Tag: Friday Photos

PHW operated for several years as a scaled back, volunteer only organization during the period of reorganization. The Board of Directors, led by George and Jeanne Schember, systematically reviewed and fulfilled the outstanding legal and financial obligations, completed and sold the Blues House project at 401-403 S. Kent St., undertook a by-laws revision, and many other minutiae of requirements to running a non-profit organization.

PHW continued its focus on preserving Kent Street, awarding a Facade Improvement Grant to the owner at 317 South Kent Street for exterior improvements and sponsoring several John Kirby Day events to help preserve the Elks Lodge and John Kirby’s home on North Kent Street. The Holiday House Tours continued to be held, and Jennings Revolving Fund covenants were still enforced.

As George Schember neared the end of his term as President of PHW, Howard Kittell, then Executive Director at Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, was brought on board as PHW’s next President. Knowing he could not keep up with George and Jeanne’s level of hands-on, day-to-day commitment to PHW, it was time to hire office staff once again.

In June of 2005, Sandra Bosley became PHW’s Office Administrator. She responded to PHW’s employment ad along with 33 other candidates for this part time position. With her knowledge of the community, self-motivation, computer skills, and outstanding references from the staff of Shenandoah University’s History and Tourism Center, Sandra was a natural fit for the organization. By October of 2005, “[t]he board and volunteers are all in agreement that we would be lost without Sandra.” (1)

PHW was offered the chance to return to the Hexagon House by the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in 2006. PHW gratefully accepted the opportunity to set up offices again in one of the town’s outstanding architectural treasures. The increase in floorspace has made board meetings and social gatherings at PHW vastly more comfortable, and made fun outdoor events like croquet at Annual Meetings a possibility. (2)

In 2007, PHW became one of the leaders speaking out again the demolition of five properties on South Kent Street. The proposal was much contested, going all the way to City Council. PHW fought City Council’s decision to allow for demolition, filing a lawsuit against the City of Winchester, contesting that council failed to consult with the Board of Architectural Review before rendering a decision, which is required by the city’s Zoning Ordinance. (3) Although PHW’s attempts to purchase the properties through the Jennings Revolving Fund were unsuccessful, in the end the buildings in question were sold to another entity and retained.

About the same time, the Taylor Hotel suffered a partial collapse, most likely due to rainwater accumulation because of clogged drainage systems. Although not publicly visible, PHW kept in touch with city officials during the years it took to find the right person to rehabilitate the Taylor. (4) The patient approach paid off when the Taylor was completed in 2014, just in time for PHW to host its 50th Anniversary celebration there at the new pavilion, created where the collapsed rubble of the theater and McCrory’s addition had once stood. (5)

There have still been some stinging losses for Winchester’s architectural heritage in recent years, including Ruth’s Tea Room and the Community Food Store on South Kent Street and the partial demolition of the Aulick house on South Braddock Street. If there can be a silver lining to these now-vanished Winchester landmarks, it is that they were lost not to a drive for more parking lots but to “demolition by neglect.” (6)(7)(8) Although a galling issue in its own right and a much more complex issue to combat, it is a far cry from the days when important buildings could be lost in the blink of an eye for a handful of parking spaces.

In some ways PHW has had to start from scratch as an organization in 2003, relearning how we used to be so successful at advocacy, membership events, and fundraising. Nevertheless, we feel we still serve an important role in the community and fill a much wanted and needed niche of providing information about historic preservation and architecture. We plan to serve the community for another fifty years. Thank you for your support and interest in PHW – we could not exist without you!

PHW will officially turn 51 tomorrow, and so with this post we will draw a close to our 50th Anniversary blog posts. There will be a small hiatus while we prepare materials for our blog series, focusing more on the architecture of Winchester.

In 1999, PHW began talks with the Chamber of Commerce to sell the Kurtz Building. In January 2001, the deal was completed with a few stipulations. Although the Kurtz Cultural Center and Welcome Center would be closing, PHW would retain office space in the building for a period of time rent free. The Kurtz era officially came to a close on April 21, 2001 with “A Toast and a Tribute,” an event for the volunteers and staff who had poured a decade of time and love into the Cultural Center and Welcome Center.

The closing of the KCC was a tumultuous time in PHW’s history. In addition to closing out the programs and activities, removing exhibit materials, and selling off Gift Shop inventory and fixtures, the PHW offices were relocated inside the Kurtz Building to much smaller quarters.(1) In the midst of this difficult process, PHW was still juggling the Blues House events, the renovation of 401-403 South Kent Street, and internally struggling to adapt from the past focus on the KCC programming back to preservation.

The sale of the Kurtz Building had finally provided PHW the means to ensure the financial longevity of the organization. The trouble arose in regards to what portion of the money should be reserved for preservation projects and what amount should be put toward operating expenses. In 2003, the schism between PHW board members reached its lowest point, resulting in PHW returning to a volunteer only operation and with a deeply reduced board and programming roster.

Times looked bleak for PHW, but the remaining board members committed to reorganizing and revitalizing the organization.

Additional information for this blog post came from PHW minutes from 1999-2003.

For almost ten years, the Kurtz Cultural Center offered a diverse range of programs and activities with a number of community partners and traveling exhibits from larger museums. The KCC not only provided high quality exhibits with a particular focus on local history, but also offered a range of supplementary programs like lectures, children’s programming, appraisals from experts, and preservation techniques.

Several exhibits, namely “West of the Blue Ridge,” “A Community at War,” and “Valley Collectors” were well documented and exhibit photos can be viewed in PHW’s Picasa Gallery. Be sure to visit the album on Flickr to see even more exhibit photos from the Kurtz Cultural Center. At least some of the exhibits by year included:

1992
Regional Reflections: Juried Art Show
Celebrating Patsy Cline
Manufacturer’s Exposition

1993
The Civil War information center opens
Valley Quilts: A Pieced Tradition
West of the Blue Ridge
A Tradition of Cabinetmakers
Valley Childhood Life
Big Al Carter

1994
James Wood and the Founding of Winchester
Totally Touchable art exhibit
Children’s Heritage poster contest
D-Day 50th Anniversary Exhibit
Quilt by Quilt
Winchester: People, Places and Things
Artstravaganza
Vanished Winchester
Away, I’m Bound Away
Woodworkers of the Valley
Works of Isaac J. Sanger

1995
Before Freedom Came
Art in Bloom
A Community at War

1996
Pictures of the World: The Art of the Mapmaker
View Point ’96 by SVAA
A Legacy for Winchester: the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Collection
Art Smart art exhibit
Valley Collectors

1997
Mirage exhibit by Elaine Rebman
Jewish Virginians
Faces of the Past portrait exhibit
Rivers, Fields and Skies exhibit by Wiley Redford Wine
The Tradition Continues: Woodworkers of the Shenandoah Valley

1998
Like Grass Before the Scythe Civil War relics exhibit
Lee Teeter art exhibit

1999
Realism x 4
George Washington and the Virginia Frontier

2000
The Art of the Frontier Gunsmith

This post is part of the series of history posts in celebration of PHW’s 50th Anniversary year. For the newcomers to this list, you may catch up on the earlier posts in this series at the PHW blog under the tag 50th Anniversary.

With the Kurtz Building well on track after the hard hat tour in April 1990, it appeared the Kurtz Cultural Center was ready for smooth sailing. The exterior had been cleaned up — no longer could it be called just an ugly grain warehouse — and the interior was being prepared for its new use as a Cultural Center while retaining as much of its architectural integrity as possible. The basement had been dug out to allow room for a hands-on children’s gallery space. The second and third floors were set aside for gallery and office space. The majority of the first floor was designated for the first official Old Town Welcome Center in Winchester. (1) (2)

As promised, in the fall of 1990, Winchester City Council conveyed the Kurtz Building to PHW. As had been established years before, the conveyance was for the building only, not the land, and Frederick County still retained an option to build on the land. It was well understood that at any time the work PHW put into saving the Kurtz could be undone — although that possibility was remote, it was never glossed over. Thus it was a surprise when the Frederick County Board of Supervisors leveled the accusation that by conveying the building to PHW, the City unilaterally changed the terms of the 1980 City-County agreement. (3)

The Winchester Star suggested an idea to lay the Frederick County building option to rest once and for all by selling the option for $1 to PHW. The option was of limited value to anyone else, particularly since the Kurtz Cultural Center was poised to become a reality. It was suggested that by offering the option at a nominal price, it would show the County’s willingness to see the Kurtz Cultural Center succeed. However, the value of the option that the supervisors reached was $20-25,000. Their counteroffer was that the $20,000 from PHW’s purchase of the option would be put toward preserving Frederick County Civil War sites. (4) (5) (6)

Unsurprisingly, PHW submitted the only bid — $10 — for the option. (7) The bid was not even considered in 1990, and the issue lingered into 1992, when the County attempted to hinge the building option on annexation agreements between the City and County. (8) Undeterred, PHW continued its work on the Kurtz Cultural Center, even moving the PHW office from the Hexagon House to the Kurtz Building in April 1992. (9)

At last, on June 1, 1992, the Old Town Welcome Center opened at the Kurtz Building. With the welcome center operational, the downtown had a central location for brochures and tours, public restrooms, a gift shop, and the first few exhibits of the Kurtz Cultural Center (10) (11) One month later, the longstanding issue with the Frederick County building option was resolved when Winchester City, Frederick County, and PHW entered into an agreement that the City would release its reversionary clause and conditions from the 1990 deed, and the County would release its option until such a time as the Kurtz Building reverted to City control. The Kurtz Cultural Center was now ready to serve the community without fear of further entanglements in the annexation negotiations.