Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006010637
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"There's now a preservation organization in nearly every burg in the state to assist preservationists on a local level," says Bruce MacDougal, executive director of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
MacDougal is not complaining. As commercial development increases in the state, more historic property is endangered, he says. That accounts largely for the increase of preservation groups who realize they can't win the total war against bulldozers but savor each individual triumph.
Preservationists count these recent events among their victories:
In 1989, President Reagan authorized Congress to pay between $60 million and $100 million to acquire a 526-acre tract of land next to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Northern Virginia developer John Hazel had planned to build a sprawling shopping, housing and office complex next to the site of the historic Civil War battlefield.
In 1988, the city of Roanoke stepped in and bought four Campbell Avenue buildings from developer James Trinkle for $400,000. Trinkle had planned to demolish the buildings and replace them with a parking lot. The city made an unprecedented move when it bought the buildings to save them from the wrecking ball.
The DiCanio Organization, a real-estate developer from New York state, paid for an archaeological survey of property under development on Virginia's Eastern Shore and uncovered the foundation of the Custis House, where Governor William Berkeley hid during Bacon's Rebellion. Instead of building over the valuable archaeological site - considered to be one of the most significant examples of 17th-century architecture in the state - the developers decided to build around it.
At the forefront of such efforts is a band of dedicated preservationists, volunteer and professional, whose methods range from economic incentives provided by sympathetic governments to the kind of vocal outrage that gains media attention.
A recent preservation ruckus in Richmond made the front page of the Wall Street Journal because of the richness of the situation's ironies. Media General Inc., owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond News-Leader, announced plans to tear down Lockwood, an antebellum house where Robert E. Lee spent four days planning the strategy that saved Richmond from Union capture in 1864.
J. Stewart Bryan III, the vice chairman of Media General, wrote preservationists last December that his company is not in the business of restoring and maintaining historic buildings. Bryan's great-grandmother was the second president of the venerable Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the oldest preservation group in the nation. A battle is brewing.
A unified voice
Roanoke is one of those burgs MacDougal referred to with a newly formed preservation organization.
Chartered two years ago, the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation was created largely through the efforts of three women: Martha Boxley, a professional preservationist who turned to volunteer work when she moved to Roanoke four years ago; Evie Gunter, a Roanoke city planner; and Mitchell Bowden, executive director of the Roanoke Historical Society.
"There were lots of things going on in preservation, but what was lacking was a unified voice," Boxley recalls. "There was a need for an umbrella organization."
Boxley says public education about the value of preservation is a primary function of the foundation. This month, it helped sponsor a week of workshops, receptions and tours. The goals ranged from raising the profile of preservation among public officials to exploring such technical issues as the effect of building codes on the restoration of old buildings.
While the foundation leans heavily toward such educational activities, preservationists have raised some loud voices when certain properties have been threatened - perhaps most prominently in the cliffhanging disposition of the Trinkle buildings. Such high-profile issues sometimes overshadow the foundation's other activities.
"People see preservationists as getting in the way and causing trouble, but that's not what it's about," Boxley says. "We're involved with understanding the community. Then you can make good decisions about development."
Preservationists, city officials and developers all agree that the restoration of the 1908 building at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Market Street on the city market was one of those good decisions. Developers Dave "Mudcat" Saunders and Richard Wells decided to restore the structure, now called MarketPlace Center, in order to be eligible for national tax credits.
The marketability of the building - a conspicuous, disintegrating eyesore on the market until the developers set to work - will be increased because it will add to the historic flavor of the market and bring more business downtown, Saunders says. In cooperation with other developers, he plans to turn the other end of the block, where the Hotel Earle is located, into apartments.
"I'm a preservationist, but I'm not a flaming preservationist," Saunders notes. To illustrate the distinction, he adds: "I think my project should be preserved, but I think the old Norfolk and Western buildings should be dynamited."
The art deco Norfolk Southern office buildings across from Hotel Roanoke are on a site that has been proposed for a convention center - a key to downtown revitalization and the future success of the hotel, some believe. The fate of the office buildings is uncertain, but they could become a preservation issue.
"There's no way a developer could restore those buildings and make them work," Saunders says. "There's not enough land downtown, and those buildings should be lifted from the face of the planet. I'm a Roanoker first and foremost, and I think the valley should move ahead.
"It's easy to say preserve, preserve, preserve when you don't put any money into it," Saunders says.
Sometimes developers and preservationists find themselves in philosophical agreement even when they're likely to wind up on different sides of individual issues.
"You can't save everything. What's important is an awareness of what's significant," says John Kern, director of the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office, a newly formed branch of the state's Department of Historic Resources.
"I think preservation is very important if what is to be preserved is worth saving," says developer James Trinkle. "With some items, the cost doesn't justify saving them. You've got to weigh that with the preservation of the buildings. I'm very much in favor of keeping history if we can do it with good sense."
When any preservation issue arises, money becomes a factor. In the eyes of developers, old buildings can often become obstructions to commercial success.
Preservationists will always be fighting developers because developers' primary interests are financial, MacDougal says.
On the other hand, it costs money to preserve old buildings, a fact the city of Roanoke has acknowledged by offering economic help to those who want to preserve structures in the city's historic districts.
"After Design 79, we started putting money downtown," Gunter says.
Design 79 was a study on the revitalization of the downtown area. The proposal from the out-of-state consulting firm noted that Roanoke's turn-of-the-century architectural charm should be preserved to help support its economic future.
By 1985, the city had developed a comprehensive plan that emphasized capitalizing on Roanoke's assets. Chief among those were old buildings and strongly knit neighborhoods such as Old Southwest, now a designated historic district.
Working with Downtown Roanoke Inc. and the preservation foundation, the city established a $2 million loan program to provide money for restoration at 2 percent below the prime interest rate. Boxley knocked on a lot of bank doors to help raise private money for the loan fund, Gunter says.
The city also provides architectural assistance and a matching grant program for facade restoration.
With strong historical societies in Salem, Vinton and Roanoke, a recently established state preservation office in Roanoke, a preservation foundation and a city government in Roanoke receptive to suggestions, the Roanoke area is in a strong preservation position, Boxley says.
Always a new battle
The preservation movement in Virginia began in 1856 when a band of outraged ladies halted the commercial development of Mount Vernon, the hallowed home of George Washington.
Then in 1889, some equally feisty ladies founded the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities to protect Jamestown, Williamsburg and other shrines of Virginia's beginning years. The private, non-profit organization is still going strong, protecting historic sites that range from the farthest reaches of the Eastern Shore to Smithfield Plantation in Montgomery County.
However, a governor's commission in 1988 found that Virginia was behind some other states in its state-supported preservation efforts. This troubled the commission, considering the wealth of history and historic landmarks in the state - not to mention its economic dependence on huge amounts of tourist dollars.
Among the many recommendations from the commission were the upgrading of the state's preservation agency to department status, a $1.9 million budget increase and the establishment of regional centers such as the one recently landed by the city of Roanoke. The commission's study also reflected the changing nature of the preservation movement.
Once concerned with turning the houses of famous Virginians into shrines, Virginia preservationists are now out to save neon coffee signs, log barns and whole rural landscapes.
The Roanoke Regional Preservation Office may recommend the whole Catawba Valley for historic designation after a survey is completed and details worked out with government officials. The recognition of the importance of preserving aspects of past everyday life gained momentum in the 1960s, MacDougal says. At that time, whole city blocks were being flattened in urban renewal programs, and interstate highways cut indiscriminate swaths through the countryside. Today, accelerated growth is causing a resurgence in preservation efforts across the state.
By the year 2007, when the nation celebrates the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, development will have wiped out much of the archaeological evidence of the early years of the colony, MacDougal says.
Meanwhile, a preservation crisis is brewing in Roanoke, as plans take shape to expand Roanoke City's Centre for Industry and Technology into a historic landscape that includes Bellmont, the colonial home of Col. William Fleming; Monterey, an 1845 house; and Fleming's cabin.
"It's an oasis of history and open spaces in the city limits," Boxley says.
But she notes that the city has listened to the concerns of preservationists and that the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office is studying the area to see what can be done to preserve its integrity.
But this particular conflict between development and historic preservation could serve as a textbook example of how few easy answers there are in most preservation issues.
"Roanoke City has economic development needs. We need to expand our base for technology and employment," Gunter says. "And this is one of the most significant areas in Roanoke. We're looking for alternatives."
Other ongoing preservation issues in Roanoke include the rehabilitation of Jefferson High School, the revitalization of Henry Street and the fate of First Baptist Church.
Preservationists and city officials hope to put these landmarks back to work. But the path from a tumble-down structure to a renovated and reusable building is marked by compromises among government officials, developers, investors and preservationists.
"In any kind of preservation thing, there are trade-offs," Gunter says.
by CNB