PreservationPeople

and

Vol. 17, NO. 1

HISTORIC MASSACHUSETTS

SPRING, 2002

In this issue

From the Executive Director................2“Fundamentals”............Technical Insert Endangered Update............................9

T h i s c o u l d b e y o u r l a s t n e w s l e t t e r ! S e e P a g e 1 1

Law Suit Over Beacon Hill Property...10 Mark Your Calendar!Upcoming Events.................Back Cover

Photo: Crocker Bulding, Turners Falls, after renovations. For details, see “Miracle” article on page 4.

PHOTO:MARILYN FENOLLOSA

PRESERVATION

and

PEOPLES

PRING

2002

am honored, excited and feelingvery challenged to be your newExecutive Director. For more thanfifteen years, I have worked with andadmired the good efforts of HistoricMassachusetts. It is an absolute thrill toactually be working foryou! As many of you know,I have been involved inhistoric preservation as theDeputy Secretary of Stateoverseeing the Massachu-setts Historical Commis-sion and as ExecutiveDirector of PreservationWorcester, a local non-profit. I have learned agreat deal over a twenty-year period inboth arenas and I feel confident that Ican use my knowledge and under-standing of historic preservation as wellas my many contacts and colleagues tobenefit Historic Massachusetts, Inc. forthe future.Many of us involved with HistoricMassachusetts believe that the organi-zation is very much at a crossroads.There is a partially completed strategicplan detailing a vision for the future of the organization; this will be com-pleted by the spring. We are in theprocess of evaluating our newsletterand the cost per issue. We are com-mitted to providing you with aquarterly periodical that will bemeaningful and pertinent to you asmembers of HMI. Our staff iscommitted to providing the informa-tion and services that will encourageyou to continue supporting HMI!Preservation Worcester’s theme is:“Preserving Neighborhoods forPeople”. Here at HMI, our newsletteris

Preservation and People

. Historicpreservation and Historic Massachu-setts are all about people. We areworking to better involve our Board of Directors by meeting on a monthlybasis. We are creating numerouscommittees to take advantage of theexpertise we have on our Board as wellas on our Board of Advisors. HMImust energize everyone involved tobecome better focused onour mission, create a strongersource of funding and growour membership. We needyour help! Assist us inpromoting HMI. Help usbring your friends into theorganization as new mem-bers. Please become membersof our various committees.You may think that otherswill do all of this and you don’t have to,but that’s simply not the case. Call meand let me explain how YOU can makea real difference to our importantstatewide preservation nonprofit.HMI’s vision for the future is tobecome better acquainted with ourcommunities statewide. We anticipatespending more time in the cities andtowns throughout the Common-wealth and we expect to learn moreabout the types of services we canprovide that will be beneficial to you,our partners. And HMI needs togrow, both financially and withincreased staff. The strategic plan,which focuses our vision, shoulddetermine the professional staff necessary to accomplish our impor-tant mission-based work over the nextseveral years. We must take a leader-ship role in areas such as preservationlegislation and in developing coali-tions with our preservation partners.HMI cannot simply survive; we mustbuild and develop in a way that trulyserves the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the future. Please join us! We really need you!

From the Executive Director

ISTORIC

ASSACHUSETTS

OARD

IRECTORS

2002

Officers

Clarissa Rowe,

Chair of the Board

Otile McManus,

Vice Chair

Samuel B. Knight, Jr., Esq.,

Treasurer

Claudia Sauermann Wu,

Clerk Board of Directors

Katherine F. AbbottJames Alexander, FAIABarbara BashevkinJohn F. Bok, Esq.Carol BratleyMaurice Childs, FAIAVin CipollaAnthony ConsigliKatherine D. Flynn CoughlinPaul A. FaracaJoan E. Goody, FAIARobert H. Kuehn, Jr.Richard LundgrenAllen F. JohnsonFrank KeefeDavid LeachPaul J. MartiniPaul J. McGinley, AICPMarion Pressley, FASLAThomas H. SchwartzVictor J. Walker, FASLA

OMMUNITY

RESERVATION

DVISORS

, 2002

Katherine F. Abbott,

Chair

Eleanor G. AmesPeter J. AucellaAnn Beha, FAIAArthur and Jean BennettShary Page BergCharles BeveridgeRichard CandeeMarcia M. Cini, Esq.Rolf DiamantGrace FriaryJohn F. Furlong, FASLARuth GeoffroyMartha D. HamiltonGary R. Hilderbrand, ASLARobin KarsonDavid R. KellerPatrick A. T. LeeArleyn LeveeBarbara LevyEllen J. LipseyWendy NicholasJulia B. O’BrienBruce Polishook Christine RinaldoMichael RobertsGretchen G. SchulerS. Christopher ScottStanley M. SmithAntone G. Souza, Jr.Jane StirgwoltCharles M. SullivanWesley T. WardPatricia L. WeslowskiTobias YarmolinskySally Zimmerman

TAFFJames W. Igoe,

Executive Director

Katheyn Coggeshall,

Program Manager

Kate Ranweiler,

Office Manager

Sarah DiSano,

Program Assistant/Intern

James Igoe, Exec. Dir.

PHOTO:JOEYLIBBYPHOTOGRAPHY

PRESERVATION

and

PEOPLES

PRING

2002

n Saturday, January 26, 2002, Historic Massa-chusetts held its annual meeting and publicprogram at the historic Omni Parker House,located on School Street in Boston. Nearly 100 partici-pants came to the event, which featured keynote speakerCharles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, Coordinator of the NationalPark Service’s Historic Landscape Initiative program andremarks by Justine Liff, Commissioner of the Boston Parksand Recreation Department.The public program began with welcomes by HMIChair of the Board Clarissa Rowe and Executive DirectorJames W. Igoe. Cynthia Smith, President of the BostonSociety of Landscape Architects, introduced Mr. Birnbaum,whose speech was followed by remarks from Ms. Liff. Thekey topics addressed in Mr. Birnbaum’s lecture were the lossand modification of modern works of landscape architec-ture and the importance of preserving post-World War IIlandscapes. Mr. Birnbaum cited several well-known parksas examples, including our own Christopher ColumbusWaterfront Park (CCWP) here in Boston. Ms. Liff com-mented on how Mr. Birnbaum’s speech is indicative of agrowing sophistication and importance of modern land-scape architecture from a professional standpoint. Shestated that while preservation is important there are often,as in the case of CCWP, practical reasons why landscapesare changed—notably the need for well-functioning parksand a better understanding of the public’s interest in theseresources.At the business meeting several topics were addressed.HMI voted in two new board members, Anthony Consigliand Dick Lundgren (please see article on p 9 for moreinformation about our newest board members.) Cara Metzof the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) gavethe State Historic Preservation Officer’s report in which sheaddressed the state budget cuts and the efforts, in partner-ship with Historic Massachusetts, to rebuild the commit-ment to preservation. James Igoe, HMI’s new ExecutiveDirector, gave his initial thoughts about the organization.Mr. Igoe discussed the fact that financial support from theMHC is in jeopardy due to budget cuts and donations froma very generous family have been reduced considerably.However, he went on to say that while the current situationrequires that HMI reevaluate and restructure some of itspriorities and activities, it also presents a tremendousopportunity to make this organization the highly respectedpreservation statewide that it should be. To achieve thesegoals, he asked that the Board of Directors be active

2002 HMI Annual Meeting

participantsin theorganizationand assist thestaff inmaking HMIa moredynamic andrevenue-producingorganization. Clarissa Rowe, Chair of the Board, also gavea report at the meeting. Ms. Rowe encouraged Boardmembers to read and contribute to HMI’s Strategic Plan.She also discussed the status of the Turner’s Falls and BakerChocolate Building projects (for details about the successfulcompletion of the Turner’s Falls project, please see article onp 4).HMI would like to thank everyone who attended thepublic program and business meeting. Your participationhelped to make this year’s annual meeting a successful eventand a great way to begin the new year.

l to r: Cynthia Smith, BSLA Pres., Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, Clarissa Rowe, HMI Chair,and James Igoe, HMI Exec. Dir.

Looking to Volunteer?

Historic Massachusetts is interested in having volun-teers assist with a variety of projects and activities.If you’re looking for a way to donate a few hours aweeks to a worthy group and have fun in the process,please contact Jim Igoe, Executive Director at617-723-3383 or email: jigoe@historicmass.org.