There may be several reasons why a number of owners of older residences have taken to chronicling the joys and challenges of home renovation online. It may be simple pride of ownership and the thrill of sharing their passion. On the other hand, it may have to do with the sense that through posting such stories, old house owners can benefit from mutual support and can share difficult lessons learned.

Fortunately, many of these blogs have now been brought together in a single location. Houseblogs.net bills itself as containing “home improvement stories for the dwelling obsessed.” The website allows individual house owners to post their own blogs in a central location, and also to engage in conversations on topics relating to practical renovation questions. These blogs are often fascinating reads, with interesting anecdotes and fantastic “before and after” photos. Not surprisingly, many of them are very humorous… apparently such efforts and a good sense of humor go hand-in-hand (the latter undoubtedly helps with the former).

Among those posting their stories are over 20 Ohioan “housebloggers,” whose properties include an American Foursquare in Columbus’ Old Towne East, an 1845 rambling brick farmhouse in rural Dayton, and many others.

To access houseblogs.net, click here. To view the Ohio houseblogging contingent, click here.

We at Preservation Ohio recently discovered a new tool which provides a dynamic way to view your historic downtown or neighborhood.

Through programs such as Google Maps, MapQuest and others, it has now become easy to access maps of every square inch of Ohio. Increasingly, these programs now also provide aerial views of your community taken from satellite – some so detailed that it is actually possible to view cars in driveways and pedestrians on the street. Unfortunately, not all of Ohio can be viewed with this level of detail, unlike states such as Massachusetts and Indiana which have been completely documented in this fashion.

As wonderful as those aerial satellite views are, they pale in comparison to the new “Bird’s eye” feature of Microsoft’s Windows Live Local. For many cities and rural areas of Ohio, aerial photos are now available taken at very close range, with remarkable detail and clarity. And, in almost all cases, it is actually possible to rotate the image, and to view a scene from all four directions.

A short list of communities and counties that can now be viewed in this fashion include the following:

Hamilton, Middletown, Oxford and all of Butler County
Springfield
Cincinnati/Hamilton County
Lebanon
Dayton/Montgomery County
London
Washington Court House
Xenia
Greenfield
Chillicothe
Alliance
Youngstown
Warren
Cleveland/Cuyahoga County
Lorain
Oberlin
Wellington
Columbus/Franklin County
Delaware
Bowling Green
Toledo/Lucas County
Sandusky/Kellys Island
Elyria

You now have a unique (and free) ability to take a close-up view of many corners of historic Ohio from the comfort of your own home or office. Simply visit Windows Live Local (click here or visit maps.live.com), enter the city and state in the search box, zoom to the area of town you would like to view using the plus/magnifying glass on the left of the map, and click “Bird’s eye” in the top menu. You can then use your cursor to stroll through town – and can zoom in closer using the same magnifying glass icon.  The photo above is of downtown Lebanon, including the famed Golden Lamb.

One word of caution, however – the Bird’s eye view on Windows Live Local is extremely addictive. You have been warned.

Photo:  Downtown Lebanon -- Windows Live Local

Ohio’s historic resources come in all forms … buildings, to be sure, but also archeological sites, battlefields, statuary and other public art, and…. steps (or stairs, if you prefer).

The history of Cincinnati is uniquely tied to its location, both its presence on the Ohio River as well as its topography. It is said that the city, like Rome, was built on seven hills – however there are at present at least fifteen “hills” and nine “mounts” in the names of Queen City neighborhoods. Regardless of where those seven hills might actually lie, it is unquestioned that the history of Cincinnati has been a hilly one.

And, for a city built on hills, there comes the inevitable need to go up and down. Over the last 200 years, therefore, the city has developed a remarkable collection of steps and stairs. Many of these were undertaken as public works projects, connecting one neighborhood or area with another.

Now, through the use of an online mashup (mashups are websites that actually combine feeds or tools from two or more differing sites), the steps of Cincinnati are being identified and photographed. “Cincinnati Hillside Steps” now features at least 140 sets of steps… some open, others closed, and still others missing. Visitors to the site can click on an icon positioned on a Google Map, which in turn brings up a window with photograph(s) or a given flight of steps. Some are relatively short; the Central Avenue stairs, for instance, contain only eight steps. Others are certainly more daunting.

Take an online up and down walk around Cincinnati by clicking here .. then consider picking some favorites and doing the walk in person.

Photo: Ault Park steps, Cincinnati -- jkaty27/Creative Commons License

We are only a few weeks into 2008, and it hasn’t exactly been a good year for preservation news. Statewide, worries about the tax credit cap have filtered down to the local level; locally, ongoing demolition suits continue in Tiffin and Galion – and other communities are facing some tough losses.

The year began with news that the Orrville Design Review Board extended approval to a plan which will result in the loss of the community’s only theatre building (which is currently functioning) for yet another chain drug store.

This week’s Toledo Blade story about the possibly doomed Edgerton Village Hall tells a confusing tale. For one thing, there appears to be a somewhat obvious disconnect between observations that the building is “cramped,” and the story's photo of the second floor former Opera House space that appears to suggest otherwise.

Interestingly, price tags for renovation/addition and demolition/replacement are the same. As a result, the conversation in Edgerton is generating the same tired subjective chestnuts heard when the future of an older building is at issue – “Sentiment is expensive”… “You can build bigger for cheaper”… even though the numbers tell a different story.

One wonders if village leaders realize the impact that demolition may well have on marketing the village and the “quality living” that Edgerton purportedly offers. After all, right now the building is such a community icon that it is featured on the front page of the Village of Edgerton website. It is highly doubtful whether leaders took that marketing value into consideration in making their plans.

In Medina, the Historic Preservation Board approved a request for demolition of three 19th century houses for a parking lot adjacent to the Medina County District Library. Ignoring for a moment the question of how a local historic preservation boards can approve demolition (the vague language in the demolition section of the Medina historic preservation ordinance might give you a clue), the action will result in yet another loss of historic fabric for a community struggling to maintain its character in the face of development. According to The Gazette, the historic district has lost no less than 40 buildings in the last 40 years.

Lastly, the unannounced demolition of an 1855 house in Mentor has left city leaders scrambling to identify ways to preserve the historic fabric of their community. It faces somewhat of an uphill climb, as the Mayor has already raised the flag of property rights, but there is apparently support on City Council, according to this News-Herald story.

Photo: Medina County Courthouse -- TheTrueAPlus/Creative Commons License

Our apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days. We at Preservation Ohio have been knee-deep in launching a revised main website, which we are happy report went live in a beta version just a couple of hours ago. “Beta,” by the way, refers to the fact that the site is in need of continued tweaking to make it right… but enough is ready to put it online for a trial run.

We have ambitious plans for this new site. In particular, it is designed to work with our new Member Center, MyHometownOhio, our Facebook page and the new single interface that will bring all of those sites together. The goal is to have the ability in place to register at one place online, and then to be able to interface and obtain information wherever you would like – by logging in, by receiving updates or alerts e-mailed to your PC or sent via text message to your PDA or cell phone, by joining in ongoing discussions with preservation and revitalization folks from elsewhere in Ohio (or the country, for that matter), and soon by being able to post your own local news, information, photos and events on our site.

As you might imagine, this is a rather daunting task. It has sapped our collective energy in the past week, as during the last seven days we have also been on the road conducting building and business inventories in Mechanicsburg, moving forward aggressively in planning for Ohio’s first statewide preservation conference in some time (exciting news to come on that soon), working on advocacy issues, and working on what seems like a million other things.

So – postings will begin again on Tuesday. See you then!

Photo: New Preservation Ohio website

The new year is upon us, and with it, a new slate of conferences and workshops dealing with historic preservation, downtown and neighborhood revitalization, and heritage tourism. Here is a listing of such events coming up between now and June, both in Ohio and across the country; click on each for more information:

“Pop Up City” – February 27 – Cleveland – A workshop on “…temporary uses for vacant buildings and sites” as a way to “…stabilize transitional areas, promote economic development, and enhance the quality of life in urban neighborhoods.”

"The Greenest Building is already Built!: Sustainability and Historic Preservation" – March 11 – Cleveland – Sponsored by Cleveland Restoration Society, the Oberlin Heritage Society, and others.

Traditional Building Conference – March 12 – 15 – Boston – “The largest national event for professionals and enthusiasts who restore, renovate and preserve historic buildings or build new ones in a traditional style.”

“How to Research the History of Your Old House” – March 15 – Cincinnati – Presented by the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

National Main Streets Conference – March 30 to April 2 – Philadelphia – This year’s theme for the annual national get-together for the National Trust’s Main Street Program is “Entrepreneurship and Diversity.”

American Association of Museums Annual Conference – April 27 to May 1 – Denver – This Conference has one of the best-looking preliminary programs you will ever see… and a very creative set of workshops and educational sessions.

Urban Forum 2008: Neighborhood Economic Development and Commercial Revitalization Conference – April 28 – 30 – Indianapolis

Heritage Ohio Annual Conference and Awards – May 6 – 8 – Bowling Green – The annual conference of the Ohio Main Street Program.

City Hop – June 14 – Columbus – Columbus Landmark Foundation’s annual showcase of urban, renovated lifestyle opportunities.

News stories concerning historic properties come into the Preservation Ohio on a frequent basis. Most often, they deal with potential loss of historic resources through purposeful action – the bulldozing of neighborhoods or downtown corners by chain drug stores, the continual subsidized demolition of Ohio’s historic school buildings, etc.. On occasion, however, we hear of tragic losses occasioned by natural disasters – in many cases, through fire, such as occurred in the last couple of years in places like Chillicothe and Lancaster.

Early this month, fire ravaged a historic church building in Cincinnati. On February 1, fire hit the Old St. George Church in the Corryville section of Cincinnati, a massive neighborhood landmark designed by noted architect Samuel Hannaford that sat 1,200 people. Saved from the clutches of yet another chain drug store project some years ago (can you believe it?), the building was awaiting hopeful restoration.

As the fire progressed, onlookers were horrified as the landmark twin steeples of Old. St. Georges fell to the ground. Nevertheless, due to the efforts of local firefighters, the sanctuary amazingly escaped with little to no damage – only a small amount of standing water, and no smoke damage. It was probably as close as it comes to a preservation miracle.

For the next three days, you can view pictures of Old St. George Church and the fire in our Feature Box in the left column; click here for coverage by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Above is a photo of the church taken after the fire, as provided by the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

Photo: Old St. George Church, Cincinnati - Provided by Cincinnati Preservation Association

Columbus Underground – OSU adding new gallery in the old Lazarus building

If you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. That seems to be Karen Bell’s motto. The dean of Ohio State’s College of the Arts says the school’s new Urban Arts Space gallery could be good not only for her students but for the Downtown area that surrounds it. “We talk about fostering the revitalization of Downtown,” said Bell, “and we know we’re pioneers at the beginning of this....”

Daytonology – Grafton Hill's Oldest

Grafton Hill seems pretty “new” architecturally, particularly the better known part of the neighborhood around Stoddard Circle. But there is this house on Central that looks quite old. It has the trad I-house form, with an L rear, but not set with the gable end to the street, the way most are in Dayton. ...

Great Time – Urban Flight in Ohio

Many of Ohio’s downtown areas are in need of upgrading as folks pack up and move to the suburbs. Many downtown revitalization projects are currently going on there. Competition for sales tax, real estate, middle-income housing and quality of life is a power struggle, urban flight has been growing in Cincinnati and we do not see that stopping...

Glass City Jungle --  Rep. Ujvagi Pushes Tax Credit to Save Historic Public Buildings

State Representative Peter Ujvagi (D-Toledo) would like to see Ohio counties have the opportunity to save historic public buildings from the wrecking ball. He introduced a bill this week that offers tax credits to offset the cost of rehabilitating these structures.

Square Log (Mansfield) – Blockhouse

The blockhouse was taken down for restoration in December. The Preservation Commission has design review authority but it has taken some gentle prodding by the Commission to be put into the loop on the project.

Photo: F&R Lazarus Building, Downtown Columbus - dospaz/Creative Commons License