RE: [UC] Good intentions are not enough; it takes money, too

[Christine Miller]

I think that these are completely separate issues.    I also read that article at lunch today, and the message I took away from it was: “For the love of GOD, not ANOTHER house museum.”    The general philosophy of the preservation movement has changed since the days that the Maxwell Mansion was designated.  To defend myself, we generally no longer look to create these “Doll Houses,” and advocate concepts like economic sustainability and adaptive reuse.  Fairmount Park is a prime example of a series of 40 or so “Doll Houses,” with low attendance, no professional staff, and little to no money for operating expenses.  Fortunately, the city and a few insightful preservationists decided to create the Trust, whose mission is to conserve and adaptively reuse the buildings in the park, which actually makes the buildings sustainable.  This, fortunately for the Park, is working.    Although I do agree with the concept of local historic districts, that is something entirely different (and a discussion that I really don’t want to start on this list-serve).  It is simply a local government ordinance – unlike the creation of house museums, it doesn’t create a 501c3 for you house, along with a mission statement and a board to oversee your household operations.              From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 8:33 AM To: UnivCity@list.purple.com Subject: [UC] Good intentions are not enough; it takes money, too   Based on the publicity about the Maxwell mansion museum in Germantown, there's an interesting "opinion" in the Metro Commentary section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer. It's by Barbara Silberman, executive director of the Heritage Philadelphia Program. Ms Silberman discusses the sad fate of many genuinely historic properties converted to museums by people eager to preserve them. They often suffer because the good intentions of the preservationists are not matched by the money needed for the restoration and upkeep.   A good message between the lines for people who think historic designation of whole neighborhoods more appropriately identified as "period" than "historic" has a nice ring to it... but don't realize what it'll cost the people who own, live, and/or work there.   For those who don't want to give their personal details to the Inquirer and therefore can't read it online, I've got it posted on the widely-acclaimed and world-famous historic designation website: http://www.iconworldwide.com/histodis/inky501.htm   Always at your service and ready for a dialog, Al Krigman