ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603220094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 22, 1996.
A graphic about the comet Hyakutake in Thursday's paper contained an
incorrect World Wide Web address. The correct one is is
http://www.skypub.com/comets/hyaku3.html.
A STRETCH OF DOWNTOWN lined with old buildings has been added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
Scaggs Barber Shop, Tarpley's and Mac's appliance store and a multitude of antique shops in historic buildings give an old-fashioned feel to East Main Street in downtown Salem, and now it's official.
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources on Wednesday made about a six-block stretch along East Main Street a historic district. It will be listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
The district roughly spans the area between Clay and Calhoun streets on the north and south, and between College Avenue and Chestnut Street on the east and west.
It includes the old Roanoke County Courthouse, Salem Presbyterian Church, the old Post Office and The Post House. Some of the sites within the district are listed individually as state and national landmarks.
``I hope [the district] will instill a greater sense of pride for the property owners,'' said Dave Robbins, president of the Salem Historical Society and member of the city's Planning Commission. ``I think it's a real boon for our city.''
Robbins said he will work with the Virginia Department of Transportation to get a sign posted along Interstate 81 to lure travelers into the historic district.
Planning Director Joe Yates said the city probably will erect a plaque to identify the boundaries of the district.
Rev. Robert Copenhaver of St. Paul's Episcopal Church said he hopes the new historic designation will foster an awareness of the need to preserve the buildings in downtown Salem.
St. Paul's, built in 1918, has purchased and preserved another historic building, known as The Post House. The building is the oldest existing structure documented in Salem, Copenhaver said. Among other uses, it was a way station where travelers could pick up mail and get a night's rest.
The church uses the building for its offices and parish library. Both the church and The Post House are in the historic district.
For downtown property owners whose building are 50 or more years old, the historic district will bring more than just a name.
For Crippen Tarpley, for example, the district could mean a federal tax credit if he ever decides to renovate his historic building.
He moved his business, Tarpley's Appliance & TV, there in the 1950s. Before that, he remembers seeing the building used as a clothing store when he was a child in the 1920s. Tarpley has sold the business. It is now called Tarpley's and Mac's Inc.
Property owners who renovate would have to follow federal architectural standards to qualify for the tax credit.
Planning Director Yates said downtown merchants who don't apply for the tax credit will not be forced to meet federal architectural regulations.
The city tried to enforce architectural standards for downtown buildings by establishing an Architectural Review Board in 1970. But when the board began to crack down, many people cried foul.
Four years later, at the request of the board itself, City Council abolished it.
The board's chairman at the time, Clyde Dickens, said it wasn't fair to regulate merchants on Main Street but not those elsewhere in the city.
Before applying for the historic district about a year ago, Salem held two public hearings and several meetings with downtown merchants. Yates said there was no opposition.
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources also gave historic district and landmark status to two other Roanoke-area sites Wednesday.
It approved The Coffee Pot on Brambleton Avenue as a historic landmark, gave historic district status to the Cahas Mountain Rural Historic District in Franklin County.
A map in Thursday's paper showing the newly designated historic district in Salem misplaced three buildings. The police department was mislocated and the sites of the Post House and the Old Post Office were switched.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Salem officials and others hope thatby CNBofficial recognition of the downtown's historic value will attract
tourists and also encourage pride and preservation its old
buildings. color. GRAPHIC: Map