As announced by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the Historic Wendover Airfield will receive a $450,000 federal grant from the Save America's Treasures program to begin rehabilitation work on the massive hangar building named for the Enola Gay airplane that was housed there in 1945.  A portion of the grant will be for re-roofing, as well as for siding and windows.  Due to federal funds being provided, all work must meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.  Utah Heritage Foundation began discussions with Tooele County, owner of the Wendover Airport (Wendover historic airfield) in 2000 about the great significance of the building, use and reuse options, as well as potential options for funding rehabilitation.

 

In secret training missions, the 509^th Composite Group used the Wendover site in June 1945 before completing their August 6 assignment to fly their B-29 bomber to Hiroshima, Japan, and drop the first atomic bomb.  The building housed the Enola Gay for a brief period of time in confidence before flying to California and launching on the mission.  In addition, airmen that were training for the mission used the surrounding desert for target practice and other buildings for practice in loading and unloading large, sensitive materials before knowing that they were going to carry the atom bomb.

 

Much of the story of the Enola Gay's history in Utah can be seen at the Historic Wendover Airfield Museum.  The museum and the airfield is definitely a place worth seeing beyond the buffet!  Believe it or not, the Enola Gay Hangar also played a significant role in the movie Con Air (1997).  Look for it.

Visit Save America's Treasures for additional information on this year's grantees as well as the application process.

 

While visiting Wendover, Utah, you may want to also visit the Center for Land Use Interpretation.  The Center produces public exhibits on land use themes and issues for galleries and museums, and for exhibition in CLUI spaces in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Regional exhibits focus on land use within a defined geographic area, such as a state or neighborhood. Thematic exhibits are usually national in scope, and examine a particular land use phenomena or issue.

As of December 1, Utah Heritage Foundation is accepting nominations for 2009 Heritage Awards.  Nomination forms can be downloaded from our website. Deadline for nominations is January 15, 2009.  The awards program recognizes the best rehabilitation, restoration, and adaptive use projects of the last year, as well as individuals involved in historic preservation.  The presentation will be held on Friday, May 1 at the Officer's Club at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City.  Check out past recipients to see some of the best of historic preservation in the past five years.

Utah Heritage Foundation is also seeking applications for conference education sessions.  Have you wanted to tell people about how you hold a successful Homes Tour?  Or how your community resolved years of debate about how to save a beloved historic building that you think would make a great case study?  Please propose a conference session!  More details as well as the conference proposal form are located on our website. Proposals for education sessions for the 2009 Utah Preservation Conference are due by January 15, 2009.

For more information, email Alison Flanders at alison@utahheritagefoundation.org

 

This summer, there will be an opportunity for a special project that offers FREE housing repairs for low income, elderly and disabled homeowners.

Salt Lake City's Housing & Neighborhood Development has partnered with World Changers, and the City of South Salt Lake for a special neighborhood restoration event.  This summer more than 250 youth and adult volunteers from around the country will travel to Salt Lake City to improve the quality of housing for our residents. These World Changer volunteers can replace roofs and siding, build wheelchair accessible ramps and porches, do yard cleanup, replace windows and insulation, etc., for at least 27 homes in our community at no cost to the homeowner.

We need your help to target households in our community who may need this assistance.  If you know of any families within the Salt Lake City or South Salt Lake boundaries who are low income, elderly or disabled (or have an undue hardship), please refer them to this program.  Go here for a program application.

The past two years with World Changers has been a great success.  This year we have an opportunity to potentially expand the program if we have an adequate demand for assistance, so please pass this information on!

On Wednesday, December 10, the neighborhood of Liberty Wells gathered at the Salt Lake Community College South City campus for a regular meeting.  On the agenda however, was one of the most important issues in recent memory which garnered one of the highest turnouts ever for this community council.  The agenda issue before them was whether or not to support the expansion of St. Joseph's Villa. 

On Wednesday, December 10, the Salt Lake City Liberty-Wells Community Council will hold a vote regarding the proposal to expand St. Joseph Villa (seen at right), which requires a change to the Central Community Master Plan and a zoning change.  The Planning Commission has already given its approval to the plan, which includes the demolition of seven historic houses (below left), five of which have been rated as potentially contributing status to a future National Register Historic District.

However, in an important step to discuss the project, the neighborhood is reconsidering its original vote from Spring 2008 as that vote was taken when the item was not listed on a regular meeting agenda.  The December 10^th meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake Community College South City Campus (former SLC South HS) at 1575 South State Street in Room W111G.

 

As members of the neighborhood expressed at November's Liberty -Wells Community Council meeting, the expansion not only facilitates the demolition of nearly a half-block of viable single-family historic houses (like the airplane-roof style bungalow seen at left), it also presents several other issues including reducing neighborhood residential use, ongoing design compatibility issues with the surrounding neighborhood, violating the Central Community Master Plan which calls for no further expansion of institutional facilities that displace residential uses , and violating the neighborhood's small area master plan which calls for maintaining the neighborhood's traditional design characteristics.  Utah Heritage Foundation is opposed to the proposal to expand St. Joseph's Villa, and thus the change to the master plan and zoning change, as this will create a negative impact on the neighborhood and we believe that options to expand the facility within the existing footprint of the facility or rehabilitate existing buildings (like the original St. Joseph's Villa building, 1959, seen at right) should be explored more vigorously.

 

After this community council meeting, the Salt Lake City Council will be considering the master plan and zoning change request.  Jill Remington-Love represents this portion of the Liberty-Wells neighborhood on the City Council and welcomes your comments, but all city council members should be informed with your opinions.

 

To send in your comments to the neighborhood, for more information from the No Villa Expansion group, to get updates, and see the design for the new facility, visit www.novillaexpansion.org.

In these times of heightened concern for the economy and the environment, we are discovering that our work in historic preservation is ever more essential to the everyday lives of Utahns.    Utah Heritage Foundation saves and helps to restore the historic charm of our towns and cities.  Rehabilitation and re-use of existing buildings takes advantage of the resources and energy already embedded in these structures and reduces sprawl into farmland and open spaces.

Through the insightful and generous support of our Board of Trustees, our volunteers, and preservationists across Utah, new opportunities arise even in uncertain times.  Utah Heritage Foundation continues to operate efficiently and effectively to preserve historic buildings through advocacy, technical assistance and low-interest loans, and to deliver classroom curricula free-of-charge to teachers and schoolchildren.  The possibilities to make a difference on the landscape and in the awareness of Utahns continue to expand in exciting directions.

 

Did you know?

 

In 2008, Utah Heritage Foundation...

• Acted to save historic buildings in Centerville, Heber, Midway (photo below), Lehi, Logan, Moab, Murray, Ogden, Pleasant Grove, Providence, Provo, Salt Lake City, and consulted on many others.
• Supported rehabilitation projects in Bountiful, Manti, Gunnison, as well as in the Marmalade, Avenues and Central City neighborhoods of Salt Lake City through our revolving low-interest loan program.
• Hosted our second annual Utah Preservation Conference where we trained over 300 attendees in education sessions, presented 12 Heritage Awards, and guided nearly 1,300 people on the Avenues Homes Tour (photo below).
• Directed children's enrichment activities during two "Capitol Discovery" days at the State Capitol (photo at very top). 

• Scheduled our Volunteer Docents to guide tours through the Salt Lake City-County Building and Governor's Mansion for approximately 4,000 students and visitors (below right).
• Launched an enhanced website with a blog, new resources, and more photos.
• Published our first book - Celebrating Compatible Design. (on sale now at the website!)

By making a year-end donation to Utah Heritage Foundation, you join us as stewards not only of the past, but also the future.  Your support is essential in maintaining our successful 42-year track record in "preserving, protecting and promoting Utah's historic built environment." Every size of donation matters:  your contribution could buy a staff person a tank of gas to meet with the property owner of an endangered building, or pay for sending ten teachers free curriculum guides to teach their students about historic architecture.

In the works for the coming year are more programs aimed at achieving environmental sustainability through "green" preservation; our third annual Utah Preservation Conference; new events for members and the general public that you won't want to miss; and promoting the appreciation and rehabilitation of modern-era structures.

Click here to make a secure on-line donation now.  We also welcome your contribution by credit card, stock donation, gift of real estate, or planned gift by calling Lisa Poppleton, Development Director at 801-533-0858 ext. 102, or you can mail your donation to Utah Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 28, Salt Lake City, UT  84110-0028.  Please remember that many corporate employers offer a matching gift program:  check with the community affairs or human resources department at your workplace.

 

Include Utah Heritage Foundation in your 2008 year-end giving and you will participate in a movement that directly shapes people's lives and the beauty and viability of our communities.   Our success proves that historic preservation is practical, economical, and character defining.

 

Make a donation today for preservation today.

Sincerely,

 

Pete Ashdown                                                                   Kirk Huffaker

Chair, Board of Trustees                                             Executive Director

 

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