PHW’s 46th Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 26 at 3 p.m. at the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St. The meeting will begin with a review of the fiscal year. Following that presentation, the 2010-2011 board will be elected by the membership. This year the by-laws will also be revised. Before adjourning for a reception, the 2010 Preservation Awards will be presented.
Vic Bradshaw covered the news of the Taylor Hotel and the Aulick house at 414 South Braddock Street being listed in a state-wide list of endangered properties. While it is not an honor, it is a hope that the inclusion of the properties will raise awareness of the serious risks of deferred maintenance.
[Richard] Bell said that while he hopes the exposure of the two properties on the endangered list will prevent other owners from letting structural problems linger, PHW is concerned that one or both buildings could disappear from the local streetscape.
“There is a real risk,” he said, “of losing them forever.”
Click here for the Winchester Star story. (Login required).
Click here for the full list of endangered properties recognized by Preservation Virginia.
In preparation for PHW’s Annual Meeting in June, the award nomination form for the 2010 awards is now online. You may submit as many nomination forms as you would like. Please return your nominations to the PHW office by May 28, 2010.
Continue reading Call for Nominations
City Council voted unanimously to declare the Taylor Hotel and the “Blind Faith” building, both on the Loudoun Street Walking Mall, blighted structures at last night’s Council meeting.
While there is no word yet on future action for the “Blind Faith” building, a potential purchaser is looking to buy the Taylor.
In a phone interview, Erik Wishneff said the development group [Brian Wishneff & Associates] has presented a signed contract to Denver Quinnelly, a Lafayette Plaza principal. The development group still has due-diligence work to complete before the sale is completed, he said. . . .
Brian Wishneff & Associates . . . is the co-owner of the second phase of the Our Health complex and has worked with Oakcrest Development to manage the tax-credit process for a historic building on Loudoun Street.
To read more of last night’s City Council coverage, visit Vic Bradshaw’s article Council declares three structures as blighted, including the former Taylor Hotel building at the Winchester Star Online (login required).
The Northern Shenandoah Valley Branch of Preservation Virginia will have two meetings in May 2010. The first meeting is the rescheduled winter quarter meeting that was cancelled due to the snow. The second meeting is the regular spring quarter meeting.
The meetings will be at Springsbury Farm in Clarke County on May 2, 2010, and at the Hottel-Keller Homestead in Shenandoah County on May 16, 2010. These sites, located in the northern and southern parts of the NSV Branch territory, represent two very different examples of settlement in the Shenandoah Valley. Both sites are in the development stage with on-going research and planning efforts for the long-term preservation and public interpretation of historic resources. The NSV Branch is honored to offer you the rare opportunity to see these properties and to witness historic preservation in action.
Continue reading Two Meetings in May for Preservation Virginia
The PHW Office will be closed Thursday, April 1, for a research expedition. The office will also be closed on April 2 for Good Friday. The office will be back on a normal schedule April 6.
Have a happy and safe Easter weekend!
As the rezoning request of the Amherst Street corridor last week highlighted, Winchester’s local historic district and National Register district currently have different boundaries. What does this mean for property owners? Currently, the Amherst corridor has the regulation of the local Board of Architectural Review, but none of the financial incentives available to other properties that fall within both the local and national districts.
Dave Shore, a Planning Commission member who served on the Historic District committee, said he thought the panel’s intent was to seek expansion of the national district to mirror the local district.
That would provide economic incentives for property owners to improve buildings currently subject to BAR governance but without the fiscal advantages of being in the national district.
The hope is that the incongruities noted in the survey will drive the redrawing of the city’s historic district, potentially contracting the district from “non-contributing” resources and expanding to include contributing resources currently ineligible for tax benefits.
To read more about the potential boundary changes from the architectural and cultural resource survey, visit Vic Bradshaw’s article at The Winchester Star Online. (Login required.)
Proposed plans to remove the Historic District overlay from several properties along the Amherst Street corridor were not recommended to move forward at yesterday’s Planning Commission meeting.
As Vic Bradshaw reported,
. . . Chairman Nate Adams objected to removing the property from the local historic district specifically to advance a project. He said other businesses have obtained BAR approval to build in the district, and he was concerned that others might expect similar consideration in the future.
‘I’m not sure why we should carve out an exception here,’ said Adams.
Read the full article at The Winchester Star online (login required).
The Winter issue of the PHW newsletter is available online. Read Volume 33.1, Winter 2010 now! (PDF document.)
Ask Your Representative to Join Others in Signing On in Support of Preservation Funding
Last week, hundreds of preservationists visited decision makers on Capitol Hill in an effort to promote good preservation policy and restore funding that was cut from key preservation programs. The message was simple: Preservation equals Jobs.
Now, you can do your part to assist in these efforts. Ask your Representative to sign on to a preservation support letter directed to the leadership of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Continue reading Saving America’s Treasures