Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County

Every third weekend in February, the streets of Asheville are populated  by Arts & Crafts aficionados who have a special appreciation for our city’s architectural heritage. This year is no different, and the National Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference celebrates its 25^th year by extending the celebration for an entire week.  Arts & Crafts Heritage Week runs from February 12-19 with exhibits, lectures, panel discussions, and of course the much-anticipated Preservation Society House Tours.

Learn about Asheville’s many fine examples of the Arts & Crafts-era architecture and let us do the driving.  Tour guides on the bus will point out key buildings in Asheville’s architectural history and provide an overview of the homes to be visited.  Docents will answer questions in the homes to be toured. A limited number of seats are available for Saturday, February 18. Your $35 ticket helps the Preservation Society’s efforts to preserve Asheville and Buncombe County’s historic architecture.

TICKETS SALES ARE NOW CLOSED.  THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED HISTORIC PRESERVATION BY PARTICIPATING IN THIS EXCITING EVENT!!

This year’s tour will feature a variety of Arts & Crafts properties, including the headquarters of the Preservation Society! The E.W. Grove real estate office on Charlotte Street was built in 1909 as a home base for Mr. Grove as he oversaw construction of the Grove Park Inn and the surrounding neighborhoods. In addition to its restored interior, a private collection of Arts & Crafts antique furniture and furnishings will be on display.
Other highlights of the tour will include:
• The Fortune family home, also dating to the 1920s was built in the colonial revival style. A former remodeling was unsympathetic to its historic character. The current owners completely renovated the interior in the Arts & Crafts style, featuring reproduction fixtures and locally handcrafted architectural details. The furnishings include Stickley reproductions as well as custom made handcrafted furniture.
• The Old Reynolds Mansion is the antebellum home of the Reynolds family, whose most notable member was a Senator. It had long been neglected and fell to use as a barn before being restored as a bed and breakfast more than twenty years ago. It recently underwent a massive renovation that has brought it to a new level of elegance.
The Fine Print: Participants should be able to walk a city block and negotiate stairs. Tickets will be held at the Preservation Society Tour Table near Conference Registration Desk at the Grove Park Inn. Please pick up tickets at least thirty minutes before your scheduled tour. We are sorry, but we are unable to mail tickets.

Happiest wishes for the New Year! 

As our first call to action for 2012, we would like to invite you to participate in a brief survey regarding your opinions concerning the significance of the Thomas Wolfe cabin in Oteen.

The survey contains only a few questions and will take less than five minutes to complete.  Your responses are confidential and will help us determine the interest in preserving this important historical structure. 

NOTE: The survey is limited to the first 100 responses.

As you may know, in the summer of 1937 Thomas Wolfe retreated to a modest cabin in Oteen, East Asheville, to avoid both the fame and infamy his writing had created. His stay at the rustic revival cabin was brief yet productive. The City of Asheville now owns the cabin, which is a local historic landmark, yet the structure has fallen into a severe state of disrepair. The Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County plans to move forward to produce a privately funded structural assessment and feasibility study, which will lay the foundation for the restoration and future use of the site.

Click on the attached link to provide your survey responses and help in this study: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/58X336S

Thank you so much for your time and help in this important preservation effort.

Not just for holiday celebrations, but for you to get a big tax break by making a year-end donation to the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County! 

Your contribution will make it possible for us to continue  making sure that the historic buildings and spaces of our community are with us for many, many New Years to come.

Our capacity to protect the historic architecture of our community has increased, and we are accomplishing our important mission.  We have done so with your help.  Here are some highlights of the past year:

• Our educational programming has increased 3 fold!
• We have engaged community leadership in-
• Protecting the historic Ivy Building at A B Tech
• Transportation planning in the River Arts District
• We actively pursue endangered properties, including a Victorian era home.
• We have presented our work in over 12 different civic and social venues.
• Our membership has grown by roughly 10%

We are a non-profit organization and depend on contributions and membership fees to accomplish our goals.  Our work depends on you; any amount makes a difference.  Press the link below and cross off one more pesky chore on your holiday To Do list…

Donate Now

Other types of donations, such as gifts of appreciated stock, real estate, and qualified charitable distributions from IRA’s may be attractive for some donors.  Contact the office for a confidential conversation about these opportunities.

Your end-of-year gift to The Preservation Society

is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

A veiw from the rooftop of Trinity Episcopal

One of Asheville’s many historic churches is celebrating a milestone this year…160 years and counting!  This past September, the parish released a book that illuminates Trinity Church–its history, art, architecture, and people. An Illustrated History: Trinity Episcopal Church, 1849-2011  tells the story of a journey of faith: an Episcopal parish born near the crossroads of a mountain village during the turbulent years leading to the Civil War. The parish’s history is a living one, kept vibrant today through service, worship and community outreach.  

The hardbound, keepsake coffee-table book includes a full-color, narrated photographic gallery of Trinity’s iconic art and architecture; a comprehensive timeline integrating significant parish, community and global events; and an index and apendices listing bishops, priests, wardens and distinguished congregants throughout the past 160 years.

The book costs $50 and would be an excellent addition to any preservationist’s bookshelf this December, or any time of year.  All profits from the book support Trinity’s Emergency Outreach Fund and can be purchased by emailing: info@trinityasheville.org. 

You may also download a .pdf copy of the brochure with more information and color photos by clicking on the following link:

An Illustrated History of Trinity Episcopal Church

Over the next 20 years, Americans will demolish one third of our existing building stock (over 82 billion square feet) in order to replace seemingly inefficient buildings with energy efficient “green” structures.  Is demolition in the name of sustainability really the best use of natural, social, and economic resources?  Or, like the urban renewal programs of the 1960’s, is this well-intentioned planning with devastating environmental and
cultural consequences?

On Thursday, October 13th “The Greenest Building,” a new hour-long documentary by Eugene Oregon film producer Jane Turville, will be screened at The Fine Arts Theatre, 36   Biltmore Ave., Asheville.  The film presents a compelling overview of the important role building reuse plays in creating sustainable communities.  Narrated by David Ogden Stiers, “The Greenest Building” explores the myth that a “green building” is a new building and demonstrates how renovation and adaptive reuse of existing structures fully achieves the sustainability movement’s
“triple bottom line” – economic, social, and ecological balance.  Thefilm r eveals:  (a) how reuse and reinvestment in the existing built
environment leads to stronger local economies that can compete on a global scale, (b) that sense of place and collective memory, while intangible, are critical components of strong sustainable communities, and (c) the direct correlation between reuse of existing buildings and a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, degradation of the natural environment and overuse of precious natural resources.

If you are interested in buildings, community development, sustainable communities or just plain want to find out if existing buildings really are worth keeping, plan to attend this special event. “The Greenest Building” starts at 7:00 pm and is free and open to the public.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Beth Semadeni, David Battle, Ben & Cate Scales and Kieth Hargrove

The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County proudly announces a new partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  As the Local Partner of the National Trust, PSABC can work more effectively to protect the important historic resources
that make Asheville and Buncombe County such a unique place.

More than 120 of the top nonprofit preservation organizations in the country have chosen to become Statewide and Local Partners of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Statewide and Local Partners network provides nonprofits a forum for sharing preservation
practices, solving organizational problems, and improving their effectiveness.  Statewide and Local Partners have access to special National Trust benefits and resources. Affiliated organizations place high value on the opportunity to learn from each other and gain credibility in their direct association with a large national organization like the National Trust.

For PSABC, the partnership provides access to additional grant opportunities, information about model practices in preservation and property stewardship, advocacy, preservation education, and outreach.  “I know”, said National Trust President Stephanie Meeks, “the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County will add much to this group by bringing knowledge, expertise and experience to the growing network.”

“In our past 35 years as this community’s private historic preservation nonprofit, we have continued to grow in capacity and effectiveness in the protection of our historic built environment,” said PSABC Executive Director Jack W. L. Thomson.  “This partnership is the next natural step in our growth.  This affiliation with the Trust provides national exposure for our work and for Asheville as a special historic destination.”

The Preservation Society is celebrating its 35^th anniversary in protecting the historic places that our important to our community.

MISSION:  Through preserving and promoting the unique historic resources of our region, the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County works to sustain the heritage and sense of place that is Asheville and Buncombe County.

####

Sunday, September 11, 2 – 4 p.m.

97 Haywood Street, Asheville

John Ochsendorf, of the MIT School of Architecture, describes the Basilica of Saint Lawrence as Guastavino’s “crowning achievement in the American building arts.”  The tour includes the basement of the building, with vaulting similar to Guastavino’s famous work at the Boston Public Library.  PS board member John Toms, Saint Lawrence archivist, will describe recently-located documentation of Guastavino’s design of the building.  The discussion will include Guastavino’s supervision of construction, Spanish design precedents, preservation challenges, and the building’s designation as Nationally Significant in the National Register.  The tour will continue briefly outside, and from there into the main church, where Guastavino used tile construction in every horizontal component of the structure.  The ground floor level of a tower stair, with catenary vaulting supporting treads and landings, will also be accessible for viewing.   The program begins at 2:00.  The basement hall will be open at 1:45 for viewing the vaulting, a small display, and for refreshments.    Enter by the side door on the Flint Street side, across from the Civic Center.  There is parking behind the church, in the gated lot across the street from the church, or in the first lot next door to the church.

Sunday, August 28, 2011, 2 to 4 PM
Historic Sherrill’s Inn
Highway 74A, Fairview, NC

Sherrill's Inn, c. 1801, site of 2011 PSABC Annual Picnic

Our annual picnic event is a potluck, so break out your best recipes to contribute to the spread.  We welcome your sweet & savory, your hot &  cold.  Our generous hosts at Sherrill’s Inn, John & Annie Ager, will be providing tours & historical details about this spectacular setting.  PSABC staff & Board will provide updates on our current projects. 

This large weather-boarded house was operated as an inn that served travelers passing through Hickory Nut Gap during the 19th century.  Bedford Sherrill began operating the inn in 1834. It is a two-story saddlebag-plan structure that probably dates back to around 1801. Also located
on the property is a very old smokehouse and tradition maintains that this building served as a frontier “fort” in the 1790s. More than likely this small rectangular building is the area’s oldest structure. 

Directions: From Asheville take I-240 east to exit 9 (Bat Cave, Lake Lure and Highway 74A east). Take Highway 74A east through Fairview to the very end of the valley. As you climb up the winding road to Hickory Nut Gap, look for the State Historic Sign and Sherrill’s Inn on your right up on a hill. This will trip will take you 20 minutes from downtown Asheville.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the Decorative Finishes and Restoration Program at AB Tech was honored with a mayoral proclamation (text below).

WHEREAS, the Decorative Restoration
program at A-B Technical Community College
was founded in 1988 as a cooperative venture with the Biltmore Estate. Students
have come from as far away as Alaska and Vermont to take advantage of the only
full-time program of its kind in the country, which graduated its final class
this year; and

WHEREAS, the program has graduated
nearly 300 students, all skilled artisans, a number of whom have begun thriving
restoration businesses all across the country and have worked on the
restoration of historic artifacts and buildings, churches and cathedrals; and

WHEREAS, two passionate and
visionary teachers have guided the Decorative Restoration program during its 23
years: Derick Tickle, a master craftsman who previously taught for London’s
distinguished City & Guilds, arrived from England in 1989 and directed the
program until his retirement in 2005 when Tim Hanlon, a 1997 graduate of the
program, took over its leadership; and

WHEREAS, we have these two
instructors and their students to thank for the beautifully restored ceiling of
the County Courthouse, which took six years to complete, and for the uniquely
decorative foyer and Council Chamber of City Hall; and

WHEREAS,
we appreciate the program’s philosophy that the greenest building is the one
already built. The Decorative Restoration program has helped keep Asheville’s heritage
intact for today and tomorrow. Through its contributions, Asheville’s citizens learn to appreciate our
historic buildings, their decoration and construction, and to preserve them for
future generations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terry Bellamy, Mayor of the City of Asheville,
do hereby recognize the

Decorative Restoration
Program

at
A-B Technical
College as an exemplary program, which
has made a significant contribution in the preservation of historic buildings
inAsheville.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Asheville, North Carolina, to be
affixed this 28^th day of June, 2011.

___________________________

TERRY M. BELLAMY

MAYOR

Each year, PSABC presents the Griffin Awards for Historic Preservation.  Projects from Buncombe County that have been completeled within the last 24 months, or thos that are deemed 90% complete may apply in one of the following award categories.

1. Restoration- Projects that accurately depict
   the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared at a
   particular period of time.
   Restoration may entail removal of features from other periods of
   the building’s history and reconstruction of missing features from the
   restoration period.  It may include
   limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
   systems and other code-required work to make the property functional
2. Rehab – Projects that allow for newer
   compatible use of a historic building through repair, alteration, and/or
   additions while preserving portions or features of the building which
   convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.  Changes that achieve a false sense of
   historical development over time will not be considered.
3. Adaptive Re-use – Projects that adapt a historic
   building for a purpose other than what was originally intended while
   preserving portions or features of the building which convey its
   historical, cultural, or architectural values
4. Research
   & Publication – Preservation Education Award  Recognizing excellence in communicating the value of historic
   preservation to the public including: exemplary historical research,
   publication, oral history initiative, and the development
   of innovative education program or website.

PLEASE NOTE:  There is not a category for renovations, remodeling or new construction not specifically within a historic district or traditional neighborhood.