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HISP 650 - Historic Preservation Studio - Fall 2005 The Old Southwest: Historic Resource Documentation and Preservation Plan Graduate students in the University of Maryland Fall 2005 Historic Preservation Studio documented historic resources and examined the potential for preservation within the residential neighborhood and industrial area bounded by M Street, SW, the Anacostia River, Canal Street/2nd Street, SW, and South Capitol Street, an area the students termed "Old Southwest." The area is experiencing increased development pressure from planned and proposed projects in and around the neighborhood. The DC Preservation League asked the students to produce this study in an effort to understand the historic resources located in the area. The team identified and documented 21 potential resources within the community. Most are modest, two-story residential structures built between 1892 and 1958. It is, and has historically been, a low-income and working class neighborhood. While economically challenged, it is a vibrant and complex urban community with many qualities of a small town. In addition to documenting resources, the students provide a plan to protect these resources and sustain neighborhood character. The team's recommendations focus on empowering the community and include suggested programs to create awareness among residents of their neighborhood's history, planning and zoning tools to protect the neighborhood, and the designation of much of the residential portion of the neighborhood as a historic district. Each of these steps can moderate change and improve the power of community residents to preserve the elements of their neighborhood they choose as important to them. Download
entire report in PDF format (7.58 Mb) H Street, NE: Tools for Preserving Neighborhood Character Graduate students in the University of Maryland's fall 2004 Historic Preservation Studio examined the tools available for preserving the neighborhood character of the H Street commercial corridor in Northeast Washington, D.C. The historically significant area was subject to the 1968 riots and “white flight” to the suburbs and was largely ignored by investors for almost thirty-five years. Recently, however, there has been renewed development interest in the area. Historically, the corridor has been commercially, demographically, and institutionally diverse. Current residents wish to see more commercial diversity but fear economic development will destroy the neighborhood’s demographic diversity. To address this concern, the students looked at ways to manage the changes facing H Street. This study identifies policies that address the contributing elements to H Street’s character, such as economic activity, historic structures, and urban design. Its recommendations focus on the integration of policies affecting historic buildings, land use and streetscape, new construction, and activities of local organizations as a tool to overcome long-standing physical and economic issues in the neighborhood and to encourage well-managed change. Download
entire report in PDF format (8.24 Mb) HISP 660 – Internships in Historic Preservation A requirement of the Master of Historic Preservation curriculum is an internship, usually performed the summer between the student’s first and second year in the program. It is an excellent opportunity for students to test theories and apply knowledge gained in the classroom. It allows students to explore avenues of the profession they may wish to pursue upon graduation and to begin developing or expanding contacts with co-workers in the field. Internship opportunities in the Washington, D.C. and surrounding communities are diverse, challenging, and rewarding as exemplified by the brief descriptions provided of past internships in the program. Christopher Dorney National Trust for Historic Preservation I took part in a rewarding internship at the National Trust throughout the spring semester of 2006. The internship involved creating and conducting the nation’s first comprehensive survey of historic preservation easement holding organizations. Historic preservation easements are one of the strongest preservation tools available but up until this internship nobody had a solid understanding of how extensively they were being used and how the were being implemented. The work I did helped to change that. We now know there are well over 200 easement holding organizations in the country. I also learned through my conversations with these organizations that many would like to learn more about easements and how to best run their programs. I found that there is a profound need for more networking amongst easement holding entities so that the use of this tool can be strengthened and enhanced. Thanks in large part to this internship I now feel the need to help facilitate this networking amongst easement holding organizations as part of my professional career.
Nianti Bird-Ortiz President Lincoln and Soldiers'
Home National Monument The President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument, known as the Lincoln Cottage, is currently going through a process of restoration and preservation. As an intern for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, I helped in the completion of the last stage of the exterior restoration of the Lincoln Cottage as well as documentation of the interior. I also assisted with the design development phase for the Visitors' Education Center, a historical building that will undergo a process of adaptive rehabilitation. These projects included tasks such as carpentry, tagging architectural artifacts and submittals, and creating design mock-ups. Other responsibilities included historic hardware assessment, research, architectural and engineering planning and design review, and preparation of the completion report for the exterior restoration project. As an architecture and preservation certificate student, I was able to experience first hand the critical and significant relationship between the two disciplines. Cory Herrala Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS As a US/ICOMOS intern working in Sofia, Blgaria, in southeastern Europe for the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), my primary task was to survey and document a mid-nineteenth-century National Revival style residence in Old Plovdiv, located in Bulgarian Thrace. The structure was one of a cohesive district of buildings and archeological sites considered to be of national significance and a possible future UNESCO World Heritage Site. After measuring, photographing, and sketching the building inside and out, I converted the information into an electronic format as a complete set of documents for the archival record. A preliminary assessment of existing conditions was also included as part of the set. I was also able to travel throughout Bulgaria's beautiful mountainous countryside. The predominately rural landscape was literally covered with the remnants of thousands of years of history. US/ICOMOS supplemented the educational component of the internship by facilitating meetings with the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for all U.S. and international interns. Renée S. Novak American Battlefield Protection Program As an intern with the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) at the National Park Service headquarters in Washington this past summer, I was responsible for coordinating the Civil War Sites Advisory Committee's (CWSAC) reassessment of 384 Civil War battlefields in 26 states. My main focus was on changes in preservation and planning related activities that have occurred on these battlefields since the first assessment was completed in 1993. Some of my other tasks this summer involved an inventory of strategically marked USGS quad maps for the survey collection, traveling to Richmond and Petersburg National Military Parks for meetings with park superintendents, and networking as program liaison with various non-profit organizations and local government agencies. In 2007, the ABPP will finish the Civil War reassessment study and compile the information into a report for Congress. I feel that this experience at the federal level has been beneficial in preparing me for a preservation career. Rosemary Faya Prola
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning As an intern at M-NCPPC, my major responsibility was to assist in the development of a strategic plan for the management of park-owned cultural resources. My principal task was to map all the 153 park-owned cultural resources using GIS software to create a historic properties layer in the park database. This assignment required compiling and entering information related to significance, use, and maintenance of each property into a database. In addition, I took photographs, served as staff to the strategic plan advisory committee, and helped to edit the strategic plan document. The benefits provided by this internship included the chance to learn GIS software and further develop my skills in the use of Microsoft Excel and Adobe Photo Deluxe; the opportunity to participated as a member of a team of dedicated professionals engaged in important preservation work; and greater insight into the challenges and rewards of working as a preservation planner for a public agency. Hillori Schenker Unites States Naval Academy Internship To pursue my interests in commemorative landscapes such as battlefields and cemeteries, I interned for Naval District Washington, East's Department of Public Works at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), in Annapolis, Maryland. My duties at the academy included surveying, documenting, and photographing the USNA cemetery gravestones. I created a survey form for each stone and developed a searchable database, which can be accessed from the academy's website http://www.usna.edu/cemetery/lookup.htm. This information provides baseline data for managing the resource, providing the first complete inventory of gravestones at the cemetery. In addition, it provides families, genealogists, and other interested parties the ability to look up a name or special category, such as Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, and view the pertinent survey form. Section number, lot number, photograph, and inscription are examples of the information that will be provided. Mary E. Seng O'Connell and Associates, LLC My internship with O'Connell and Associates, a small company in Baltimore, Maryland, gave me the opportunity to apply my historic preservation skills in a corporate setting. My major project was to research, write and compile a National Register Nomination for a historic district in South Baltimore called Pigtown. The work was both challenging and interesting. I had the opportunity to meet with other preservation professionals involved in the project and take responsibility for organizing the project at a time when the regular staff were pressed by other deadlines. As a result, I came away from the project feeling that I was able to make a meaningful contribution at the same time I was learning. I also was exposed to other aspects of the company's business and found it to be a useful experience overall. Maureen Vosmek Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER/HALS) My internship with the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS), a division of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, involved the documentation of the Hana Belt Road, a historic scenic highway that follows the dramatic northeast coastline of the island of Maui in Hawaii. Our team was responsible for developing historical narratives describing the construction and evolution of the road and the influences that shaped it, including topography, climate and local building techniques and materials. As an architectural technician, I did field work to measure and document the structures then created final ink-on-mylar drawings that define and interpret the unique characteristics of the road, bridges, and road-related landscapes and structures. The completed sets of documentation will be archived at the Library of Congress, where they are made available to the public. Pamela Watson Historic Preservation Training Center, National Park Service My internship involved working for the National Park Service at
the Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC) located in the
Gambrill House near Frederick, Maryland. My supervisor was the chief
historical architect for HPTC, Mr. Thomas Vitanza. Along with another
summer intern, I worked on a HABS/HAER documentation of the outbuildings
surrounding the main house of the Thomas Farm, also known as Araby.
The Thomas Farm is located between Frederick and Urbana, Maryland,
and is the site of the Civil War "Battle of Monocacy, otherwise
known as the "Battle that saved Washington." The outbuildings
being documented at this farm were a smokehouse, well house, wooden
implement shed and a stone tenant house. We also did a condition
assessment of the Roulette Springhouse located in the Antietam Battlefield
located near Sharpsburg, Maryland. In the condition assessment,
we had to define the characteristics of the building, prioritize
the need for attention and repair of the springhouse, and make suggestions
as to the treatment of the work necessary to stabilize and restore
the building to its period of significance. This internship was
a wonderful experience as it allowed me to use many of the skills
that I learned while getting a Historic Preservation degree. Kimberly Clauer Center for Historic Buildings The Center for Historic Buildings provides technical and strategic information that promotes the care and reuse of the historic buildings, owned, leased and acquired by the GSA. As an intern with the program I was responsible for researching and drafting information for two different projects, (1) the public building brochure and posters series, and (2) the Growth, Efficiency and Modernism database. I also participated in several meetings and was responsible for various administrative tasks. This internship gave me first hand experience in the professional world of practicing preservation and allowed me to see many of the policies and programs I had learned about in school in action. I developed a better understanding of the federal government’s role in preservation policy and had a variety of resources made available to me.
Technical Preservation Services Technical Preservation Services' (TPS) major responsibilities are to create and produce many of the NPS publications such as the Preservation Briefs, Tech Notes, Interpreting the Standards series, and Affordable Housing Case Studies. The department also provides guidance to historic property owners and serves as liaisons between SHPOs and the IRS by providing tax credit review for the Federal Historic Tax Incentive Program. TPS also provides a major service to the public and preservation professionals by developing and leading national conferences and workshops on preservation topics. While at TPS I sat in on weekly tax credit review meetings, helped update preservation Tech Notes for the internet, and scanned images for a resource database. My major responsibilities were helping to coordinate two national conferences, the “Tax Incentives for Developing Historic Properties National Conference” held in Boston in November of 2004 and “Preserve and Play: Preserving Historic Recreation and Entertainment Sites,” a conference coming up in May of 2005. I helped in speaker selection, publication of the registration brochure, session coordination, as well as attending the conferences and working at the site. I continue to work at TPS as a part-time intern and am interested in possible employment after graduation.
President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument Last spring I began working as an intern for the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument in Washington, DC. In my intern capacity I developed an archival storage area, organized and documented artifacts, and created measured drawings and surveys, among other tasks. This summer I was promoted to Research Assistant and worked on projects including reviewing historic documents to develop a timeline of the landscape, structures, and systems of the National Monument as well as researching the occupancy of the cottage. My work at the National Monument has enabled me to conduct research and surveys of the historic core of the Armed Forces Retirement Home as well as to manage the artifacts and archival storage of Lincoln Cottage.
Center for Historic Buildings My duties during the summer included gathering building information on five buildings for an annual brochure and poster series and collecting information for a database of GSA modern architecture. The brochure and poster series is a tool used to promote historic resources within the GSA and in local communities. My task was to gather historical and architectural information for the brochure text and search for quality photos to use in the brochure and on the poster. The Modernism Database is a new undertaking to document the government’s modern buildings, many of which are recently eligible or will soon be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Information on these buildings built between 1949 and 1970 is often lacking, so my task was to confirm what information there was (such as date of construction, if it was still actually owned by GSA, the name of architect, current contact person for the building), collect missing information, and research its National Register status according GSA’s standards. The benefit of my internship was seeing the federal government creating policy in adherence to the National Historic Preservation Act. Through my own projects and interaction with the staff, I was able to see how the Center created policy and applied historic preservation practice to operation, repair, rehabilitation, purchasing and selling of federal buildings. Erica Schultz John Cullinane Associates This internship at a small architecture office involved work on
historic housing and non-historic housing projects located on naval
bases within the Northeast region of the United States. The firm
received a commission to perform rehabilitation and renovation
work on naval housing in Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, New
Jersey, and New York. Each residential building had to be individually
photographed and assessed for its physical condition and contributing
historical features. In addition, the buildings were placed within
the overall historical significance of the base and within United
States naval history. Suzanne E. Copping National Heritage Areas Program The main task involved compiling
a report containing baseline information on the 23 National
Heritage Areas. Information
collected included: demographics
(population, age, poverty, median income); resources (number
of NHL and National Register Listings); government (local government
units, congressional representation); and summary information
for each area (management entity, contract information).
This completed report was distributed to Heritage Area
directors and other interested parties. It provided quantifiable information to the
Heritage Areas field. My internship taught me about
the Heritage Areas movement and related community preservation
strategies, the range of heritage resources, and the variation
among management structures and goals within the areas.
I gained insight into the strategies that make heritage
areas work—community involvement, partnerships, education.
The experience has helped to shape my professional interests
and illuminated historic preservation as one of many tools for
community revitalization and historic, natural, and cultural
conservation. I continue to work with the National Heritage
Areas Program as a graduate assistant, and I am interested in
pursuing a position after graduation that involves putting historic
preservation into a heritage development context. Jennifer Feldman Preservation
Action Preservation Action is a lobbying
group dedicated to elevating historic preservation as a national
priority through legislative action.
It monitors federal agency actions that affect the preservation
of the nation’s historic and cultural resources, participates
directly in policy development, and creates an environment
for
others to create successful preservation initiatives. Preservation Action has a very small staff and, though an intern, I was asked to participate in a range of activities that included attending hearings on Capital Hill, tracking legislation, helping to coordinate the group’s fundraising auction, and helping plan and staff the group’s Executive Committee meeting.I also worked on two legislative amendments to increase funding for historic preservation. The summer’s experience taught me how non-profits work—their constant need to raise money—and the importance of lobbying—local and statewide preservationists can make a difference. of people working in a small non-profit environment. Stephanie
Ryberg Cultural
Landscapes Program The Cultural Landscapes Program is responsible for completing both Cultural Landscape Inventories (CLIs) and Cultural Landscape Reports (CLRs) for all National Park Service land within the National Capital Region. As an intern with the program, I was responsible for completing a CLI for Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The three main components of the project were to (1) research and write a detailed site history, (2) define the period of significance for the park, and (3) document all of the existing features within the park and assess both their significance and integrity. The internship gave me real-world exposure to many of the concepts and theories discussed throughout the first year of study in the Historic Preservation program, including the difficulties in determining significance and understanding the complexity of multiple layers of history. Ray Swanson The
Lost Trades School During the summer of 2003, I developed and justified an operational framework for the Lost Trades School (LTS). The school trains crafts people in the methods and use of materials that meet federal and state rehabilitation standards and guidelines. A significant portion of my time was spent writing a business plan for the LTS. I also developed the curriculum for the school’s first course in historic brickwork and preservation carpentry. During the remainder of the summer, I wrote grant applications, coordinated the school’s curriculum with the local vocational centers and labor unions, and initiated other fund raising activities. The internship allowed me to incorporate the philosophies of historic preservation into hands-on experience. Creating, justifying, and funding a school and then taking the responsibility for what was taught, at least to its first students, forced me to take positions and defend them to the board of directors. I was pleased to have had the academic depth, coupled with business experience from an earlier career, to support those discussions. HISP 700 - Final Project “Baltimore Neighborhood Revitalization: Butcher’s Hill/Union Square-Hollins Market” "Shaping the Future of Historic Preservation Easements in America" “Lexington Market and the West Side Renaissance” “Historic Preservation and Web GIS” "Flexibility in Mind: Alternative Design Guidelines for Economically Challenged Historic Neighborhoods" “On the Integration of Historical Archaeology & Historic House Museums” “Disaster Management Planning: Are Maryland Museums Prepared?” “Increasing the Public Benefits of State Tax Credits for the Rehabilitation of Income-Producing Historic Properties” "Reclaiming a Town's National History: The 21st Century War for Franklin, Tennessee" “Promoting Equitable Development: Tackling Commercial Gentrification in Historic Districts” "Traditional Small Boat Building Techniques, Why They Are Worth Preserving"
2005 Graduates |
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