Saturday, April 3, 2010

The Rumor Persists . . .

that this building is to be demolished. In light of this, an article from Governing magazine is recommended to all: "Greening Historic Buildings." It makes the argument for the advantage of historic buildings in this era of heightened energy conservation consciousness. Thanks to Michael O'Hara for bringing it to our attention.

3 comments:

  1. Carole, there is no end to the literature on greening old buildings; what we're lacking, as a community, is the will to do it. Historic Hudson has, for whatever reason, ceased to be an advocate for local preservation and the city's so-called Preservation Board (if that's what it's called)is simply a rubber-stamping operation for the developer of the day (now Galloway). You and your colleagues were able to save Washington Hose from sure destruction, but otherwise it seems that historic preservation in the post-Plumb Bronson era has become a waiting game (i.e. wait for the next demoltion and cry) rather than a proactive effort to save what we have.... Easy to say, I know, but we need to get an active preservation group going again.... my 2 cents. --p

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peter--I know there is no end of literature on greening old buildings. In fact, Walter Sedovic, the architect hired by the library in 2006 when I was chair of the building committee, pioneered the idea that preservation is the ultimate sustainability. What I thought was interesting about this particular article is where it appeared: in Governing magazine not in some preservation publication.

    Historic Hudson is focused now on stabilizing the Plumb-Bronson House--an enormous and certainly worthy task. Perhaps the Historic Hudson board needs to hear from its membership that they would like the organization to take a more active role in advocating on preservation issues in Hudson. The annual meeting is coming up. It's your chance to let the leadership of Historic Hudson know your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Let us know when the meeting is. I'll try to make it -- with a few ideas.

    --peter

    ReplyDelete