Blog #8

I live in a brand new subdivision. Before that, I lived in a brand new subdivision. Before that I lived in a 1970’s ranch house that probably at one time was part of a brand new suburb. “Sprawl- technically defined as ‘low density, automobile-dependent development beyond the edge of service and employment areas’ -is ubiquitous and its effects are impacting the quality of life in every region of america, in our largest cities and small towns” (1998 Sprawl Report). The report I quoted from goes on to list rapidly sprawling cities and the problems they are having. While I can’t give scientific data about the places I lived, I can see how people moving further and further away from the city would cause issues, both from increased use of cars and the detriment to the landscape. The house we moved into when I was five, it was in a new suburb, backed up against more 70’s style ranch houses. I remember then it only took us forty five minutes to get to downtown Chicago. While this may seem like a huge number to someone who lives in a city, to me, because I grew up with it, seemed like a normal amount of time to get anywhere. When we moved for the third time, again into a new subdivision, It took an hour and a half to get downtown. And there were other problems too. There were actually protestors from the town holding signs where the suburb was being erected. Before the construction began and the people came, there was (apparently) a beautiful field where the town used to hold fairs but the township sold it to developers. This tidy sum bought a new police station, but at what cost? And did they really need a million dollar police station for a town of only a couple thousand? I realize that by living in the neighborhood, I am part of the problem, but if it were up to me I would always live in a city. Driving hours in each and every direction is a hassle for everyone and its not good for our environment or our landscape.

Blog #5

The Iron Horse Hotel Is an amazing place to see old history brought together with modern touches and ambiance. It is a darkened modern place with eccentric touches that both invites the patron but also cause them to think in a new way. All of the modern touches mixed with eclectic furnishings and ambiance lead one the find the Iron Horse a trip into the past, in the most beautifully way I could find. I love the idea of exposed brick mixed with exacting IKEA furniture and other modern touches that make the place both feel lived in, and relevant, despite its warehouse beginnings. The iron horse was part of the revival that the 5^th ward of Milwaukee wet through to try and meet up with the chic third ward and the entire city leaving its more industrial roots and attempting to reach into the future with a more metropolitan feel. I enjoy the ambiance of the iron horse, it is my taste in aesthetic That I have always dreamed in order to who my own personality on furnishings. The iron horse is the epitome of my personal taste mixed with the ideals of this class and what preservation can do to bring a shelter from a bunch of walls into a useful and beautiful , relevant place that will one day showcase the most modern furnishings with in beautifully antiquated walls.

Blog #9

I think open air-museums are very important to American Culture. While we may not be as sophisticated or reserved as Europe, our museums reflect our way of life and our culture. By visiting one of these museums or houses, you can gain an idea of what life looked like for people in this area at a different time. On our walk through the Pabst Mansion, we got to see quite a bit more than the normal tour. I thought that was really great because we learned many more details about their lives than the average tour group. These homes can really help drive tourism to the city and generate tax revenue. Every year in Illinois, fourth graders from all across the state travel to see the Frontier outdoor living museum, President Lincoln’s home, and other such historical sites. While the Pabst family weren’t huge players in politics, it gives us crucial insight into style and taste changes as well as how people lived their day to day lives in those times.

Blog #7

I think it’s important to address this topic in three different parts. Lake Park is an excellent example archeology, landscape and building preservation but I feel that by talking about its specific parts as opposed to speaking about it on the whole, you can get much more in depth about what should be preserved and if it is as important as preserving other sites. 

The archeological element at Lake Park is the Indian Burial mound. Believed to date back to the Mid-Woodland Culture (300 BCE-400CE), these mounds were constructed for burial and ceremonial purposes. This mound is thought to be the last of its kind in Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Archeological Society gave it a plaque to preserve its existence (Lake Park Friends). Having now been to the Indian Burial Mound, I am not impressed. Especially considering they have x-rayed the mound and found nothing below the surface, why are we saving it? We destroyed its companions, put a plaque in the middle of it, and plopped it on top so one has to walk over the “sacred” ground to even read it. I don’t see what worth this burial mound has besides assuaging our guilt over flattening the other ones.

Landscape in Lake park is vast because, obviously, it’s a park. Having walked across a good portion of it, I would say it is a very beautiful park and I did enjoy the scenery much more than the weather. “...a gathering of professionals in Japan, in 1977, defined a historic landscape as’...one which has had associated with it an event or series of events of historical note. A historic landscape may also be the visual perception of a particular period of civilization, a way of life or patterns of living’” (Murtagh 108). I think Lake Park, the park aspect of it anyways, should be preserved. We learned how important the park was for “society” in the early part of the last century. Walking around, one can just imagine horse drawn coaches carrying people over the stone bridges and women with parasols in white dresses walking around the lawn. By preserving the park and its bridges, you are preserving an older way of life. Why does this not apply to the Indian Burial mounds? Ah, because the park has another reason it should be preserved. In an urban environment like Milwaukee, it is important for the natural life and for the people to keep some areas green and free of buildings. It creates an escape, a place for people to take their children to play and be outside in a safer place than baseball in the street. 

North Point Lighthouse is the building component of Lake Park. This building, much like the greenery of the park it neighbors, is very valuble to the community and to our history. Built of cream city brick, the seventy four foot tower was crucial in guiding ships to a safe destination. This both preserves a way of life as well as distinctly Milwaukee history.

Blog #6

I have always had a passion for Ancient Egyptian culture, ever since I was a child. I started researching originally what was being done to save Egyptian monuments when I was picking out a topic. As I started to learn more, I saw that while looting was a large problem, there was something much darker going just a little further west, in Iraq and Afghanistan. In some of the articles I have read so far, it seems like our armed forces haven’t done much to staunch the flow of artifacts being stolen from museums we are trying to protect and the destruction of cultural heritage sites. Some questions I have after doing some initial research; what is the history of looting and what effect does it have, how extensive is the damage and how much of that is directly caused by war, can anything be done to stop the damage to our history or what is being done, and what types of prevention can we implement to save it? My topic really connects to what we have been talking about in class. While some buildings can be up for discussion about wether or not they should be saved, I don’t think there really needs to be much of a discussion about some of the monuments and sites in the Middle East. Especially concerning the ones we haven’t been able to properly look at because of politics or war, these sites could contain valuable information about our past and deserve to be saved so that we might learn from them. As far as the ones that we have studied already, I think that the ones with the most cultural significance or the ones in the most danger should be top priority, such as Babylon or the Great Mosque of Samarra. I believe that these sites shouldn’t be used the way they are and that as a global community we should have more respect for our past and our cultural history.

Blog #5

I think this image is a great example of adaptive reuse. Originally the Iron Horse was a mattress factory, built in 1907, and then became a paper box company. Now it is a world class hotel, having won numerous awards. I picked this photo because it shows how the designers of the hotel kept many of the original parts of the building and stayed true to the Milwaukee loft-type style of interiors. Most notably, the beautiful hemlock and heart pine posts and beams have been kept, as well as exposing cream city brick. The large square beams almost make the rooms feel a little lodge-like, but the accessories keep it from going in that direction. By expertly blending antiques and the old architechtural elements with modern furniture and industrial touches, the designers created an inviting and beautiful hotel. They took an old, unused building and repurposed it, retaining the original atmosphere and adding new modern twists, bringing the hotel into the future.

Blog #4

This is what we get...

this is what they have...

Deciding how to preserve the aesthetic of a neighborhood is important. One of the most beautiful things about a city is diversity, the idea of a melting pot of people gathered in a small area coexisting. But, in any city there are smaller “towns” where one race or ethnicity tend to gather, such as Chinatown or Greektown. These areas are full of specialty shops, grocery stores and markets that reflect where the people who live in the neighborhood came from. This, too, is important to preserve. So how can the two meet halfway? I think as long as the district or area doesn’t cover too large a space relative to the city size, then there is nothing wrong with having guidelines about the buildings there. By creating and maintaining an aesthetic for a particular neighborhood, the history of the area is preserved as well. Though, sometimes this can keep buildings around that really don’t serve a purpose or aren’t suiting the needs of the people using it, such as our Union. While it more or less serves our school well, it doesn’t really match the main building. Having seen the union at Illinois Institute of Technology last year, I developed some serious canteen envy. Because it is a historic building, it cannot be torn down, even though it no longer suits our needs for it. I think that our Union is a good example of the downsides to historic neighborhoods.

Open Air Museums - Old World Wisconsin

An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first was Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, where Ford intended his collection to be "a pocket edition of America". But it was Colonial Williamsburg which had a greater influence on museum development in North America. Open air museums are important to our understanding of history in its natural form or location. Visitors are able to get "the full experience" while they view artifacts, structures or spaces. Many of these areas are wonderful in educating people about specific topics.

When I was younger I visited Old World Wisconsin in Eagle, Wisconsin. I think I was about 8 years old when I went to this open air museum. The experience is something I still carry with me today. I remember vividly seeing all of the actors working and performing tasks a if it really was "the old world". The space seemed super real, but this may just be because at 8 years old you are rather naive. The museum's more than 60 historic structures range from ethnic farmsteads with furnished houses and rural outbuildings, to a crossroads village with its traditional small-town institutions. The efforts of countless historians have preserved an amazing slice of true Americana — one that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Blog #9 The Builtmore Estate

I grew up in a historically restored home, this was not a pleasant experience for me as a child, but because of my parents desire to live in such a home, I was dragged during my younger years to many a different historical home in order to “experience” the way people “once lived in finer times”. Whatever that means. I remember best being dragged all the way to North Carolina once to see the majestic Biltmore estate house, a massive estate that covers more than 8,000 acres and is still owned by the Vanderbilt family. It is a huge, running, self sustaining estate that allows people to visit , volunteer and experience life as any fabulously rich person in 1895 might have wanted to. It sports a year round team of curators, gardeners and staff dedicated to running the estate as it always has been since it’s building. Now, This is an estate that although massive, imposing and beautiful, it is also useful. I harp in the course over and over about the need to consider the use of a place for preservation purposes. Although it is a great means of generating revenue, it also preserves artisan and craftsmen wonders, a vintage car collection (all running and restored might I add!) as well as acres of land that is carefully tended and protected.

This estate preserves a lifestyle, a landscape and a way of life that is all too close to being lost in America. I believe that the use of this estate far outweighs the drag, over-indulgence and pompous nature I feel for it, perhaps because of my resentment of my own upbringing. The benefit it gives to arts, technology education and philanthropy is beyond something like a preserved home in Chicago, not open to the public, could ever hope to have, so despite my resentment, the place of such a museum is important and necessary to ourselves as preservationists and students of history.

Blog #8

The Environment and Preservation

One part of my life that was well influenced by environmental preservation was the presence of indoor gardens or greenhouses in Chicago. Now, these sites were not considered the “environment” to the point at which they were large landscapes being protected and watched over by the government, but the acts of privet owners and volunteers to bring the rare, the natural and the beautiful into the lives of us urban folk. The Garfield Park conservatory is one of the most beautiful and complete greenhouses I have ever seen. The Garfield Park Conservatory is one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the nation. Often referred to as "landscape art under glass," the Garfield Park Conservatory occupies approximately 4.5 acres inside and out, and includes ] thousands of plants that are grown each year for displays in City parks and spaces. Garfield Park Conservatory is located in Garfield Park — an 184-acre site located on Chicago's redeveloping Westside designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney — and is the oldest of the three great original Westside parks (Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas). Their mission statement is that :

“The Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, a non-profit organization, strengthens community through the unique combination of the Garfield Park Conservatory Campus, other botanical resources, and the engagement of community members. With its innovative programs, the Alliance enhances the environmental, social and economic vitality of Chicago’s West Side and encourages the larger community to explore the fundamental connection between plants and human life.”

Because the conservatory is located in such a devastated area in Chicago it is often looked over, yet it is somehow never ignored. The people that the site brings in often have to face and notice the area surrounding the conservatory, thus making it impossible to ignore. This space is not only open for educational purposes, art exhibitions, (like the best on I ever saw, the Chihuly glassworks exhibit!) parties and other events, but also just the regular patron who wants to experience nature from all corners of the globe. I have seen butterfly exhibits, plants I never would unless I traveled thousands of miles, and art that can only be appreciated in such a vast and creative environment. Like I said, this is not a spot of wilderness, but a carefully tended slice of nature nestled into the urban landscape opening up the ability to experience nature, art, history and science all at once, in one area. It is something worth investing time and money into, because it holds natural wonders and beauties inside glass that otherwise could be lost, or frankly, never discovered, by anyone but those who seek out botany as one of their life missions. Such organizations should be saved and supported both communally and governmentally, though it is somehow the responsibility of the people of Chicago to maintain and care for this apex of environmental preservation.