these and other buildings listed as endangered historic places, please go to http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/. Coming soon is UNESCO's annual list of World Heritage Sites. See if your country made the list.
Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+LenoreLowen
Instagram- find me at hpblogger
For more information on these and other buildings listed as endangered historic places, please go to http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/. Coming soon is UNESCO's annual list of World Heritage Sites. See if your country made the list.
Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen
Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy
Instagram- find me at hpblogger
No comments:
Post a Comment