Iowa Historic Preservation Summit Read Out

Mount Pleasant, Iowa

June 5-7, 2024

Kate Bagby

Three areas of interest:

Deconstruction and Restoration: craft and salvage.

Ties that Bind: The stories of the occupants and structure of historic architecture.

Structure and Process: Organization! and Influence?

Structure and Process:

The State Historic Preservation Committee (SHPC) introduced its professionals in the Historic Design Guidelines sessions on day one of the summit, in two Acts. Was it dramatic! The young engineers and architects spoke with commitment to the importance of preservation in our Iowa communities and detailed their roles and the tasks, and took live polls from the attendees. The difference between should and must and how to get from one to the other was a busy topic. It seems the influencer’s role in this is significant in terms of getting and keeping people on board and in advancing educational and project outcomes. The question and answer session following the presentation revealed just how soft and persuasive a science this preservation business is despite the fact that engineers and architects are essential in us being able to piece all the things together. I rather expected it to be more technical, less advisory. So between, and around this Design piece are the publications the Department of the Interior provides for us establishing standards of practice.

Note: Let’s get technical. The Department of the Interior established the structure of the HPC and provides publications supporting preservation efforts, some of which were on tables at the central meeting place: the Presbyterian Church.

Note: Outside and across the street from the church on the first morning of the first day was a man mowing his lawn with an old fashioned rotary blade push mower. A heartwarming site that I hadn’t seen that in over 60 years.

Moving on: To further demonstrate the hard work of the SHPC and their dedication to the advancement of the Iowa historic preservation project they assembled a group of presenters that rounded out the ideas, practices and opportunities provided by the state and alive and well in the place called Mount Pleasant.

PowerPoint presentations as shared by the Summit presenters.

30 Years of Historic Preservation in Henry County –

https://iowa1.sharepoint.com/sites/PublicShares-SHPO2/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FPublicShares%2DSHPO2%2FShared%20Documents%2FPresentations%5Ffinal&p=true&ga=1

Joel Garretson -Chair of Henry County HPC

Caroline Lehman – Vice Chair of Henry County HPC

Pay White – Member of Henry County HPC

Rebecca McCarley, SPARK Consulting

Ties that Bind: The Stories of the occupants in architecture.

Historic Preservation in Small Town Iowa –

Historic Preservation in Small Town Iowa Download

Lynn Pruitt, Muscatine County Historic Preservation Commission

Jennifer Price, Historic Preservation Consultant, Price Preservation Research

Finding Meaning: Telling a Building’s Story Through Architecture –

Steve Shapiro –

Intern at St. Louis Habitat for Humanity

Sequal Architecture Des Moines, Ia –

Architect Steve Shapiro

Barbershop/Office Project –

from Grocery Store to Barbershop to Architecture Office.

Query:

How does a community keep a story about a place alive once it’s been told.

Answer:

Repeat the story, of course. You knew that. See the 1998 Ottumwa Historic Preservation Plan. Strategy 3: Education pg. 20. to summarize: Invent and establish ways to repeat the story. Post it in at its place of origin for people to see. Tell it in print, or audio for a tour using a phone number (as Neil Smith Preserve does), or a tour using a QR code. Weave it into other stories to build a bigger theme around the history of the town.

Local History Online: How to Develop, Curate, and Drive Engagement Digitally

Kevin Mason narrates Iowa history on this website.

Notes on Iowa

DMS Partnership

Materials Morning-

Terry Phillips and Partner – Mill Seed, Washington, IA

Ahead of his time in responding to the importance of the materials of the past.

Deconstruction Code in cities taking on the task.

Note: Did they create 100s of 1000s of jobs? That’s what my notes say.

Portland, Oregon– pop.630,000

1st US City – 2016

Hennepin County – Deconstruction Grants – Minneapolis, MN – pop. 425,000

Funding for residential properties built prior to 1970 to deconstruct building materials for reuse. Up to $5,000 available per project (up to $2 per square foot) based on eligible deconstruction expenses for residential full building removal or renovation/remodeling projects.

Note: – instead of code up to $5,000 for residential instead of putting deconstructed materials into dump, they put a certain tonnage into reconstruction. Commercial up to $10,000, movement up to 15,000 . also incentivize using used construction materials into additives, renovation, remodeling, reconstruction

Milwaukee, WI Department of Neighborhood Services – pop. 577,893

2017 – requirement stayed in place until 2020 then again until 2025

Boulder, CO Sustainable Deconstruction Requirements – pop. 108,250

2020 – energy conservation code, +80% green house gas by 2028

divesting away from dumps by 2030?

all materials – 63 million pounds of which 93.5 percent were re-used.

Sale of usable materials. What does social value of $196 / lb mean to social health? Saving for reuse not remanufacture

Palo Alto, CA – 69,000 pop

1/2 of landfill waste came from construction and demolition

establishment compared de-construction to organ donation.

-Certified Deconstruction contractor

Before a demolition permit is executed (in historic districts)the building requires a review, puts 30 day stay in place, results in exchange of information that can be beneficial to both properties.

Hennepin, County – MN – Grants – funding mechanisms – instead of code up to $5,000 for residential instead of putting deconstructed materials into dump, they put a certain tonnage into reconstruction. Commercial up to $10,000, movement up to 15,000. Also, incentivized using used construction materials into additives, renovation, remodeling, reconstruction

community has to be ready for legislation – INFLUENCE

Recommendation to Iowa communities from Terry is to BAND TOGETHER and make legislation at state level. – LEVERAGE

LIST OF DECONSTRUCTION / RECYCLING BUSINESSES

Baltimore’s Second Chance Inc.

Iowa City Salvage Barn

2nd Baptist Church – Mount Pleasant

Save CR Heritage – Cedar Rapids

PRESERVATION STATION- The Heritage Trust of Burlington Iowa

Mills Seed Company – Washington, IA

Matthew Edel Blacksmith Shop

Mills Seed Company

Note: Stretcher wrap, tag the wrapped harvest of materials.