Utah Heritage Foundation

Utah Heritage Foundation commends The Spectrum for its editorial on July 18, 2011 urging that school buildings be more energy efficient.  But why stop there.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation has been pointing out for years that the greenest buildings are often those that are already built. 

In a planning meeting for the re-use of Denver’s Emerson School, consultant Jim Dinola, a principal with Green Building Services in Portland, Oregon noted that the energy efficiency of older schools can be improved by doing some of the simple things homeowners do to make old houses more efficient.  These include insulating the attic, tightening windows and doors to eliminate leaks, and making thermostats operable (so that rooms are not heated to 85 degrees while sitting empty overnight, for example). Other energy savings will require more substantial investment, such as the overhaul of the school’s heating and cooling systems.  These retrofits often compare favorably with the cost of new construction.

Older schools in established neighborhoods like East Elementary in St. George, Utah (photo courtesy Washington County Historical Society) can usually be reached safely by pedestrians, reducing traffic and pollution from vehicles.  A recent Preservation Nation blog gave a way to measure the walkability of schools and their neighborhoods using the Active School Neighborhood Checklist (ASNC).  The checklist was born out of the federal Safe Routes To School program. The goal of SRTS is to make it safer and easier for children to walk and bicycle to school. 

Superlatives and smiles abounded at the St. George Historic Homes Tour the afternoon of Saturday, January 15, 2011.  Preservation Commissioner Lynne Cobb pronounced the event “Wildly Successful,” after hosting an estimated 500+ guests at the National Register-listed William F. Butler House.

UHF Field Rep Susan Crook reported 336 guests signed in at the Arthur Miles House where she served as host, but the actual count was probably over 700.  St. George Live! actor Durrant McArthur, in period costume as his pioneer forbear Daniel McArthur, greets a guest in the parlor of the Miles House during the tour (left). 

In addition to St. George Live! actors, tour guides included preservation commissioners and staff, and Washington County Historical Society board members.  The volunteers piled into St. George Live! buses for a preview tour Friday afternoon, seen below at Green Gate Village near Judd’s Store, which has been in continuous operation for 100 years.  The iconic St. George Tabernacle is in the background.  The St. George Historic Homes Tour was one of the kick-off events for the City’s sesquicentennial celebration.

Ancestor Square returned to its roots, so to speak, when Nicki Pace and her husband Randall Richards (Painted Pony Restaurant) started the Downtown Farmers Market in 2008.  Of course buying local is the keenest sense of rural preservation and “localism,” or a place of meaningful interaction … where neighbors and local merchants share what's happening in their community.  Before Ancestor Square was a gleam in the eye of Nicki’s father, developer and historic preservation commissioner Brooks Pace; before it was the site of her grandfather Andy’s Big Hand Café; this Plat-of-Zion block was a veritable Eden in the redrock desert. 

Prominent pioneer plantsman and publisher Joseph Ellis Johnson (right) moved to St. George in 1865, cultivating trees, vines, and flowers and operating his nursery and seed business on the same block where Utah’s first snowbird, Brigham Young, started wintering in 1871 after acquiring the house begun by James Chesney in 1869 on the lot at the northwest corner.

Kick-off Reception for Preservation in Dixie

 

Wednesday, December 9

For several decades now, St. George City has been the steward and planner for a historic preservation revival in Utah’s Dixie.  The centerpiece of which is the town square where the historic Woodward School, Tabernacle, and original Dixie College building (seen at left) all stand.  All in deep red sandstone, these buildings reflect the burnished color of the surrounding hills, but tell a richer story, one of pioneer ancestry, faith, dedication, and hard work.

But also a story of sound principles of planning and architecture which are still followed today in the pioneer center of St. George.  The historic building of the town square are now joined by fountains, open space, and the city’s new public library which is built to design specifications that allow it to fit into the town square, yet not replicate the historic buildings.  Main Street (seen at bottom right), the Green Gate Village B&B, Ancestor Square, and the Opera House complex are but a few of the nearby historic buildings that have all been rehabilitated.

Historic preservation has been the centerpiece of St. George’s planning efforts and house some of most interesting galleries, businesses, events, and accommodations.  Utah Heritage Foundation is pleased to support St. George city and the numerous organizations and owners who invest in rehabilitation.  Susan Crook, Central and Southern Utah Field Rep for Utah Heritage Foundation, is available to assist with historic preservation projects throughout the region by contacting her at 435.773.5336 or susan@utahheritagefoundation.org.

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(St. George, UT --- November 5, 2009)      Southern and Central Utah have a new preservation advocate whose major responsibility is to provide technical assistance to property owners and communities in historic preservation.  Susan Crook has joined Utah Heritage Foundation (UHF) as the first Field Representative, according to UHF Executive Director Kirk Huffaker.

Through the program, Crook will provide assistance in determining the economic value of historic buildings, identify potential projects, conduct assessments of needs across the region, and promote programs that are currently in place. Huffaker said there are excellent examples throughout Utah where historic buildings have been saved and are now serving as economic and tourism stimulators.

He points to the Grafton Heritage Partnership Project where 20 partners solved zoning issues and raised funds to restore the adobe church/school and Russell House, along with protecting hundreds of acres along the Virgin River. Today this is the focal point of the Butch Cassidy 10K Race.  Huffaker also mentions the Shafer House in Moab where the historic home was relocated and became part of the city's Youth Garden project.  In Salina, Utah Heritage Foundation became a catalyst for local activists saving the Presbyterian Church (below). "Susan will be in a position to provide additional assistance throughout southern and central Utah to help local constituencies build leadership on preservation issues," he said.

Crook is a St. George resident, planner, historic landscape architect, and cultural historian with diverse experience in public and private sectors.  She also has experience in facilitating projects with all types and sizes of groups.  Huffaker said the new program brings more historic preservation services to the area, a region that is rich with history and fabulous architecture from every era.

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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.