A list of endangered historic places in Virginia earlier this year includes several structures in the WMRA Listening Area. WMRA’s Calvin Pynn reports.
Preservation Virginia is a nonprofit that publishes a list every year of historic structures throughout the Commonwealth facing imminent or ongoing threat of demolition.
LYDIA DODD: When considering what is nominated and what gets chosen, the nominations are open to the public. We do a call-out on our social media and our e-newsletter and whatnot for the public to submit places of importance to them and their community.
Lydia Dodd is the Communications Manager for Preservation Virginia.
DODD: Naturally they have to be historic, or have some kind of historic importance, historic relation to the community that they are in. And usually this comes from people who have a connection with the site - whether it's a church or a community center, something to do with their family, perhaps. But really the fact that it is historic and a very important part of the community and the community's history is I think the biggest criteria.
The list includes three historic spaces across the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia.
In Charlottesville, the Wertland Street Historic District – and specifically, the Wertenbaker House – was included among Virginia’s endangered places. The house is located near the University of Virginia’s campus and had been proposed for demolition to develop luxury student housing, but the demolition permit was denied last year.
In Staunton, the Queen Miller Home is also considered endangered. The house was built by Queen and William Miller in the early 1900s to provide education and community for more than 300 Black children in the city.
Harrisonburg’s Downtown Historic District was included on the list as well. The area has less than 150 buildings, at least 10 of which had been demolished in the past decade.
Dodd said that balancing preservation of these historic places while also allowing for growth needs in the communities is a common challenge faced by every location on the list, but there are ways to manage both, like adaptive reuse.
DODD: Taking those historic structures and keeping them standing, but then somehow within being able to reuse that space and reimagine it to something that can be used now. Especially in the case of downtown Harrisonburg, it would be wonderful to see those buildings reused for student housing, for housing that's more affordable, rather than being torn down and being replaced with brand new builds. And that way we can still keep that historic aspect of the downtown area and that landscape and whatnot but still being moving forward into the future with it and allowing the future generations to enjoy the history that's been there for so long.
She added that as efforts continue to keep these structures standing, they serve a larger purpose beyond a history lesson.
DODD: I would say it's important to preserve these places for the future generations to see, to see themselves in history, especially for the places relating to the people of color and whatnot, to be able to see yourself in history is quite important. And without these places, it's, you know, was it here? Did it exist? Without that, we could only have, you know, a textbook or an old image. And I feel like it's what better to have the actual structure, the actual place where the history happened. And we can also learn from the past, of course. So being able to have the primary source of the structure and of the place listed is really important.
Spreading that awareness has paid off. Its been more than two decades since Preservation Virginia started the Most Endangered Spaces program, and in that time only 10 percent of listed structures have been demolished.
You can find the full list of Endangered Places at preservationvirginia.org.
For WMRA News, I’m Calvin Pynn.
