Oct.

Trustees Newsletter: New National Treasure

Nominations
1. New Hampshires Scenic Landscapes Along the Northern Pass
The Northern Pass is a 187-mile corridor that runs through some of New
Hampshires most scenic and rural landscapes, vistas, village centers, family

farms, and historic places. To bring power to Southern New England, new metal
lattice towers and monopoles ranging in height from 85 to 135 feet would be
installed, cutting through both public and private land. Because the new towers are
larger, made of steel, and require a wider corridor - up to 410 feet - for the entire
length of the 187-mile corridor, dramatic visual impacts will result.

2. First Baptist Church, New Bedford

Built in 1829, the First Baptist Church is an excellent example of early Greek Revival
church architecture
and is situated in the center of downtown New Bedford adjacent to the New Bedford
Whaling National
Historical Park. The property is owned by the First Baptist Church and serves a
dwindling and ethnically
diverse congregation in one of Massachusetts most diverse communities. The
building itself is a two-story white clapboard that sits on a high stone foundation
with a ridge roof and a three stage steeple.

3. Communities of East Los Angeles County

A destructive surface freeway connector was stopped in 1999 but five new
alternatives are being considered by the California Department of Transportation,
including what would be the largest tunnel project in the US. Multiple neighborhoods
and cities may be affected by the proposed 710 tunnel connector between the El
Sereno neighborhood in East Los Angeles and the city of Pasadena. The entire
connector project area and its five alternatives encompasses 100 sq. miles of the
oldest, most diverse neighborhoods and cities in Los Angeles County.

4. Southwest Museum
The first museum in Los Angeles, the Southwest Museum was opened in 1914 in
Highland Park by Charles Lummis, who is considered to be the father of historic
preservation in Southern California. The Museum was one of Lummis most
significant projects, intended to make Los Angeles one of the nations chief centers
of culture. Designed by Sumner Hunt in the Mission Revival style to incorporate
regional heritage into modern Los Angeles, the Museum housed Lummis massive
collection of Native American and southwestern artifacts. Suffering from longstanding financial and organizational problems, the Museum and collection merged
with the Autry in 2003.

5. Historic Wintersburg
Historic Wintersburg is a 4.4 acre historic landscape with six buildings, including a
1910 mission, clergy home, church, and ranch house all from the early twentieth
century. It was also the site of the Furuta goldfish farm and flower farm. One of few
undeveloped parcels in the area, the site likely contains Native American
archaeological remains. Rainbow Environmental Services (Rainbow) owns the site
and the NPS has stated that the buildings can be restored and are eligible for the
National Register. The city council certified an environmental impact report and
approved demolition for May 2015
6. The Lincoln University
Founded in 1854 as Ashmun Institute, The Lincoln University (Lincoln) is the first
institution in the nation established to provide higher education in the arts and
sciences for male youth of African descent and the oldest historically black college
and university (HBCU). In 1866, Lincoln was renamed after President Abraham
Lincoln. The historic campus includes 15 buildings that are determined eligible for
listing in the National Register.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission suggested that Lincolns
historical significance is worthy of National Historic Landmark designation. The
oldest extant building is Azikiwe-Nkrumah Hall (1865), which is an unadorned twostory, five-bay house constructed as the presidents residence and classrooms. It
was named after Lincoln graduates Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, the first President of Nigeria,
and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. This building is currently
used as the campus police station and needs renovation. Fourteen additional
historic buildings vary in form, scale, and condition.

7. African House
In the 1820s, Louis Metoyer, a gens de coleur libre, had the African House
constructed by his slaves. Although its original purpose is unknown, the building has
seen service as a store house, home for visiting artists and as the home of the
Clementine Hunter Murals (nine panels depicting the landscape and scenes of daily
life at Melrose in the early 20th century.) A 1973 report notes: The African House is
truly an enigma. No records remain which authoritatively date its construction, no
records remain which identify its function. No evidence exists which explains how
such a uniquely African structure came to exist in central Louisiana. But here it
stands, with its bottom floor of massive slave-made bricks, its second floor of heavy
hand-hewn timbers, mortised and dovetailed together without the use of nails, and
its fascinating hip roof of cypress shingles that supports a 12-foot overhang.
Melrose Plantation is owned and operated by the non-profit Association for the
Preservation of Historic Natchitoches (APHN).

8. Palace of the Governors

The Palace of the Governors is said to be the oldest continuously occupied public
building in the country. Built around 1610 by Spanish colonists, it is a one story
adobe structure that was the seat of government in New Mexico for Spain, Native
Americans, Mexicans, the U.S. Territory and the Confederacy from the 17th century
until the mid-19th century. The Palace is located in the heart of downtown Santa Fe
and it forms the north side of the Santa Fe Plaza. Owned and operated by the State
of New Mexico, it has served as the state museum since 1912 and continues to
preserve and interpret the history

9. The Heart of Louisville

Louisville is a mid-sized American city built on the Ohio River with a history of
exploration, trade, the railroad, and aircraft manufacturing. The historic core of the
city includes numerous intact historic neighborhoods with a large stock of pre-war
buildings. As with many cities, the second half of the 20th century brought
disinvestment to downtown, which has been slow in recovering even with
surrounding areas beginning to thrive again.

10.

Jefferson-Chalmers: Detroit Preservation Pilot

The Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood along the Detroit River is made up of homes

from the 1910s 1940s in bungalow, Arts & Crafts, Tudor and Colonial Revival
Styles. The National Register-listed Historic Business District features early
commercial and late Gothic Revival architecture and is one of few early twentiethcentury neighborhood commercial districts that still survive in Detroit. During the
1920s, this district along Jefferson Avenue was the center of the east side's
commercial, social, and cultural life, and is unique in that two big-band era
ballrooms, the cultural fulcrums of this social scene, still exist.