NEW CASTLE READY TO BE DECLARED HISTORIC

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993                   TAG: 9301150004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                LENGTH: Medium
NEW CASTLE READY TO BE DECLARED HISTORIC
No difficulty is expected in winning approval for expansion of the town's Historic District boundary during a state hearing next month.
The state Review Board of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will meet Feb. 16 in Richmond to consider a proposal that would expand New Castle's historic district to 45 buildings in a 55-acre area.
The town's current historic district consists of only five buildings in two or three blocks of the central downtown.
The time and place of the meeting in Richmond has not yet been determined, but the Review Board will consider nominating the expanded district for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
At a public hearing in New Castle last week about 25 town residents did not express any objections to the proposal.
John Kern, director of the Roanoke Regional Historic Preservation Office, said there were many questions concerning details of the expansion but no objections.
It is likely to be May or June before final action is taken on the national registration, he said.
Kern said that people in the town are "pretty well familiar" with the proposal because it has been discussed at hearings before the Craig County Historical Society and the New Castle Town Council.
Leslie Giles, the preservation office's architectural historian, said earlier that the county courthouse, the Old Brick Hotel, the Layman Building, Farmers and Merchants Bank building and the building housing First National Bank, all on Main Street, have historic designations. The expansion would take in nearly all of downtown and will extend along Virginia 42 to include the Nathanial Spessard House, known as "The Castle."
A historical designation would not place restrictions on property owners, Giles said. Owners would be able to sell, add to or alter the properties as they wish but they would be encouraged to maintain the original historic appearance.
A historical designation is viewed mainly as an educational tool to help people become more aware of the historic value in the community, Giles said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB