Displaying items by tag: preservationists

On Monday, January 5, 2015, Newport, Rhode Island’s Zoning Board of Review released its 4-1 decision in favor of a controversial visitor center planned for the grounds of The Breakers, a Gilded Age mansion built for the Vanderbilts. Many neighbors, preservationists, and descendants of the Vanderbilts, including the designer Gloria Vanderbilt, have voiced their opposition to the center, stating that it would detract from the integrity of the historic landmark.

The magnificent seaside mansion is owned and operated by the Preservation Society of Newport County, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the area's finest architecture, decorative arts, landscape, and social history.

It doesn’t look like much yet — a chain-link fence around the perimeter of the historic Sarasota High School building, an inconspicuous construction trailer tucked next to the north wall of the building — but work is underway to convert the 1926 Collegiate Gothic building into the Sarasota Museum of Art.

After nearly a decade of fundraising reached (and surpassed) its goal of $22 million in May, structural preservationists conducted a thorough investigation of “every nook and cranny” of the building’s interior, said Wendy Surkis, SMOA president. Now, work begins on the exterior, to ensure the integrity of the building’s “envelope” and to add a glass atrium to the east side of the three-story structure. Interior renovations will follow, with work to be completed in early 2016.

Back in December 2012, officials at the New York Public Library (NYPL) received considerable opposition after releasing a number of important details pertaining to the institution’s $300 million renovation. The part of the project that prompted the most backlash involved clearing out the century-old back portion of the library, which is housed in a landmark building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Over three million volumes were to be relocated to a storage space under Bryant Park as well as another facility in Princeton, NJ.

In July 2013, a group of historians and preservationists filed a lawsuit again the library, asking NYPL officials and the project’s architect, Norman Foster, to reconsider their plan. The group also filed an application to have the library’s iconic Rose Main Reading Room landmarked in order to protect the book stacks, which support the room’s structural integrity.

While the lawsuit has not yet gone to court, the NYPL’s president, Anthony Marx, and Foster have responded to the plaintiffs, insisting that a revised plan, which will be released this fall, includes a new circulating library under the Rose Main Reading Room. Marx and Foster also announced that the new design will incorporate the book stacks as “a prominent feature.”

Back in December 2012, officials at the New York Public Library released a number of important details pertaining to their $300 million renovation. Part of the project involved clearing out the back portion of the library, which is housed in a landmark building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

The plan has 1.2 million volumes being relocated to a storage space under Bryant Park as well as another facility in Princeton, NJ. Most of the exiled books are now available digitally and library officials purposely chose rarely requested books to be relocated. With the newly freed up space, the architecture firm Foster & Partners, plan to create a four-level atrium with curving balconies filled with bookshelves and reading tables overlooking Bryant Park. It will be the first time since the library was built in 1911 that patrons will be able to see the park.

The library received a fair amount of criticism after announcing their plans to renovate and Advocates for Justice, a nonprofit organization, has just filed a lawsuit on behalf of five preservations and scholars. The plaintiffs are arguing that the library is violating its charter and the state’s constitution by removing the aforementioned books. The suit also claims that the library failed to conduct an environmental impact review for the renovation plans. While the library recently applied for building permits, officials claim that they are for “preliminary work” and that the designs have not been finalized.

The busiest public research library in the United States, the New York Public Library is expected to span 100,000 square feet after renovations are complete. Construction is slated to begin this summer and is expected to last until 2018.