The result reaffirmed San Franciscans’ traditional aversion to billboards. In 2002, when 79.1% of voters supported an initiative that established an ordinance prohibiting new general advertising signs anywhere in the City. San Francisco’s Municipal Code also prohibits all general advertising signs on Market Street downtown.

Proposition D, which was sponsored by Market Street property owners, would have created a special sign district on and near Market Street between 5th and 7th streets where new general advertising signs would not be subject to the City-wide ban on new billboards or the ban on all general advertising signs in the Market Street Special Sign District. Had Prop D passed, just about any sort of sign would have been fair game, including roof signs, wind signs, video signs, rotating signs, wall signs, signs with moving parts, and signs with illumination.

The opposition to Prop D was led by San Francisco Beautiful, which had sponsored the 2002 proposition banning new billboards. While Mid-Market has proven remarkably resistant to revitalization, San Francisco Beautiful rightly pointed out that “We can’t fight blight with blight…the extreme presence of billboards along those two blocks could destroy prospects for fully restoring the whole of Market Street, San Francisco’s grand boulevard, to a world-class standard.”

San Francisco Beautiful also expressed concern over a copy cat effect where private interests throughout the city might attempt to circumvent existing zoning and land-use restrictions through well-funded ballot box campaigns.

– Anthony Veerkamp

Anthony Veerkamp a senior program officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Western Office.

Supreme Court Building

The Supreme Court was my favorite. It was so beautiful and there was a lot for me to take in. I love columns in buildings and the Supreme Court is covered with them. The tops of the columns are covered with beautiful, detailed designs. The motto of the Supreme Court beautifully saying, “Equal Justice Under Law.” The front steps are marble and marvelous. The sculpture at the top of the building is so well detailed and amazing. The sculptures on both sides at the bottom of the stairs are huge, one man and one women, which is weird because at the time it was built it was all men that took office. Anyway, the sculptures are so detailed and beautifully depict the government.

I also loved the Lincoln Memorial. The whole outside and inside are amazing. All the states that were states under his presidency, surrounds the monument and again the columns are so neat. Also, the geometrics of the building are fascinating.

Even, though all these buildings are cool and amazing I am so glad for BAP. I would not have fully appreciated and understood the significance of these buildings if it weren’t for AP History and BAP. I would be lost and just see them as cool instead of the historical icons that they are! Without BAP I would be callous towards those glorious columns that I love so much. The great history behind these buildings is remarkable. I was talking to Nate V. who has blogged before and he went when he was a small child and didn’t know anything about the significance of the place. He told me that he wished he could go again so that he could experience it like I did. I’m so appreciative of BAP and of Mr. StanWiens, because without them I would not be the same.

Kim M. is a student at Boise’s Timberline High School and is participating in the Boise Architecture Project. You can follow the students here on the PreservationNation blog and on their Flickr photostream. Also, get daily updates from their teacher, Doug StanWiens, on Twitter.

In accordance with my standard tradition, I awoke this morning thinking about failed plots to blow up parliament—and then I did double take: How could it be the fifth of November already? While we have plenty of time left in 2009, I thought it would be worthwhile to make an end of the year list-things I want to get done in the world of preservation before 2010 rolls around. So here’s a quick glimpse of what I have on my preservation to do list. What’s on yours?

1. Think about what I learned in Nashville and how that can be used to help preservationists do their jobs. What tools would be the most useful for Forum Members?
2. Read the latest Preservation Magazine and Forum Journal.
3. Tweet more (@PC_Presnation)
4. Check out Preservation Resource Center of Louisiana’s Preservation in Print. They have a new hardcopy look that I love!
5. Look for ways to honor Native American Heritage in Preservation.

Just a small part of my list, of course, but it keeps me from thinking about what comes next—those dreaded New Year’s Resolutions!

Lambertville City Hall, NJ

New Jersey, like many others states these days, is facing a severe budget crisis. In the interest of cost cutting and finding ways to save dollars, New Jersey could have dismantled its preservation and open space programs, citing the need to channel its limited funds elsewhere. Or New Jersey could have said preservation was not fiscally sound in a tough economic climate. Other states are certainly doing this so why not New Jersey too? The difference is the decision was left to voters of New Jersey, instead of the legislature. Yesterday on Election Day voters approved a $400 million ballot measure that allows three existing programs to continue, including a nationally-recognized grant program for historic preservation. This, in a state with one of the highest property tax rates in the country and an equally high cost of living. Voters rejected arguments that the state could no longer afford to support open space preservation and grants to preserve historic sites.

Preservation is all too often seen as a luxury when the economy is down. States all over are slashing budgets and eliminating important preservation programs in the interest of saving dollars. What happened in New Jersey yesterday demonstrates how important preservation is in tough and good times. People care about their heritage and places that matter, regardless of how bad things are with the economy. And increasingly preservation is rightfully being recognized for its role in creating jobs and leveraging dollar-for-dollar resources as a true economic stimulus. In a state that has a bit of an inferiority complex – thanks in part to the Sopranos and, most recently, the Real Housewives of New Jersey – today New Jersians can hold their head up high — very high.

Approval of Public Question #1 continues the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Farmland Preservation Program and Green Acres as a stop-gap measure for another two years — funding historic preservation projects and the acquisition and preservation of farmland and open space. $12 million of the $400 million goes directly to support historic preservation projects statewide. In 20 years, the New Jersey Historic Trust has awarded more than $123 million in matching grants for preservation planning and “bricks and mortar” projects to 532 historic sites throughout New Jersey.

Have a pressing policy issue is your state? As we did in New Jersey and others, the National Trust for Historic Preservation can help by issuing an alert to our members and encouraging them to take quick action.

To find out more about New Jersey’s ballot measure, go to www.state.nj.us/gspt/question1.html

Columbia Rosenwald School

On Saturday, October 24, the Columbia Rosenwald School celebrated its restoration and Grand Re-Opening. It was a sunny and exciting day, made possible by the hard work and generosity of the West Columbia, TX community, and larger support from organizations such like the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Lowe’s, among others.

The restoration project was a long and challenging one. The school was discovered in 1995, while being used as a hay barn. It took 14 years to raise the necessary funding and implement our plans. The first step was to move the building across town to its new home adjacent to the historical museum prior to beginning the restoration.

To date, 85 alumni who attended the school from 1921 to 1948 have been identified. About 15 still live in West Columbia or nearby cities and towns and most were in attendance at the re-opening of the school. With nearly 600 people in there in all, the day kicked off with tours of the museum and school, followed by Gospel music from the Apostolic Church choir, and students from Barrow and West Columbia elementary schools singing songs from the 1920s. A hot dog lunch was donated for the entire crowd, and then the ribbon cutting and rededication began. Representatives from both Lowe’s and the National Trust spoke at the event.

The building is now filled with school furnishings from the 1920’s and will serve as West Columbia’s first children’s museum. The children that have visited are fascinated to see what life was for their great-grandparents’ generation so many years ago.

When Julius Rosenwald dreamed of creating this school building program, he wanted blacks and whites, rich and poor, farmers and bankers to work together to raise money and help to build the schools. I’m so pleased that we have come full circle in 2009 to restore the school. Our entire community has rallied together for this project and Mr. Rosenwald’s vision has been realized, and the building will once again be used to educate our children.

The Columbia Rosenwald School received a $50,000 grant in 2009, part of a larger, $1,000,000 annual donation from Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation to fund historic preservation projects throughout the country. Since 2006, Lowe’s has generously contributed $4M to fund 53 preservation and restoration projects across the country, including 33 Rosenwald School buildings.

Guest blogger, Naomi Smith is a Board Member of the Columbia Historical Museum and served as the Chair of the Columbia Rosenwald Steering Committee.

For more information on the National Trust’s Rosenwald Schools Initiative:

• www.RosenwaldSchools.com
• Lowe’s Preservation Fund
• www.ColumbiaRosenwaldSchool.com
• Columbia Rosenwald School video

Hi from beautiful Boise where fall is providing colder weather, crispy air, warm light, and colorful leaves.    The Boise Architecture Project conducted our annual Fall Architecture Walk a week ago and had a great time.   This year, we decided to focus our walk on buildings that would work for the Idaho State Historical Society’s photo contest, in other words historic government buildings.    Per the contest requirements, these could be currently occupied by government offices or have been originally built or used by government employees.   Seeing as Boise is the capitol, there are a lot of these around our town.   BAP students took some really nice pictures, many of which are pictured for you here.   Of course the best have been entered into the contest and we’ll feature those at later date.    BAP students rocked the contest again this year with 32 entries and some amazing photos.    We hope you enjoy the slide show!

Visitor Center Opening

Last week, at long last, the Villa Finale Visitor Center opened to the public with great fanfare – both natural and manmade! Nearly 300 friends and neighbors turned out to visit, explore our exhibits, and check out the Museum Shop during our opening celebration. We began with a very touching dedication ceremony featuring remarks from a niece of Walter Mathis’s, as well as Jim Vaughan, the Vice President of Historic Sites for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Phil Hardberger, the former mayor of San Antonio. All knew Mr. Mathis and remarked on how proud he would have been to see his dream of a museum beginning to come true.

Following the ceremony, the guests were treated to wonderful food from the Liberty Bar, beer donated Eugene Simor of Alamo Beer, and an excellent selection of wine generously provided by Charles Butt of HEB. King William neighbors joined us as part of their quarterly social, and I think many of them were excited to learn more about their neighborhood and see objects they had loaned to us for the exhibits.

You’ll see additional blog entries about the exhibits and shop shortly, but in the meantime, if you’re in the neighborhood, come check them out! The Visitor Center is located at the corner of Turner and Madison in the King William district, and we’re open from 9:30am – 3:30pm Wednesday-Saturday, and Tuesdays 12:00 – 3:30 pm.

I also want to thank Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros for all she did to facilitate the event, Richard Thompson of Thompson Landscaping for lending us the gorgeous plants for the event, and Josie Fauerso and Joey Fauerso for the flowers. And we couldn’t have done it without Esther Pipoly, Jessie Kardys, Josie Fauerso, Betty Murray Halff, Carolene Zehner, and Alice Lynch, who volunteered their time to help with the planning. In addition to those mentioned above, we also had generous financial support from Dwight Hobart, Frost, and The Howard and Betty Halff Fund.

It was a fantastic night, but what I think I’ll always remember is this:

Weeks ago, while we were planning the event, we went back and forth on whether to rent a tent. They’re not cheap, and we hadn’t had any significant rain in South Texas for many many months. The odds of actually getting rain that day seemed about as good as my winning the lottery – which is pretty impossible since I don’t buy lottery tickets. But rain here is serious business. No polite little drizzle making one want to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea. We’re talking Noah-get-the-ark-because-the-floodwaters-are-rising kind of rain. So we decided not to take any chances. Thanks to the generosity of the Steves Foundation, we rented the tent, and are we ever glad we did!

Just as the dedication ceremony was about to get underway, Hurricane Rick decided to make his appearance. (Hey, who invited that guy?) The roar of the rain on the tent was so loud that the guests couldn’t hear the speakers even with microphones, so we had to move everyone into the building for the speeches. By the time the last speaker finished, we’d received about an inch of rain! Thankfully the rain slowed after that and it turned into a very pleasant evening for all.

For more than a decade, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has worked to preserve the resources of the post-war and modern era and raise awareness of their importance. It’s been a challenging task, even with some long-time preservationists. I have a confession to make—before joining the National Trust Southern Office staff as a field representative for Florida, I was one of them. I liked some modernism, but as a whole it left me cold. Modernism was simply more proof to this historian of the nineteenth century that, with a few exceptions (the Progressive Movement, Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights), the twentieth century was just a big mistake.

That all changed because of Florida. In my work as a field representative there, I have had the opportunity to be inspired by people who helped form the modernist aesthetic in Florida and tutored by those committed to preserving it. Call it my own “Great Awakening.” (Those of you who know the nineteenth century will get this reference.) My awakening is not shared by some in the preservation field and many in the general public, who just “don’t get it.” Some struggle with the aesthetic itself, some with reconciling that, yes, something can be historic even if they remember when it was built or new.

My teachers have included modernist architects Peter Jefferson, Alfred Browning Parker, Hilario Candela and Jorge Hernandez. Parker, in his early 90s, impressed me with both his residential designs and his philosophy of building: 1) Build strongly; 2) Build as directly as possible with no complications; 3) Let your building love its site and glorify its climate; 4) Design for use; make it beautiful. Parker’s homes were designed to take advantage of Florida’s climate. The materials are strong and organic, and his residences seem to have grown on their sites. Not everyone appreciates this. In 2008 his Manus House in Palm Beach was demolished to make way for a “British Colonial style” house. Parker hoped to salvage some materials to use in the house he was building for himself, but the demolition crew arrived first.

Hilario Candela, the architect of Miami Marine Stadium (one of 2008’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places), is a soft spoken but passionate man. A 28-year-old Cuban immigrant when he designed the Stadium, he recently worked with Jorge Hernandez (National Trust trustee and professor of architecture at the University of Miami) and his graduate students to develop creative plans to reopen the Stadium as the centerpiece of a revitalized Virginia Key. With luck and the continuing efforts of Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, I think this story will have a happy ending. Support is widespread—just a few weeks back, Jimmy Buffett called on all parrotheads to help save the stadium.

I’ve been tutored by preservationists as well. In May of this year I was in a car with Kathleen Kauffman (Miami-Dade County Preservation Chief) and Kara Kautz, (Coral Gables Historic Preservation Officer), searching for the Meier house, which the Palm Beach City Council had just declined to landmark, opening the path for demolition. The house wasn’t difficult to find, with its white façade glistening in the hot Palm Beach sun. Why the possible execution order? The owners say it is a “maintenance nightmare” and the architect that designed an addition in 1990 declared, “It’s not the texture of Palm Beach.” Plus, it is a youngster—at only 32, it has not met the 50 year mark that has often been used to determine whether or not a property is historic. The Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission is working to landmark remaining Modernist structures and convince the public that there never has been a “50-year rule.”

I’ve also been taught to appreciate Modernism by grassroots activists, such as Teri D’Amico, an interior designer who coined the term MiMo (Miami Modern). Teri took me on a whirlwind tour of MiMo. Touring the Biscayne Boulevard Historic District in Miami, surrounded by 1950s motels with enticing names like the Vagabond, Motel South Pacific, the Sinbad, the Shalimar and the Stardust, Teri is an enthusiastic ambassador for the recent past. She showed me the interior of the Bianco Motel (formerly the Biscayne Inn), where she is working on a tight budget to bring back the original feel of the room interiors. We drove by the Bacardi Building, which will make even the casual observer turn for a second look, and was recently listed as a local landmark. Then Teri showed me her home, the town of Bay Harbor Islands.

Bay Harbor Islands is a little-known gem of a community, built in 1947 and connected to the mainland via causeway. The West Island holds single-family homes and the East Island multi-family dwellings, public buildings and businesses. Buildings by Igor Polevitzky and Morris Lapidus line the small commercial district, and the West Island is a mix of small “housettes” and impressive apartment buildings. It’s the details that catch your eye—the railings, the use of tile and glass, the stark relief of the sunlight streaming through a white screen block wall into a shaded walkway.

It was that play of light on the Richard Meier house and the architectural elements at Bay Harbor Island that finally made it “click” for me. It’s about the elements, stupid! Modernism for me is more about graphic art and abstraction than about the whole piece. It takes me by surprise with an open space or a sudden curve or a shadow cast. Maybe I’m not the only one. Maybe that’s why some people don’t get modernism—they can’t read the building and they are not appreciating the details.

The National Trust and its partners will continue to educate the public and preservationists about the language of Modernism. And while I’m not ready yet to look at much of the twentieth century’s history, I’m beginning to “get” Modernism, thanks to some special people. Maybe one day it will be familiar enough for me to see a building as a whole and understand the vocabulary of the structure, as I can with Art Deco and Georgian. For now, I’m enjoying the “aha” moments.

Karen Nickless is a field representative in the Southern Office of the National Trust. As a member of the recently formed Modernism + The Recent Past Cross-Trust Team, she is looking forward to learning from her colleagues, especially Chris French, new director of the Trust’s Modernism + The Recent Past Initiative.

Photo by Max van Balgooy (Original Image)

Original windows matter. From dramatic Gothic masterpieces to the colorful details of stained glass, these gems are instrumental in telling the special stories of our older and historic homes and buildings. For this reason (and so many more), we’ve launched a Weatherization Guide to show homeowners how they can hang on to their unique windows and still meet their goals for going green and achieving greater energy efficiency. Each Wednesday, we’ll take that a step further and inject a little TLC into the blogosphere by spotlighting a user-submitted photo of an older or historic window for the world to see.

Bookmark our Weatherization Guide as a resource for making your older or historic home more eco-friendly without compromising its character. Want to give your favorite window a moment in the limelight? Grab your digital camera and join our Love Your Historic Windows photo group on Flickr for a chance to be next week’s spotlight.

The dust is still settling from the National Preservation Conference, and many attendees may still have the distinct sounds of Nashville and its honky-tonks still reverberating in their ears. Aside from the sights and sounds of Music City, this year’s conference saw a wide array of educational sessions, inspiring keynote addresses, and unique field experiences which contributed to what many call one of the best meetings in years. However, it was the networking opportunities at this year’s conference, both planned and impromptu, that I found most beneficial as a Partners in the Field representative.

We field representatives are often referred to as the ones who are working in the trenches in our communities, broadening the base of individuals receiving direct preservation assistance. Being on the front line often requires a “tool bag” of different approaches, strategies, and techniques that can be utilized to address various needs. What is easy to forget in these situations is that more often than not, the needs in our own communities are not vastly different than those occurring in other areas of the nation.

The sessions at this year’s National Preservation Conference allowed field representatives from small and large communities alike to share best practices and discuss the impact of preservation field services on their individual areas. This year’s PiF gatherings were designed as collaboration between newly hired field staff and those of us who have been on the ground since last fall. The meetings allowed for both a refresher for “veteran” Field Representatives and a chance for our new colleagues to hear real world experiences from the field, building a relationship among field staff to candidly discuss the preservation issues affecting our regions.

Covering topics such as reporting practices, utilization of social networking, funding, and effective community outreach, Round 1 Field Representatives shared case studies from their experiences, and provided insight on implementing similar programs throughout the country.

Outside the meeting rooms, PiF representatives were able to expand upon the facilitated discussions and potentially collaborate on future projects. In some instances, field representatives from nearby geographic regions or from the same state are planning to combine their individual resources to create events or programming that will have an even larger impact. These collaborative relationships, fostered by this networking opportunity, are central to the mission of Partners in the Field.

I count myself lucky to be part of such a diverse, energetic, and hard working group of professionals. Our daily experiences may be different, but at the heart of our work are the same challenges and opportunities and the same ultimate goal—expanding and growing the preservation movement to help people save the places that matter.

Justin D. Sanders is the Preservation Field Services Representative at the Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.