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Steven
McQuillin & Associates, Preservation Consultants Fall/Winter 2007 |
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Groups Gain
Support in Effort to Save Ohio County Courthouse |
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Seneca County Courthouse
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Saving the Seneca County
Courthouse in Tiffin has gained support from the
Toledo Blade and even Governor Ted Strickland's
office has said it is willing to help broker a
solution that could lead to the preservation of
this 1884 landmark designed by famous state
capitol architect Elijah E. Myers. Last year,
county commissioners voted to demolish this
landmark, in spite of studies demonstrating the
feasibility of rehabilitating the vacated
structure for county operations and the lack of a
viable building plan to pay for demolition and new
construction at its site. Since that time, the
Tiffin Historic Trust has launched a challenge to
the commissioners' action, |
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claiming it violated Ohio's sunshine law and the
state's supreme court has overruled a challenge,
enabling the suit to proceed. A moratorium is now
in effect until March 18, 2008. Meanwhile, a
commissioner supporting demolition was defeated by
a new commissioner who has become an ardent
champion of the building.
The Tiffin Historic Trust has waged an inspiring
campaign to save this landmark. Last month, Stan
Graves came to Tiffin and gave an impressive talk
about the courthouse preservation program in
Te.'\as that has resulted in restoration of many
of that state's historic courthouses. Jackie
Fletcher has tirelessly written and spoken on the
subject and, along with Preservation Ohio,
Heritage Ohio, and the Ohio Historic Preservation
Office, held a courthouse summit in Tiffin. While
the future of this building is by no means secure,
progress is being made and the remarkable efforts
of these dedicated preservationists in Tiffin are
raising awareness for courthouse preservation
throughout the state. It is hoped that a special
grants program, based on the Texas model. could be
created here in Ohio, and/or that Ohio's recently
enacted preservation tax credit legislation can be
amended to specifically permit county governments
to use this new 25% subsidy. |
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Cleveland's
Breuer Tower May be Sold, Developed Privately |
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The 29-story Cleveland Trust Tower designed by noted Early
Modern architect Marcel Breuer may have a future after all.
It had been acquired along with other buildings of the
former Cleveland Trust or AmeriTrust headquarters at the
southeast corner of Euclid Ave. and East 9th St. in downtown
Cleveland by Cuyahoga county as the site of a proposed new
county office complex. The future of that project is now in
doubt and recently County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora. who
previously had supported demolition of the tower, has said
he is open to receiving proposals from developers for the
site.
Plans by the county to tear down this 1971 tower, hailed by
preservationists and architectural historians as Breuer's
only tall building. created considerable controversy,
including an article earlier this year in the New York
Times. Claiming the building had an inefficient design.
based in part on the original plan that this would be one of
a pair of towers linked by a
common service core. two of the three commissioners voted to
demolish the tower, over strong initial objections from the
Cleveland City Planning Commission. and opposition from the
Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects
and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Cleveland
architect David Ellison has led a group opposed to
demolition and architect Anthony Hiti has given a series
informative talks about the building and the significance
01' Marcel Breuer. Commissioner Peter Lawson |
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Jones.
who has opposed demolition. has become an articulate
spokesman for historic preservation. The improved outlook
for the Breuer Tower is due largely to escalating costs of
plans to demolish the tower and construct a new building in
its place plus the need for the county to fund other more
urgent projects. A quarter percent increase in the county
sales tax was
enacted by the commissioners earlier this year to help fund
not only the county government center, but also a new and
much needed juvenile court facility. Also planned was a new
convention center downtown. But, in recent months. a
movement has grown to establish a medical convention
facility alongwith a new
convention center with the expectation that this could
catapult Cleveland to the forefront of the rapidly growing
medical technology industry. With two major medical centers
and a convenient location. Cleveland has the potential to
become a national center for the display of medical
technology that could yield thousands of new visitors.
Recognizing the great importance of these other projects
versus the laudable but more modest benefits of having
county operations united under a single roof Commissioner
Dimora's statements suggest the project may not happen after
all. Further, Dimora's suggestion that the historic Halle
Building might be a good location for county offices and the
emergence of the landmark Higbee Building as a prime
location for the new medical convention center arc welcome
news for preservationists. |
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Cleveland Trust Site
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New Cleveland VA Center Includes
Historic Preservation |
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As part of a move to consolidate veterans' facilities at
Cleveland and Brecksville to a single center in the
University Circle neighborhood. the Department of Veterans'
Affairs has contracted with Veterans' Development to
construct a complex on a block bounded by East Boulevard,
E.105th St. and Wade Park A venue, across the street from
their current center. Because the project is within the
city's East Boulevard Historic District and some of the
properties are listed on or eligible for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places, Steven McQuillin &
Associates are serving as preservation consultants on this $
J 00 million project.
Working for Kaczmar Architects and the Krill
Construction Company, McQuillin's firm completed
documentation and assessment on properties proposed for
demolition. Summer intern Ryan Nagel performed historical
research and Project Supervisor Ryan P. Donohue coordinated
site work.
The most significant historic property on the site.
University Tower. will be rehabilitated as elderly housing
as part of this project. This seven-story brick and
limestone Neoclassically-styled structure has a gracefully
curving front elevation that faces Rockefeller Park. It was
built It in J 921 from designs by architect Max Weis and was
originally the Sovereign Hotel an upscale residential hotel.
Famicos Foundation, the neighborhood development
organization, will be overseeing this rehabilitation. Three
older flat-type apartment buildings dating from the 1910s
have been demolished. Previously owned by Famicos, these
properties were the target of efforts to redevelop them as
market-rate housing, but economic factors prevented the
project's realization. With the buildings standing vacant
and deteriorated for some years, demolition was the only
viable option. Two of the buildings had magnificent
pedimented sandstone entrances plus sandstone carving
elsewhere on their front elevations.
Ryan Donohue supervised and documented the careful
salvage of these entrances and building elements, handled by
VIP Restoration. Kaczmar Architects. in consultation with
the Cleveland Landmarks Commission and the East Boulevard
Design Review\\ Committee, has designed a new housing
facility for veterans. known as a domiciliary. that will be
erected in their place. This carefully scaled and detailed
facility respects the character of the historic district and
will re-use the historic stoneˇ entrances that have been
salvaged. These will become features of recessed landscaped
courtyards and will be sited near their original locations
1~lcing onto East Boulevard. Other elements \\ill be
integrated into the new\\ landscape. The Cleveland Landmarks
Commission commenced this salvage work in their review of
the project.
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Elevation of the
Magnolia apartment building, as drawn by Kazcmar Architects
Ryan Nagel (left)
and Ryan Donohue, during their work this past summer on the
VA project
Photo of Magnolia
apartments, taken just prior to its disassembly |
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A medical office tower is being planned adjacent to
University Tower and will he of similar height and massing
to the historic building. Kaczmar Architects, according to
the Commission, has done an excellent job of creating a
building that is contemporary in character but yet relates
well to the existing architecture. It has the potential to
become the most attractive modern building in the VA
complex.
The East 150th Street side of the project contained two
flat-type turn of the 20th century apartment buildings that
were National Register-eligible, but due to their
deteriorated conditions, having been abandoned for years,and
obsolete plans, could not feasibly be saved. Elements of the
Marchand apartments were carefully salvaged for reuse as
landscape elements. By far the biggest salvage operation
involved the Magnolia apartments. This transitional
Richardsonian Romanesque building featured massive
rock-faced sandstone archways forming an imposing front
porch highlighted by a pair of pyramidal towers and accented
yellow brick with red mortar joints. Magnolia salvage
consisted of carefully takung down each of thc six sandstone
arches, plus all of thc stonc copings, multi-paned window
sash, columns and roof rafters such that the entire front
section can be accurately reconstructed.
The Magnolia reconstruction will be an exciting project.
recalling an important aspect of the area's history, aiding
the previously planned rehabilitation of the block north of
here and keeping some sense that this massive new
construction project is being carefully woven into the
fabric of this historic neighborhood. Reconstruction of the
front section had been proposed as a bus shelter, but the
hope is that a planned commercial development along E. 105th
St., designed to shield 1he massive 9-level parking garage
at the center of this complex, will permit a more extensive
reconstruction of the Magnolia for use as part of the retail
component. |
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Former
Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh to be Rehabilitated |
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Steven McQuillin performed a review of
a factory complex in Pittsburgh to evaluate its eligibility
for the National Register of historic places and potential
for use of the federal rehabilitation tax credit. The Fort
Pitt Bedding Company was founded in 1906 as one of the
nation's earlier companies to begin manufacture of modern
innerspring mattresses and erected a massive factory complex
at 150I Preble Avenue in Pittsburgh shortly thereafter. This
4 to 6-story brick and heavy timber complex is a
characteristic example of early 20th century larger scale
industrial architecture.
The history of bedding begins with raised platforms
observed thousands of years ago during the Neolithic period.
Sacks stuffed with straw and later cotton or wool were used
until the mid 19th century, when the steel coil spring was
first patented. The first steel coil for bedding was
patented in 1865 and six
from
this location along the Ohio River, |
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northwest
of the downtown. At its height the Fort Pitt Bedding company
employed 180 people in this complex. Along with 24 other
companies distributed around the county, Fort Pitt Bedding
bought out the Scaly Mattress Company of Texas and became
part of that mattress empire. During World War II, the
factory produced items for the war effort, but closed a
number of years ago.
Plans are to transform the complex into offices and possibly
apartments. Its location affords line rooftop views of the
Ohio River and the downtown Pittsburgh skyline. The cxposed
brick of interior walls and the full-height wood ceilings
accented by massive beams and thick heavy columns combine
with the unusually large window opening to provide a sought-aftcr
loft character for this complex. Pittsburgh's Strip
District. along the south bank of the Allegheny river east
of downtown, has developed into a revitalized industrial
area highlighted by |
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the
Heinz History Center. but this part of town rcmains largely
industrial. It adjoins the Manchester National Register
Historic District. a mid to late nineteenth century
residential area.
Fort Pitt Bedding Company, Pittsburgh |
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Oberlin
College Renovates Greek Revival Mansion |
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One of Lorain County's more imposing Greek Revival
residences will be rehabilitated for use by a
community music school. Oberlin College plans to
open the Oberlin Community Music School in the
Burrell-King House 317 East College Street in
Oberlin by early next year. The property was
recently donated to the college by the Oberlin
Heritage Center and a grant of $1 00.000 was
received from the Nord Family Foundation to assist
in renovations. Founded in 2003, the Community
Music School is a pre-collegiate music instruction
program operated by the Conservatory of Music. It
has operated in borrowed and rented facilities. Director Andrea McAlister says the school was
founded on the principle that quality music
education should be available to everyone and
envisions its location in this
prominent mansion as a means of increasing its
visibility and effectiveness.
Jabez Lyman Burrell built this unusually large brick
Greek Revival style
Photo courtesy of
the Oberlin Heritage Center
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residence in 1852 on spacious grounds some distance from the village of
Oberlin. Son of early settlcr Jabez Burrell of
nearby Shefficld, Burrell raised line beef cattle
on surrounding acres, enjoyed substantial wealth
and was an ardent abolitionist. He was a
benefactor of the freedman's movement after the
Civil War and donated valuable property to Oberlin
College. including gifting this house in 1882.
Several years later. the college sold the property
to Henry Churchill King, who later served as
president of Oberlin College, from 1902-27.
The house features magnificent proportions,
massive wood trim and large elegant windows. It is
built of solid loadbearing masonry with a massive
hand-hewn wood roof structure. Its original
section is a large cube but a long, lower
two-story rear wing was added, most likely soon
after the original construction. Prcsident King
added the curving front balcony, third floor
dormers. spacious side porches and a porte cochere.
He also had the interiors remodeled in the
Georgian Revival slylc. It became a social center
of the college during King's long term as
president.
In 1974 the house was acquired by the Nordson
Foundation and a day care center was built behind
thc house. An old frame carriage barn is southwest
of the house. The propcrty was nominatcd to the
National Rcgister of Historic
Places by Steven McQuillin, who graduated Irom
Oberlin in 1975. He recently met with college
officials to discuss rehabilitation plans and
potential funding sources. |
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New
York State Tax Incentives Subject of McQuillin
Lecture to Landmark West Organization
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Landmark West!, a preservation organization
that promotes historic preservation in
Manhattan's Upper West Side, hosted Steven
McQuillin for a conference on historic
preservation held October 15. New York
State's recently enacted preservation
legislation was the subject of McQuillin's
lunchtime talk, held in a magnificently
restored brownstone on West 83rd Street. New
York now has state tax credits lor
homeowners and for income-producing
properties. The 20%. homeowner tax credit is
currently limited to distressed or lower
income neighborhoods as determined by the
community and is capped at $25,000. Thc
commercial tax credit is 5% or the costs of
construction and may be used in conjunction
with the 20% federal rehabilitation tax
credit. The maximum credit is $ 100,000. New
York also offers the frst-in-the-nation
facade easement that provides a reduction in
local property taxes of up to $25,000 per
year. These somewhat modest incentives may
be expanded considerably. This summer the
New York Senate approved a bill that would
lift the low income neighborhood provision
from the residential tax credit and would
lift the cap and raise the tax credit up to
20% for commercial projects. McQuillin's
talk was directed at realtors marketing
historic properties and
representing potential buyers of historic
buildings. plus realtors representing
business investors.
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College of Wooster
Explores Rehabilitation of Historic Dormitories |
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Babcock
Hall, College of Wooster
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This past October Ryan Nagel and Steve McQuillin met with College of
Wooster officials to discuss the possible use of federal and state
preservation tax credits to assist in funding the |
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buildings that
feature buff brick and cut limestone terra cotta trim. Each is
crowned by a massive English-tiled gabled roof. The buildings are in
need of repairs and updated infrastructure but arc still use as
dormitories.
The College of Wooster has a historic central campus
that is on the north side of the City of Wooster. Founded in 1866,
the college was housed during its early years in a massive brick
Second Empire style building that was destroyed by fire in 1901.
Lansing C. Holden, brother of the college's president, designed a
series of Collegiate Gothic style buildings such as Kauke Hall to
replace the destroyed old buildings. These initial buildings formed
a theme of buff brick trimmed in terra cotta or stone that was used
in a somewhat simplified form on various dormitories. |
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The college recently renovated Kauke Hall, replacing
discordant modern windows and removing some dropped ceilings to
bring back more of the building's original character.
Wooster's campus was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1980 under a nomination prepared by George
Siekinen, Jr., former Ohio Regional Preservation Officer and
presently senior architect far the National Trust for Historic
Places.
The Ohio Preservation Tax Credit can provide an important new
source of funds for colleges seeking to renovate their dormitories.
As income-producing properties, they~ are eligible for this credit
and the federal credit for a total subsidy of 45% of the costs of
rehabilitation, provided tax exempt bond financing is not used and
the institution establishes a Limited. Liability Company to
syndicate the tax credits. |
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Avon School May be
Saved, Detroit Road Scenic Byway Achieved |
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Halsey
Garfield House
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This past October Ryan Nagel and Steve McQuillin met with College of
Wooster officials to discuss the possible use of federal and state
preservation tax credits to assist in funding the rehabilitation of
two historic dormitories there. Babcock and Douglas
halls are early 20th century Collegiate Gothic style buildings that
feature buff brick and cut |
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limestone terra cotta trim. Each is
crowned by a massive English-tiled gabled roof. The buildings are in
need of repairs and updated infrastructure but arc still use as
dormitories.
The College of Wooster has a historic central campus
that is on the north side of the City of Wooster. Founded in 1866,
the college was housed during its early years in a massive brick
Second Empire style building that was destroyed by fire in 1901.
Lansing C. Holden, brother of the college's president, designed a
series of Collegiate Gothic style buildings such as Kauke Hall to
replace the destroyed old buildings. These initial buildings formed
a theme of buff brick trimmed in terra cotta or stone that was used
in a somewhat simplified form on various dormitories. The college recently renovated Kauke
Hall, replacing discordant modern |
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windows and removing some dropped ceilings to
bring back more of the building's original character.
Wooster's campus was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1980 under a nomination prepared by George
Siekinen, Jr., former Ohio Regional Preservation Officer and
presently senior architect far the National Trust for Historic
Places.
The Ohio Preservation Tax Credit can provide an important new
source of funds for colleges seeking to renovate their dormitories.
As income-producing properties, they~ are eligible for this credit
and the federal credit for a total subsidy of 45% of the costs of
rehabilitation, provided tax exempt bond financing is not used and
the institution establishes a Limited. Liability Company to
syndicate the tax credits. |
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