Trust Me
Inside the National Trust
By Arnold Berke | From Preservation | March/April 2007
By Arnold Berke
Credit: Richard Thompson
One of the recently approved Pennsylvania gambling ventures will arise at the old Bethlehem Steel Corp. works. In its first development phase, Sands BethWorks Gaming plans to build a hotel, outlet mall, and casino next to the plant, the nation's most intact vacant steel mill. Then, the company hopes, it will fill the huge No. 2 Machine Shop with shops and other uses, including the long-planned National Museum of Industrial History. Additional structures—blast furnaces, an iron foundry, a storehouse—may also be saved. The specter of demolition earned the plant a listing on the Trust's 11-most-endangered list in 2004; Preservation reported on the steelworks' future in its May/June 2005 issue.
… "Just the simplest California-Spanish farmhouse" is all Virginia Jackling wanted for her husband, copper king Daniel Jackling, and herself. The resulting 1926 house designed by George Washington Smith, however, weighed in at 17,000 square feet—too big for the current owner, Apple chief Steve Jobs, who since 2001 has sought to tear down the Woodside, Calif., hacienda for a smaller abode. Fighting this with a lawsuit, the group Uphold Our Heritage scored a major win on Jan. 10 when an appeals panel upheld a lower court's antirazing ruling. The Trust and the California Preservation Foundation filed amicus briefs supporting Uphold, which hopes to work with Jobs on a preservation solution.
… The Trust was also in court to save the integrity of the Lazaretto, an immigrant screening station on the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia that, from 1799 to 1893, served as Pennsylvania's Ellis Island. Although Tinicum Township bought the site to save it from development, it later proposed a fire station complex there. This sparked opposition from Preservation Pennsylvania, the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, and the Trust, which joined in a lawsuit against the scheme. After a November hearing, the parties agreed to forge a plan acceptable to both sides, including the formation of a new group to preserve the property while allowing a less intrusive fire facility.
… And in more fine news, Ohio has okayed a tax credit for rehabbing historic structures. On Jan. 2, outgoing Gov. Robert Taft signed a bill that authorizes a two-year trial, starting July 1, of a 25 percent credit. Up to 100 projects will be permitted per year. The approval cheers those many Ohioans who had long campaigned for the credit.
… Four buildings in Bridgeport, Conn., are leaving limbo, thanks in part to the National Trust Community Investment Corp. The for-profit subsidiary is investing $6 million in historic rehab and new-markets tax credits to help renovate the quartet, built between 1917 and 1930 and dominated by the art deco gem that was headquarters for the old Citytrust bank. The complex sat vacant from 1991 to 2005, when Urban Green Equities and Ginsburg Development bought them for conversion into apartments, stores, restaurants, and offices. Other financing for the $35 million project comes from Wachovia Bank, Goldman Sachs, and the state of Connecticut.
… Art-related historic sites got a boost recently when the Trust's Historic Artists' Homes and Studios program was awarded $75,000. The two-year grant, from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, will enable the program to add up to five new members to its 30-site roster, continue its series of regular workshops for this national network, and expand publicity.
Read more from our March/April 2007 online, look for Preservation on newsstands, e-mail us to purchase a copy.
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