Ottoman Architecture Deja Vu

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Jamie

On a recent visit to Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace I experienced the most extraordinary case of architectural deja vu.

Court of the Favorites, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Entering the final section of the Imperial Harem, the Courtyard of the Favorites, I immediately recognized the building, or thought I did. Turns out it wasn’t the building itself I recognized but the form of the building. I was face to face with an Ottoman doppelgänger!

Adventures in Preservation has been working in the city of Gjirokastra, Albania for many years and for the past two or three years I have been regularly seeing a photo of a particular section of the Skenduli House with an overhanging roof supported by large, angled timbers.

Skenduli House, Gjirokastra, Albania, in 2010

In Istanbul, a mere 450 miles away, I was seeing the dressed up version of that structure. It made me wonder what Gjirokastra looked like in its heyday, reflect on how much the city has lost, and appreciate that much more the ongoing preservation efforts to return that sort of elegance to the city’s tower houses.

For context, Topkapi Palace was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1856, much of their 624-year reign. The Courtyard of the Favorites was built during an 18th century expansion of the Imperial Harem, one section of private apartments within the palace complex that in itself contains more than 400 rooms.

The majority of the existing buildings in Gjirokastra (sadly many have been lost) date from the 17th and 18th centuries, roughly the same time the Courtyard of the Favorites was built.

The question then becomes, which came first. Did the Balkan style influence the imperial architects, or were the people of the Balkans emulating the high style of the capital? I’ll leave that to the experts, but I’d love to learn more.

You can be part of restoration efforts in Gjirokastra. Support local preservation training efforts by making a donation via GlobalGiving or rolling up your sleeves and joining AiP’s hands-on preservation project at the Skenduli House in 2014.

The Connection Between Communities and Preservation – and You

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Jamie

Buildings may stand alone physically, but they are endlessly connected with communities. Buildings are accompanied through time by the comings and goings of people… No matter their purpose, all buildings are lived in: feet move across their floors, hands open and close their doors, eyes look along their balconies and through their windows. It is buildings, then, that are some of the best witnesses to history and some of the most integral parts of communities.

Shotgun house Photo courtesy Alexey Sergee

Buildings aren’t only used by communities, they represent communities. Building types and styles developed in direct response to their communities’ needs, desires and resources. The shotgun house, for example, is the handprint of history for parts of Louisiana (and now spanning upward into Illinois), whereas brownstones are almost synonymous with Brooklyn.

What about today? Communities need their history and their identity… and they need other things. Like affordable housing. Community gathering spaces. Old theaters and Mom & Pop shops. This is where you – and preservation – come in. The greenest building is the one that is already built. The building already built also has an irreplaceable tie to the community around it.

All this and you (yes, you!) can be the one to dig your hands in? Help preserve history and help communities at the same time! You can take action on a small scale by supporting adaptive reuse projects in your town, or you can look beyond: Adventures in Preservation has several preservation projects coming up that aim to help communities while preserving their historic structures. For example, restoration work at the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum in The Bronx supports a major community resource. AiP is also helping out abroad in places like Nepal and Albania, bringing volunteers to do hands-on conservation work.

In Gjirokastra, Albania, preserving the building fabric of the local tower houses will also preserve the fabric of the community. Albania is rich in culture – and tourism potential – but is one of Europe’s poorest countries. Adventures in Preservation’s trip to Gjirokastra to work on the Skenduli house will raise awareness, create jobs for maintenance and preservation, and support training of local youth in traditional trades. The next group of AiP volunteers heads over in 2014 – just around the corner! Visit the trip page to find out more.

– Susie Trexler

Preserving Costa Rica’s Heritage

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Jamie

We recently returned from Costa Rica, where one of the highlights was a trek through Corcovado National Park. It was there that I saw one of the few historic sites we encountered in our seventeen-day trip, but it had no sign, no marker, and in fact, were I not attuned to such things, we probably would have walked right by it without comment.

However, being an avid history fan and having surveyed a plethora of historic sites in national parks, I couldn’t help but ask our guide about the site. There clearly had been something there and I was curious. There was a fence, a slight clearing, a small collection of weathered lumber and a door leaning against the fence. “Oh that”, he said. It was the remains of the ranger station that had been built when Corcovado National Park was first established in 1975. The ranger station at Los Patos, where we had stopped earlier that morning to sign the trail register, was built in 2008 by the Corcovado Foundation to replace this one, which was then torn down.

Historical? It certainly didn’t meet the 50-year age “standard”. Site integrity? Not sure disassembling a building leaves much integrity, though the pieces were still there at the site. But significant? You bet. The building very clearly represents the moment when the people of Costa Rica chose conservation over development, preservation over plunder.

courtesy Jason George

Worthy of being restored as a monument? Nope, not when the purpose of the park is so clearly the preservation of undisturbed animal habitat.

Seeing tapirs, puma, crocodiles, tiger necked herons, giant silk cotton trees and dozens of other, now-protected species? Well worth the loss of the ranger station.

Note: Costa Rica also has a rich cultural history. We just didn’t see much of it because the focus of our trip was natural history. Next time!

Learn More
The Corcovado Foundation

Halloween: a Preservationist’s Favorite Holiday

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Jamie

It may still feel like summer, but the leaves are starting to turn and Halloween costumes and candy are starting to show up in the seasonal aisle of grocery stores. A preservationist can’t help but be excited. Why? Let’s face it: if there ever was a holiday for preservationists, it’s Halloween. The kids down the street are dressing up as people and characters from other cultures and eras… princesses of Europe and pirates of the 1700s Caribbean continue to be popular choices. Sure, maybe they chose a Disney interpretation, but on that night, everyone has their mind on another time or land. We are all getting excited about cultures and, well, history. And in a way, just by thinking about it, we’re preserving it.

What about that haunted house on the edge of town? Halloween is spooky because we have a heightened awareness of all the people who came before us. It’s mostly haunted by your imagination of those who preceded you down those halls. Imagining people in dwellings is what gets us preservationists excited. So this Halloween, indulge your imagination and enjoy the display of history!

Keep your eye out for Adventures in Preservation‘s October newsletter on the burgeoning field of cemetery preservation. Not signed up for our newsletter? Subscribe today so you don’t miss it!

Happy October.

Volunteers Master Plaster in Gloucester

Posted on September 17, 2012 by admin

Gloucester, Virginia, is the home of the Edge Hill Service Station, which faithfully served customers at the corner of U.S. Route 17 (Main Street) and Route 14 for more than fifty years. The Fairfield Foundation purchased it in 2010 and, with strong support from community members and Adventures in Preservation volunteers, is making great progress towards its full restoration and eventual reuse as a preservation resource center for Virginia’s Middle Peninsula.

The Plastering at the Pumps project began with a FedEx delivery of $1600 worth of plastering materials donated by Master of Plaster Finishing Systems. Beginning the following Monday, Gus Rhodes led the happy crew in working with the liquid plaster and quickly pronounced it “fabulous”.

: Checking out the view from on high. Photo courtesy The Fairfield Foundation.

The group had fun trying out stilts and other plastering tools. The report from Dave Brown, co-founder of the Fairfield Foundation, really sums up the experience:

We had a fantastic time and made great progress on four different rooms in the station. Even better, it was the catalyst for other points of progress – from the repair of some of the iron window and garage door tracks, to the continued work on the exterior light fixtures, and many, many tours during the week and on the weekend.

This was a huge success and we can’t wait for next year at Fairfield!

See more photos of the work on the Fairfield Foundation’s Facebook page.

Sound like fun? Learn more about volunteer preservation projects with Adventures in Preservation.

: Materials delivered and ready for application when volunteers arrived the next week – thanks to our friends at Master of Plaster. Photo courtesy The Fairfield Foundation.

Do you have to be a “preservationist” to appreciate historic preservation? – PreservationNation

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jamie

Do you have to be a “preservationist” to appreciate historic preservation? – PreservationNation.

Here’s a repost of a repost from Preservation in Pink, one of our favorite preservation blogs. With National Historic Preservation Month just around the corner, it’s a good time to reflect on exactly this question!

What’s Not to Love About a Chocolate Factory?

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Jamie

Valentine’s Day brings to mind roses, heart-shaped notes, chocolates, and significant others. This year, it may also bring to mind preservation. And we’re not talking about saving the pretty box or tin your chocolates came in, we’re talking about the chocolate factories themselves.

: Wkimedia Commons Photo by Rwendland

I first saw the Somerdale Cadbury factory from the train between Bristol and Bath. It was an image right out of a coffee table book: there were the quintessential rolling British hills in the background, field hockey players – or perhaps soccer – on broad fields in the foreground, and between them, the stately brick factory. It stands five broad floors high at the tallest section of a conglomeration of buildings and wings. And at the top, swooping white letters read “Cadbury’s.” That building immediately found a place in my heart and every time I rode that train I watched for it.

It turns out that this chocolate factory has an important history, though its future may not be as bright. For nearly a hundred years, the Cadbury factory – known as Fry’s factory to most locals (the J. S. Fry & Sons business merged with Cadbury in 1919) – has been bread and butter to the community of Keynsham, a small southwest England town. Or should we say cocoa and sugar?

Keynsham Cadbury – also known as the Somerdale plant – provided some 500 jobs to the local community and, to the rest of the world, Fry’s Chocolate Cream, the Double Decker, Dairy Milk and Mini Eggs, Cadbury’s Fudge, Chomp, and Crunchie.

In 2007, Cadbury announced plans to close the Somerdale plant, moving production to factories in Birmingham and Poland. No surprisingly, Keynsham was in for a great many changes.

The story is not over. Though the factory closed in 2010, the building retains a stately presence, providing playing fields for the people of Keynsham and a cornerstone view for the commuters between Bristol and Bath. It is not easy to forget. I am still thinking about it after seeing it four months ago. Hang in there, Fry’s factory.

If you want to read more or see what you can do to help, check out Save Our Somerdale, or view an update on the property from BBC News, Bristol.

– Susie Trexler

Ku’s House: the Survival of a Man, a Neighborhood, and a Historic House

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jamie

This is the story of a man with a dream, a hit-and-run bicycle accident, and a beautiful old shotgun house in New Orleans. The man: Kweku Nyaawie originally of Central Texas, a carpenter and cabinetmaker. The house: an 1866 shotgun that is the oldest house on its block.

Kweku Nyaawie, known as “Ku” to his friends, went to New Orleans with his brother in 2005 to help with post-Katrina reconstruction of flood-damaged homes. Kweku Nyaawie decided to stay. He found 616 Port Street and it became a labor of love. He did research, found period architectural pieces to replace what had been lost, and began a preservation project that would become a well-loved home.

In summer 2010, Kweku Nyaawie was the victim of a hit-and-run bicycle accident. With no insurance to help with the medical bills, Kweku Nyaawie found his work on 616 Port Street difficult. What’s more, he was having trouble standing. Then came a complaint of blight, a city hearing and a fine for a house in disrepair. Kweku Nyaawie’s neighbors could see him trying to continue his work on the house, sitting in an office chair while sanding the front of his house. He could not continue the project by himself, let alone face the 500 dollar-per-day fine.

Kweku Nyaawie’s friends, neighbors, and others are stepping in to help. The house’s transformation is impressive, though much work remains to be done. “Ku’s House” is a story of preservation - and perseverance – that will not quickly be forgotten.

Learn more:

Susie Trexler

Camilla the Castle Caretaker

Posted on January 27, 2012 by admin

Some little girls dream of living in a castle; Camilla Løntoft Nybye dreamed of conserving them, and her dream has now come true.

Camilla is a young and well-established conservation architect in Denmark who just received a remarkable acknowledgement of her talents. She has been named the Royal Building Inspector and will have the task and opportunity to work on several of Denmark’s royal palaces. Ms. Nybye is the youngest person to be named to this post and one of few women.

Camilla Løntoft Nybye and her brother in Gjirokastra

Camilla shows her brother, a journalist, the Gjirokastra she loves and shares her hopes for saving its historic architecture.

Camilla has a degree from the Aarhus School of Architecture and a Masters of Science in Architectural Conservation from Edinburgh University. She is currently Associate Partner in the architectural firm of Rønnow Arkitekter A/S.

If your dream is to be able to work with building conservation professionals like Camilla, join a team of AiP volunteers at one of our projects! To meet Camilla in person, volunteer with AiP in Gjirokastra, Albania, where Camilla serves as consulting architect at the Skenduli house. She has donated many hours of her time assessing this remarkable stone tower house, and spent many more hours exploring the winding streets and paths of the historic town to gain a clear picture of the city and its architecture.

Conservation in Canada: Adaptive Re-use of Company Houses at Cape Breton

Posted on December 12, 2011 by admin

Noted for its culture and scenic beauty, Cape Breton of Novia Scotia, Canada, has long been a destination for tourists (just check what National Geographic has to say). Off the northeast edge of North America, Cape Breton may look isolated and desolate, but it has seen centuries of history. John Cabot reportedly visited the island in 1497, a visit which is commemorated in the naming of Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail (which is over a hundred miles long). Since then, Cape Breton has seen Portuguese fishermen (sixteenth century), French colonizing (seventeenth century), and in the last few centuries, coal mining and steel-manufacturing.

Recent history, however, is a sad story. The century-old “company houses” of Cape Breton have fallen into disrepair. In fact, they made the Heritage Canada Foundation’s 2010 list of the 10 most-endangered historic places in Canada. But help is on the way.

Adventures in Preservation is one of several important groups working together to save the houses. AiP is partnering with Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia Community College, the HomeMatch program, and community members in a project called Historic Housing for the Near Homeless. Connections formed with schools and students have proved invaluable as collaboration continues; students who worked on previous AiP projects have stepped into leadership roles in this new one. (See the Cairo, Illinois, project, “Creating Affordable Housing From Shotguns”.)

historic house undergoing preservation and reuse as affordable housing Cape Breton

One of the houses benefiting from this new preservation project Photo: Tom Urbaniak

The house the AiP team will be working on is located in the Kolonia section of Whitney Pier, a multicultural community established in the early 1900s around the former Sydney steel plant. There homes were constructed from the dismantled Breton Hotel, which housed the workers who built the steel plant in 1899-1902. Preservation of the company houses is a nod to an important piece of Cape Breton’s history. This project will also provide affordable, durable, adaptive re-use homes for local families at risk of homelessness.

Take this exciting opportunity to join in the efforts! Learn more and join the project at our “upcoming adventures” page!

— Susie Trexler

Category Archives: Historic Preservation