Utah Heritage Foundation

Utah Heritage Foundation has officially provided their support for the upcoming bond to save and rehabilitate Granite High School in South Salt Lake.  This would be a fabulous project that not only conserves an important historic structure, but could provide much needed flexible community space in the center of the valley.

Please join us to help inform voters in your neighborhood about the important Granite Bond election on November 8th. The City of South Salt Lake has proposed a $25 million bond to purchase former Granite High School and upgrade the campus into a community park, recreation center, arts center and public charter school. City residents are asked to vote to fund this project or not. This will be the only opportunity for the city to do so and the only way for your voice to be heard is to vote. We need your help informing voters!

South Salt Lake is pleased to announce its first annual arts festival at Granite High School.

Saturday, September 10, 9 am - 4 pm

This event combines the work of artists and crafts people, dancers and musicians, classic car artists and a reunion picnic for Granite High alumni. The Arts Council is well known for the visual arts programs it sponsors at the Pioneer Craft House and Columbus Center. Granite High School was legendary for its performing arts programs. South Salt Lake is known for cultural diversity, grassroots arts scene and its sense of fun! Put it all together for a rocking arts festival - Granite Rocks!

Utah Heritage Foundation’s
Mid-Year Campaign is Underway

Your support enables Utah Heritage Foundation to provide the expertise needed by communities, grassroots organizations, and individual property owners when they embark on a historic preser-vation project. Contributions from our members and donors also make possible the public tours of significant Utah landmarks, such as the Salt Lake City & County Building and the Utah Governor’s Mansion, as well as rehab workshops and school programs. As we reach the half-way point of 2011, we ask for your donation to keep our technical and educational programs strong over the coming months.

Utah Heritage Foundation is grateful to KeyBank for supporting us during this appeal with a challenge to our donors and members: When your collective donations to our mid-year campaign total $3,000, KeyBank will contribute $1,000.
Help us meet our goal and give generously to preserve the unique character and craftsmanship of Utah’s historic buildings and neighborhoods.
You can donate now through our secure website or by calling 801-533-0858 ext. 107.

Thank you for supporting UHF!

The Recent Past Preservation Network (RPPN) is proud to announce its new scholarship for the National Trust for Historic Preservation Annual Conference. This year, in Buffalo, New York.  The Conference Scholarship is open to all active college students who are RPPN members.  Student membership is only $5 and you can join here to be eligible.  The scholarship is designed to give students with an active interest in recent past preservation, and an opportunity to broaden their education by attending the National Trust for Historic Preservation Annual Conference where they will be able to connect with their peers and learn from their predecessors through a variety of educational sessions.

In addition to receiving paid conference registration, the recipient will serve as a liaison for RPPN and will have the opportunity to write a featured article about the Conference for the RPPN Bulletin, our high-quality quarterly magazine, which is read by preservationists throughout the country.

Visit our website for eligibility criteria and to apply.

Historic Yalecrest National Register District Up For $25,000 Prize

With Enough Votes Neighborhood Can Win Money for Education and Marketing

Salt Lake’s Yalecrest neighborhood, with one of the finest collections of Period Revival homes in the state, has an opportunity to win a $25,000 prize from the National Trust for Historic Preservation as part of the annual “This Place Matters” national competition.

For the past twelve years, Save America’s Treasures has been one of the country’s most important and effective historic preservation efforts, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars for restoration to nationally significant historic sites and special collections in all parts of the U.S.  The National Trust is proud of our role in establishing SAT and our subsequent work with three administrations.  We have been pleased to serve as the program’s principal private partner since its inception.   SAT is a program that has demonstrated its value many times over, as a generator of economic activity and as a symbol of our country’s commitment to ensuring that future generations understand the foundations on which our institutions and freedoms rest.

In the current difficult fiscal environment we face as a country, the federal SAT program was not included in the Administration’s FY11 budget request.  Despite strong and consistent support from preservationists, local government officials, historic site administrators, and many others, Congress is not reinstating any programs that the Administration did not include in its 2011 budget.  Likewise, SAT was not a part of the Administration’s FY12 budget request.  At the National Trust, we have had extensive conversations with Congressional leadership on the future of the program.  While many on the Hill remain supportive of the program, given the political landscape and the budget process now in place, it is clear that Congress will not restore the program’s funding in 2012.

With this conclusion, we have made the reluctant decision to close the Save America’s Treasures office at the National Trust.  SAT at the National Trust has been devoted to assisting sites with applications for the SAT program and helping successful applicants raise the required match. It has worked extensively and creatively with the country’s premier historic places and collections to raise public awareness and shine a bright spotlight on the importance of our cultural resources and the need for their conscientious stewardship. Among the more than 1,200 prestigious projects in which SAT at the Trust has played a critical role are: the restoration of the Star Spangled Banner, San Francisco’s Conservatory of Flowers, Martin Luther King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the Acoma Pueblo. Other beneficiaries have been the homes of such literary icons as Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder. It also is responsible for supporting the restoration of the last architectural model of the World Trade Center and the related exhibits and interpretation. In addition to the model, when the National Memorial Museum at Ground Zero opens on Sept. 11, 2012, the Last Column – the last structural element removed from the site that contains signatures and graffiti from the families, workers and public officials – will have a prominent place thanks to support from SAT.

SB 243 Substitute – Historic Areas or Sites Amendments

If you’ve been keeping up with our advocacy alerts, you may already realize that Senate Bill 243 has morphed several times during the session, leading preservationists across the state from one confusing proposal to another.  Each time it changed though, similar questions arose time and time again:  Isn’t this only about Yalecrest?  Does the bill only affect Yalecrest?  Can you get it only to affect Yalecrest?

At the end of the day, the bill was narrowed such that it directly affected the Yalecrest Neighborhood during a one-year moratorium period.  From the wide ranging scope that SB 243 started with, the result that was arrived at by sponsor Sen. Niederhauser (R-Sandy) is likely the least impactful possible.

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Congressman Rob Bishop (above, 4th from left) knows how to work a room.  Preservation leaders applauded when he said he supports tax credits for rehabbing historic buildings.  He drew even more applause when he said he would support a federal homeowner tax credit.

Bishop (R-UT-01), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources, was the keynote speaker at the joint Advocacy Day luncheon of the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Preservation Action.  The groups met at the historic Hotel Fairfax in Washington D.C. on March 7-9, 2011 for their annual mid-year meeting, scheduled to coincide with the release of the President’s budget, and the beginning of appropriations hearings for FY 2012.

Rob Bishop lives in a historic home in Brigham City, Utah, a community brimming with historic buildings, and is a member of the House Historic Preservation Caucus.  He explained that he supports federal rehabilitation tax credit programs, including one for homeowners, because they promote private investment by local property owners rather than mandating federal intervention and funding.

Read the UHF Board of Trustees Resolution on the Provo Tabernacle.

Read the history of the Provo Tabernacle from the Salt Lake Architecture blog.

UPDATE:  Thanks to all who read this and to Lorraine Januzelli who made the final contribution to help us reach our goal for this year.  Though we have made our match we are still accepting donations for the mid-year appeal.  Just follow the link below.

Attention bloggers!  If you've ever even considered donating a small amount to UHF to keep the organization's work going, NOW is your chance to make your dollars go even further.  Our mid-year appeal is only $65 short of $2,000, the point at which we receive a dollar-for-dollar match from the UHF Board of Trustees in a challenge that they have put forward to the public to come forward this summer.  There simply is no better way to assist UHF in preservation work statewide.

And you, our regular blog readers could be the last donation that we need to put us over the top!  Please consider a donation today.