Finalists have been chosen for the James B. Recchie Awards in Columbus, and as in past years, a preservation-based project is included.

The Recchie Awards promote excellence in urban design, and are awarded annually by the Columbus Landmarks Foundation for developments that, according to the organizations’ website, attain “…an exceptional level of quality and workmanship.” The 2005 Recchie Award winner was the I-670 cap, pictured here.

According to this story in the Columbus Dispatch, this year’s finalists include the Berry Brothers Bolt Works building in Italian Village, a historic adaptive reuse project. The transformation of manufacturing space into offices retained much of the fabric and feel of the original building.

Also included as nominees are the Loann Crane Center for Design at the Columbus College of Art and Design, New Village Homes and the North Bank Park and Pavillion – home of last year’s Recchie Awards ceremony.

The general public can comment on the finalists and also cast their vote by visiting the website of the Columbus Landmarks Foundation.

Photo Credit: I-670 Cap, Downtown Columbus/paytonc/Creative Commons License

As a brand-new feature on MyHometownOhio, each Tuesday we will direct you to news articles, blog postings and websites that feature some aspect of Ohio preservation and revitalization. If you have items that you would like us to share with our readership in this section, please drop us an email.

Monday’s Mansfield News Journal included a front-page story on the proposed Woodland Historic Preservation District, which we profiled last week.

Progress Through Preservation, the local preservation organization in Akron, recently launched their new website.

There is some hope…just a glimmer… for the Kaufmann Brewery building in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district, according to this story in this past weekend’s Cincinnati Business Courier. The Kaufmann building was included in the 2005 list of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites.

Save the date for the 2006 Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit, to be held on November 2 in Reynoldsburg.

The Knox County Memorial Theater in Mount Vernon is nearing completion of a $725,000 restoration project. Mount Vernon is also home to the Woodward Opera House, which bills itself as ‘America’s Oldest Authentic Nineteenth-Century Theater.”

Speaking of theaters, would you like to see a good movie and support the preservation of a historic opera house at the same time? During the remainder of September, the Hayesville Opera House in Ashland County is featuring the movies “Barnyard” and “How to Eat Fried Worms.”

August 24 brought the arrival of America’s newest retail lifestyle center, right here in Ohio.

The Greene is located in Beavercreek, just east of Dayton.  Its size is monumental – even though it is but the first phase of a two-phase project.  With a one-time construction impact of over $350 million, the total complex will include 1.5 million square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment facilities (according to the website of developers Steiner & Associates), which in turn will purportedly generate 3,000 jobs and $23 million in local taxes.

Retail lifestyle centers still hold sway across the country as the development of choice for upscale retail.  In Ohio, developments such as Crocker Park in Cleveland and Easton Town Center in Columbus (another Steiner project) have proven to be successful at attracting upper class and upper-middle class consumers, drawn to the collections of unique shops and attractions.  At their core, of course, retail lifestyle centers are very similar to the downtowns of old – the locations are compact and easily-walkable, there are street vendors, trolleys, and other amenities that encourage social intercourse and, of course, they draw visitors with spendable cash.

This comparison is no accident.  Take a look at the second floor windows at Easton Town Center, for instance – in many locations they have been bricked in, creating a false but deliberate suggestion of age.  Consider this quote from The Greene’s new general manager, as quoted in the website referred to above:

“As we all anticipated, the people of Dayton have been coming in large numbers to experience the ‘Main Street’ atmosphere that The Greene offers," he said. "Their excitement to first see this project has grown to become an ongoing desire to return to a true place — one that provides a memorable experience to which one wants to revisit and relive."

The major difference between such "new downtowns" and traditional downtowns centers on unified promotion and services.  At The Greene, which is owned by a single entity, retailers will likely find uniform store hours and promotion written into leases, and services such as snow removal are included in higher rent.  Cities seeking to revitalize aging downtowns in the area, on the other hand, face the need to build consensus among dozens of property owners.

It bears stating, of course, that the manager could not be more wrong.  The Greene is not a "true place" at all -- it is a made-up, make believe location.  Its patina of age is exactly that, a facade designed to suggest something which it is not.  And The Greene will thrive, in large part, because of the difficulties it will cause for "true places" named Fairborn, Piqua, Troy, Springfield, Washington Court House, Wilmington and, of course, Dayton --all of which have aging downtowns that desperately need re-investment.  As such, it represents a particularly imprudent use of public funds that will actually serve to depress a region, not enhance it.

That said, there are lessons to learn from The Greene and its cousins, if communities want to retain their downtowns as centers of commerce.  Consumers love shopping where there is a wide variety of goods, where store hours are uniform, where the walk from the car to the shop is full of things to entice the eye and ear, and where signage is clear and directions easy to follow.

Photo Credit:  The Greene, Beavercreek-Dayton/twisesq/Creative Commons License

That’s the question being asked in many locations in the country, as the modernist architecture of mid-20th century America faces an uncertain future.

Long an art form that has engendered apathy even among some preservation purists, post-World War II commercial architecture has a difficult time capturing public attention. This is unfortunate, as many wonderful examples of representative styles are easy targets for demolition.

Such is the case in Cleveland, as this recent column by Cleveland Plain Dealer architecture critic Steven Litt points out. The column is entitled “Public should speak up before tower comes down.”

The building in question is a work by architect Marcel Breuer, who was born in Hungary in 1902, and became one of the world’s greatest masters of the “International” style. His designs include the Whitney Museum in New York City, St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, and the UNESCO Headquarters Building in Paris, France. His work was responsible for fueling the decline of the pre-World War Bauhaus style into a style which sought to combine arts and technology, later known as “Brutalism.”

The proposed demolition in the 29-story Breuer-designed tower in Cleveland is part of a major project undertaken by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners.

According to Mr. Linn’s piece, the Cleveland Restoration Society and the Urban Design Collaborative of Kent State University are working to encourage consideration of renovating the landmark tower.

Click here to access the Wikipedia article on Marcel Breuer.

Photo Credit:  Endangfered Marcel Breuer-designed tower, Cleveland/Used with permission

Proponents of a new historic district in the City of Mansfield are finding themselves in the midst of intense public discussion and debate.

The proposal calls for the establishment of a historic overlay district in the Woodland area of Mansfield, an area of large brick and frame houses initially laid out in the 1920s. The neighborhood contains the “House of Tomorrow,” a prototype house built and furnished by the Westinghouse Company with a full range of then-modern 1930s appliances. Mansfield already has three residential historic districts, as well as the very new Central Park Historic District in the middle of downtown.

Opponents of the measure, as covered in this story in the Mansfield News Journal, have cited traditional objections to preservation ordinances, including a fear of intrusive restrictions and the belief that private property should not be regulated. In response, district proponents have launched a website in support of the proposed ordinance, including documentation of increased property values in existing districts (with a very interesting and insightful map), a complete list of current districts and guidelines, and a list of frequently asked questions (and answers).

The matter remains under active consideration by the City of Mansfield Historic Preservation Commission.

Photo Credit: Reed's Building, Central Park Historic District, Mansfield/Preservation Ohio File Photo

On September 29, Ohio’s statewide preservation organizations, joined by representatives from local communities, are meeting in Columbus for the 2006 Ohio Historic Schools Summit.

The purpose of the event is to review the past five years of projects under the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission program, and in particular the fate of Ohio’s traditional and older school buildings in that process. In communities across the Buckeye State, in large urban centers to small rural crossroads, schools were often objects of substantial community pride and were among the most important public buildings ever constructed. Unfortunately, many have been now been lost due to a system which is skewed in favor of new buildings, as well Ohio’s arcane laws on disposition of vacated school facilities.

If your community has been involved in efforts to preserve older school buildings, either for continued use as educational facilities or for another use, or if your community is facing the possible loss of a school building, please contact Preservation Ohio for Summit information at: info@preservationohio.org.

Photo: McKinley Public School, Cincinnati/firesign/Creative Commons License

We take a step out of the routine today, and focus instead, on this 5th anniversary of September 11, on a national story -- the sole remaining above-ground remnant of the World Trade Center. The “Survivors’ Staircase” is a powerful reminder of that infamous day. Hundreds of persons ran up these stairs to safety from Tower 2 that fateful morning in the minutes before the building’s collapse.

The staircase serves as an illustration of the power of tangible artifacts to connect us with the past – even, in this case, a painful one. Through brick, stone and glass, these landmarks connect us with our ancestors in ways that no words can do. We can touch them, interact with them, and the past becomes real.

Unfortunately, the future of the Survivors’ Staircase is anything but certain. The site developer has been silent on its fate, despite the work of the World Trade Center Survivors’ Network to promote its preservation. Even though a remnant of the recent past, the magnitude of its significance caused the National Trust for Historic Preservation to name the staircase to its List of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

Now, the Trust has found a way for you to help. By clicking here, you can visit the Trust website and there sign a petition to preserve the Survivors’ Staircase – and also read about the ongoing efforts to safeguard the future of this unique and powerful piece of American history.

Photo Credit: Survivors' Staircase, World Trade Center Site, New York City/roniweb/Creative Commons License

Southwest Ohio’s historic opera houses were the subject of a recent story in the Dayton Daily News.

The story features ongoing restoration/renovation projects involving opera houses in Covington (Miami County), Germantown (Montgomery County), Camden (Preble County), Jamestown (Greene County), Cedarville (Greene County), and Clifton (Clark/Greene Counties).  In each, restoration efforts have been found to be an effective way to link communities with local and regional heritage tourism efforts.  Also included is a chart detailing the current status of opera house buildings in 15 communities, which includes the date of construction, whether or not the building is currently open to the public, and other interesting facts.

One of the most ambitious and important opera house renovation projects is currently underway in nearby Hillsboro (Highland County), involving the magnificent Bell’s Opera House, which opened in 1895. When the last performance at Bell’s occurred decades ago, officials literally “turned out the lights” and walked away; when restoration was first considered years later, ticket stubs were still located in the ticket office. The property is in amazingly original condition. The Bell’s effort is the flagship project of the new Highland Community Preservation Group (HCPG), under a 10-year restoration plan.

Click here to visit the website of the HCPG.

Photo Credit: Bell's Opera House, Hillsboro/sethgaines/Creative Commons License