​​We were really, truly blown away by the turn out for our 2019 Annual Meeting on Friday! Thank you to all who joined us at Old Town Hall, and congratulations to the nine deserving Preservation Award winners, who we'll share with you over the next week and a half. 

First of all, we want to extend a warm welcome to this year's new board members! We are so excited to be the beneficiaries of your talent and passion over the next few years:

Caroline Watson-Felt is a lifelong Salem resident with a passion for history, Caroline’s first job after graduating high school was with the Salem Partnership where she supported the creation and launch of both the Essex National Heritage Commission as well as Salem Main Streets. She moved on to the Mayor’s Office for the City of Salem followed by the Office of Special Events and Conferences at Salem State. Her diverse professional experience includes serving as a local nonprofit board leader, community and employee engagement manager, marketer, event-planner, VIP talent handler, local actor and director. A volunteer for Salem Main Streets, Grace Episcopal Church, Go Out Loud, Salem Theatre Company, and various political campaigns, Caroline, who knits when it’s cold and swims when it’s warm, enjoys live music, theatre, long coastal drives and beach walks with her wife, son and dog. She is excited to bring her skills, passion, and voice to Historic Salem.

Anya Wilczynski is currently a program manager at Essex Heritage, the regional non-profit encompassing Essex County. Previously, she was the operations manager of Historic Salem. Her background is in historic preservation but her true passion is for organizational development and growth. She lives in Salem, in the Point neighborhood. 

Paul Wright works as an Energy Analyst throughout eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, helping builders and homeowners design and build sustainable homes and to meet energy code requirements. He has extensive experience in retrofitting existing buildings to be more energy efficient; both as an insulation installer as well as working as an energy auditor in the Mass Save program. He completed the Masters of Design Studies in Historic Preservation program at the Boston Architectural College in 2015. Paul was raised in central and metro west Massachusetts, and moved to Salem in 2013 shortly after college. He was initially drawn to Salem because of its thriving public history scene, working briefly at Pioneer Village and Old Town Hall, and then as a tour guide at the Phillips and Gedney house museums. He currently resides in the Gallows Hill neighborhood. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding and has been excitedly involved in plans for upgrading the Ryan Brennan Memorial Skatepark in Gallows Hill Park.

Congratulations and welcome, Caroline, Anya, and Paul!

For several months we have been reporting on a zoning overlay district that is being considered by the City Council.  At all public meetings and in written comment we have been clear on two issues:

1 – We want to see historic schools, churches and other large civic buildings reused (and they would be great for housing).

2 – We want any new construction on these neighborhood sites to suit the surrounding neighborhood.

In early January the planning department submitted a re-draft of the ordinance, in response to public comment, that allowed for flexibility in reuse of existing buildings and a limited ability for buildings to be expanded in a way that met the character of the surrounding neighborhood.  We were pleased to support this version of the ordinance at the January 9th meeting, as did most members of the community who also commented.

Unfortunately, the ordinance has again been redrafted.  This is a result of Planning Board recommendations made on January 17th.  The redraft allows for new construction, including additions, on the historic sites that could be up to 55 feet tall.  It also allows for very high density.  For example, it could allow up to 40 residential units at 5 Broad Street (the former Senior Center), over 150 units at the St. James Church site on Federal Street, and over 140 units at Immaculate Conception on Hawthorne Blvd.  Many of the properties eligible for this overlay zoning are in residential neighborhoods, yet the allowed zoning would be similar to that allowed in the downtown district (B5 zoning) which is the densest and tallest zoning in the City.

At the next meeting of the City Council on Wednesday, February 14th, the City Council will either vote on the Ordinance or refer it to Committee for further revisions.

It is Historic Salem’s position that this Ordinance should not be passed in its current state.   Allowing such extreme new construction does not meet the intent that the ordinance “allow for reuse..but minimize impacts to surrounding neighborhoods.”

Because we support the reuse of historic schools and churches we would like the ordinance to be referred to Committee so it can be adjusted to allow for new construction consistent with the character of the neighborhood surrounding each unique site.  The January 9th version of the ordinance, that we supported, allowed for new construction that followed the underlying zoning of the neighborhood.  This is how new construction is handled in the best practices model ordinance published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

​Has a preservation effort, large or small, caught your eye or earned your admiration? Historic Salem is looking for more cherished home renovations, hand-crafted fences, breweries, civic buildings, lifelong preservation advocates, or even lighthouses to recognize with a 2019 Preservation Award. Completed projects in any neighborhood in Salem are eligible for nomination. Nominated properties can be private, public, or non-profit; residential or commercial; hand-crafted or urban-scaled.

​"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." – Margaret Mead

Here are some ways to learn more about this proposed zoning overlay:
The edited version of the ordinance, that we received from city planning staff on January 8, is here:  

The December draft of the ordinance itself is here (this has been changed and is included only as reference): Click to read Municipal and Religious Properties Adaptive Reuse Overlay District Draft Ordinance on City’s website.

Our December letter to the City Council is here:

City Council chambers - December 13, 2018 at 6:30pm. (The city's meeting notice is posted here)

Proposed Zoning Changes:  Use your voice to ensure positive changes.
The City Council and Planning Board will hold a Joint Public Hearing on December 13, 2018 in the City Council Chambers.  This is the time to let Councilors and Planning Board Members know your thoughts on a proposed Adaptive Reuse Overlay District.  

Here are some ways to learn more about this proposed zoning overlay:
The ordinance itself is here >> (Link to Municipal and Religious Properties Adaptive Reuse Overlay District Draft Ordinance on City’s website.)

This is a list of the properties to which the overlay will apply >> (Link to List of Municipal and Religious Properties.) This list includes most of the religious and city-owned buildings in the city, a total of 28 properties. 

Please take a moment to read the zoning ordinance, especially if you live very near one of these sites.  The city planning department is available to answer your questions, as they have many of ours, or consider calling your city councilor to discuss the ordinance.  We will be attending the Joint Public Hearing and invite you to join us[1]

Historic Salem’s thoughts:
The stated intent of the Adaptive Reuse Overlay District is to facilitate the appropriate preservation and reuse of eligible buildings -- this is an outcome that Historic Salem wholeheartedly supports.

Historic Salem, Inc. is excited to celebrate Nathaniel Hawthorne in recognition of the 350th anniversary of The House of the Seven Gables on this year's Christmas in Salem house tour, A Very Hawthorne Holiday. While tour-goers are rounding the outer limit of the tour route along Hawthorne Boulevard, they will certainly notice the figure of the author memorialized there in bronze. 

Salem's statue of its most famous son was sculpted by Connecticut-born artist Bela Lyon Pratt (1867–1917). The statue was on display at Boston's Museum of Fine Art before being purchased with funds raised by the Nathaniel Hawthorne Memorial Association and moved to its current location in 1925, the same year that the Hawthorne Hotel was opened.
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In his sculpture, Pratt chose to portray the author sitting on rocks by the ocean because, he said, "It was [Hawthorne's] habit when in Salem to walk alone by the sea and to sit for hours looking across the water." The work is meant to convey Hawthorne's genius and the isolation brought on by his "brooding spirit."

Hawthorne once described his feeling for Salem as "not love, but instinct." He was not particularly fond of his hometown and spent much of his life trying to escape, only to be pulled back by circumstances beyond his control. It is certainly entertaining to imagine the dark humor that Hawthorne might find in the situation were he alive today to see this nine-foot statue situated upon a boulevard bearing his name, in a city he was always trying to leave behind. 
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​Since the initiation of the North River Canal planning process in 2000, Historic Salem, Inc. has participated in and supported the goals of the North River Canal Corridor (NRCC) Master Plan and zoning ordinance.  All the neighborhoods that abut the NRCC are historic neighborhoods which will be affected by development in the Corridor.  A key aspect of the NRCC Master Plan is the importance of neighborhood character as reflected by the customized goals for each section of the Corridor.  Another key part of the NRCC zoning ordinance is the review oversight of the Design Review Board (DRB). 
 
The DRB is a board that possesses specialized skills and experience to address urban design issues as they apply in many areas of our city.  Their value has been proven in the long tradition of work with the Salem Redevelopment Authority.  The Planning Board and City Council have also shown their recognition of the valuable role of the DRB, as evidenced by the recent change that adds DRB review to projects in the Urban Entrance Corridors.  We support the work of the Design Review Board throughout the city and find that the iterative nature of their review improves each project that they evaluate. 
 
Since the introduction of the NRCC Zoning District in 2003, as far as we know, every development approved by the Planning Board has received a positive recommendation from the DRB. With the recent approval by the Planning Board of a project (16-18-20R Franklin Street) that received a negative recommendation from the DRB there is now precedent to allow projects with a negative recommendation to move forward. 
 
This dismissal of the DRB decision undermines the clear intent of the NRCC zoning ordinance.  Historic Salem believes that any project, in any zoning district, that must seek a DRB recommendation should receive positive endorsement to qualify for final consideration by other boards.
 
Historic Salem supports action to clarify the DRB relationship with the Planning Board to insure that the intent of the NRCC Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance is honored, and to improve communication and collaboration among all city boards.

          1-You change the location you are building in.
          2-You process resources into building materials. 
          3-You change the location that the materials come from.

How does this relate to our historic city?  The intersection of preservation and sustainability is greatly underappreciated in the United States.  In Britain, for example, these two disciplines are grouped together under the name “conservation” with specialties in heritage conservation, landscape conservation, or biodiversity conservation.  

​Architecture is the intersection of art and engineering.  Much of the engineering aspect of architecture relates to the structure.  Much of the art of architecture is the application or manipulation of cultural associations.  Once could argue that “good” architecture is the successful combination of a functional yet beautiful structure with edifying or educational ties to a shared culture.  

Professor Piatti laid out some rules that begin to form the “Language of Architecture,” a logical metaphor because language itself is a basis of culture.  All architecture, he says, uses the interplay of solids and voids; enclosure, the surface of the building; massing, often within a hierarchy of primary and secondary; and volume.  As a community we are all trained in a similar architectural language, by virtue of our existing in a shared space.  Of course, how one uses language can vary widely with a range of style (perhaps acting as a regional accent), intent (poetry, prose, technical) and of course eloquence.

In practical application, let’s consider the use of solids and void.  The exterior of a building gives us a clue about the interior organization, for example window and pilaster locations hint of where walls or columns fall within a building.  When this is done well it feels satisfying to us as observers and users. 

Similarly, massing and volume can give us clues to the type of building we are entering. We use shape and size to understand if a building is a church, a house, a store, a civic space.  Certainly, there is room for creativity in our use of architectural language, but poetry results from masterful use of language, not haphazard assembly of words.  When structure doesn’t relate to façade, when cultural association gives us false or vague information about a building the result is architectural cacophony.

          1 – Sense of arrival
          2 – Sense of identity/place (unique look or place centric design)
          3 – Sense of connection to the environment.
 
Speaking of the use of language, what does “good” mean as it relates to architecture or city design?  Certainly, this is a subjective discussion, but I think that Prof. Piatti’s outline of a good city or building is something many of us would relate to when we consider our existence in the built environment.  Below are examples of each characteristic in a range of scales.

Sense of Arrival