| Around The Block | Rhode Island Preservation News
September 14, 2007 | | Preserve Rhode Island News | From the Director
I am delighted to have joined Preserve Rhode Island and thank everyone for the already extraordinarily warm welcome you've extended. The "fit" for me at PRI feels promising. I come to PRI with a background in both historic preservation and land conservation, as well as experience in both the public and non profit sectors. I am particularly excited about working for an organization whose mission is broad - to protect historic and unique places in Rhode Island. While I am getting oriented to PRI and acclimated to Rhode Island, I'm cautious about declaring what PRI will do or what initiatives we will embrace. But I'm not cautious about declaring some of the core principles that have guided the protection of special places throughout New England and which I believe are the bedrock beliefs for successful preservation endeavors: -Preservation is actually more about the future than about the past. We work to save special places so that not only we, but our children and our grandchildren will have the opportunity to enjoy them, learn from them and feel connected to our history and culture. -Preservation is about connecting people to place. Preservationists are a community centered bunch, acting from belief that our world will be a better place if we protect the unique character of our communities. Although we frequently talk in terms of architectural style or artifacts, and fix attention on details like windows and rooflines, we know these details are more method than objective - how we will save a place rather than why. The "why", perhaps too often unspoken (even if strongly felt), is to improve people's lives. -Preservation results from collaboration. Margaret Mead's quote -- "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has" --speaks to all of us working to conserve the places where we work, live and play. However, if you are experiencing a particularly grueling preservation fight right now, you might prefer the following quote from Homer -- "there is power in the union of even very sorry men!" -Preservation is about place - where the total is greater than the sum of its parts. It's not the farmhouse or the farmland, but it's the "farm". It's not the individual trees, it's the forest. Its not archaeological features, but the site in its environmental setting. Charles Eliot talked about "places of more than usual refreshing power" when he established the first land trust in 1891 that was dedicated to protecting special places for public use and enjoyment. -The key to preservation success is continuing the productive use of place. The challenge of preservation is imagining the ways we can sustain places today as the stewards of our generation. Whether the stewardship model is private or public, and whether the stewardship is through adaptive reuse, public use, or otherwise, our challenge is not only to "save" places, but to guide our natural and cultural heritage to a sustainable future through good stewardship. I am just starting up the steep learning curve to understand PRI and the state of all-things-preservation in Rhode Island. Please inform and advise me as I begin to frame PRI's future. I'll appreciate suggestions and comments on how you think PRI should position itself to advance the cause of preservation in Rhode Island. -Valerie Talmage | Preserve Rhode Island Annual Meeting  PRI will hold its 51st Annual Meeting on Wednesday October 24th at the Central Congregational Church located at 296 Angell Street in Providence. Please join us in welcoming Valerie Talmage, Preserve Rhode Island's new Executive Director, who joined the PRI staff on September 4th. PRI will offer a special thank you to Dennis Stark for his hard work and dedication over the past two years as Chairman of Preserve Rhode Island. Our vice-chairman, John Grosvenor, will be welcomed as the incoming Chairman of the board.
In 2007, Preserve Rhode Island established the RI Historic Sites Coalition, took the lead on the RI Geotourism Initiative and successfully raised needed operating funds through A Summer Evening on Indian Avenue, a unique fundraiser that highlighted several historic homes on the famed street. The meeting agenda includes brief reports on these successes by the Chairman and Executive Director, the presentation of the 2007 Preservation Merit Awards, and a special guest speaker. This year's guest speaker, Kevin Fry, President of Scenic America, will discuss the preservation of our historic streetscapes and landscapes, with particular attention given to tourism and the use of appropriate signage that is sensitive to the historic character of our towns and cities. The meeting begins at 5:30pm and will be followed with a reception at the Governor Henry Lippitt House Museum at 199 Hope Street, just a block away. Please RSVP by October 19th by contacting staff@preserveri.org or 401.272.5101. | 2007 Civil War re-enactment brings a big bang to Great Road  Cover your ears! The boom of cannon fire will once again bellow through the hills of Great Road in Lincoln this weekend, September 15 & 16 when the Battle of Chase Farm takes center stage in the usually quiet, idyllic park. Amidst the meadows of Chase Farm Park, spectators will be brought back in time as they become part of a historic Civil War encampment and battle scene straight from the 1860s, complete with colorful military uniforms and hoop skirts, ear shattering blasts of musketry and cannon fire, mounted cavalry, and the smoky smell of open campfires. The "Battle at Chase Farm" is one of the larger Civil War events being held in New England this summer, with several hundred re-enactors making the trip to Lincoln for this spectacular history lesson.
 A unique feature of this particular Civil War Re-enactment is the inclusion of a Field Hospital set at the splendid historic Hearthside mansion, on the edge of Chase Farm Park. Just as it would have been done back at that time, the homestead will be "taken over" by the soldiers and cleared out of its furnishings in order to set up a field hospital for the wounded soldiers.
Hours for the event are from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00 - 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Since no parking is allowed at the site during the event, continuous shuttle bus transportation is available from the parking lot of the Community College of Rhode Island located one mile from the site on Rt. 246, located just off Route 146 at the Breakneck Hill Road exit in Lincoln. Signs directing visitors to the free parking lot will be posted. Cost for general admission to the battlegrounds is $7.00 per person and children under 12 free. Click here to read more about this exciting event! | | Three RI projects finalists for the 2007 Timothy Anderson Awards The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association has announced the twenty finalists for the 2007 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation. The "Timmy Awards" were created to honor outstanding real estate projects throughout the U.S. that involve rehabilitation of older, historic buildings using the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit. This year's nominees competed in eight categories. Three of the finalists ae projects completed in Rhode Island. Affordable Housing (Large/Over $5 million total development cost) St. Ann's Apartments, Woonsocket
Developer: Richard Relich and Colin O'Keeffe, Arch Street Development, Needham, MA
Architect: Douglas Brown, Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels Architects, Providence Mixed-Income Housing (Small/Up to $5 million total development cost) Parkis/North Elmwood Homeowner's Group Phase I, Providence
Developer: Michael Lozano, Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services, Inc., Providence Architect: Paul Attemann, Donald Powers Architects, Inc., Providence Best Historic Rehab or Adaptive Re-Use for Hotel/Hospitality Renaissance Providence Hotel, Providence
Developer: Kenneth J. Geist, Sage Hospitality Resouces, LLC, Denver, CO
Architect: Erwin Lim and Frank LaSusa, BBG Architects, New York, NY NH&RA created the "Timmy Awards" in 2005 in memory of Boston Architect and Preservation Advocate J. Timothy Anderson. Anderson was a singular figure in the historic rehabilitation business. His legacy includes numerous Boston area projects as well as a seminal study that helped preserve South Beach in Miami. The federal historic rehabilitation tax credit is the primary tool used to generate equity to preserve and rehabilitate historic properties. The rehabilitation credit is used primarily to rehabilitate income-producing buildings that are considered certified historic structures. Historic tax credits are often paired with other federal, state and local tax credits and subsidies and are often used in the development of affordable and market rate rental housing as well as commercial, retail and industrial developments. | | Brown moves historic Lippitt-Guild House  During the week of July 30th the face of the Brown University campus witnessed a major change as the Lippitt-Guild House, now known as the Peter Green House, moved from its original foundations at 142 Angell Street to its new home on Brown Street. It was an exciting week which started the morning of July 31st as the first wheels rolled under the 300 ton house. University faculty and staff, students, community members and children of all ages gathered throughout the week to join in the excitement, ask a few questions, and take a few photos. The house reached its final resting place over a new foundation on the morning of August 7th. The original lot has already taken the first step in its transformation into one of the new open, green spaces on the Campus Walk that connects Brown's College Hill campus with its Pembroke Campus. A multi-million dollar restoration and renovation of the Peter Green House at its new location is well under way.
Click Here to watch a time lapse video of the Peter Green House as it moves to its new location! | | Harris Mill listed to the National Register of Historic Places  A textile mill complex in Coventry has received federal recognition for its contributions to the history of industry and architecture. Built in 1850, Harris Mill is a well-preserved example of stone industrial construction and an important landmark in the development of the textile industry in the Pawtuxet River Valley. Also of note, Harris Mill retains a significant collection of original hydro-mechanical, hydro-electric, and steam-electric power generation and transmission equipment.
 Harris Mill is located at 618 Main Street in Coventry's Harris mill village. The 4.3-acre property is sited on the north bank of the North Branch of the Pawtuxet River. The complex includes a concrete and masonry-lined headrace and ten buildings, built between 1850 and 1953. The buildings share a common vocabulary of building materials and architectural features common to mid-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New England textile mill construction including gabled and flat roofs; parged rubblestone and exposed brick walls, and fire-resistive wood and/or steel frame interior construction with sawn and/or hewn timbers.
According to Edward F. Sanderson, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, "Harris Mill is a classic Rhode Island mill site; its history traces the rise and fall of cotton manufacturing since 1821. Now this historic site will be rehabilitated for new life as apartments." | | Rhode Island Preservation News Links | Woonsocket House of the Week Preservation news links are provided by PRI staff for informational purposes only. The inclusion or exclusion of articles should not be considered as an endorsement or indictment of their contents. | |
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