Trust for Architectural Easements - Lessons in Architectural History

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SoHo Cast Iron District openhousenewyork Children's Walking Tour
Report Card: Urban Design in the Second Grade
Reclaiming the High Line
Supporting MoMA in Educating Youth on Architecture
Advocating Historic Designations
National Building Museum Celebrates 25 Years with New Exhibition
An Art Deco Revival
The Next Generation of Preservationists
Building Appreciation in Students
Architecture Appreciation Course

SoHo Cast Iron District openhousenewyork Children's Walking Tour

On Saturday, October 4, 2008, children from the New York City area gathered on the corner of Canal and Lafayette Streets in downtown Manhattan to learn about architecture and cast-iron buildings with the Trust for Architectural Easements. The tour was offered in conjunction with the annual Open House New York Weekend, organized by openhousenewyork, during which over 300 sites of architectural distinction were opened to the public free-of-charge.

Laura L. Thornton, the Trust’s Director of Education, led the children and their families on a walking tour through a portion of the 26-block SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District.

Named for its location south of Houston Street, SoHo contains the greatest concentration of cast-iron-fronted buildings in the world. In the latter half of the 19th century, SoHo grew from a sleepy farmland neighborhood into an international mercantile center. Factories and warehouses sprung up almost overnight along SoHo’s streets to accommodate new and bustling industries. Business and store owners sought quick and economical ways to beautify their buildings and glorify their trades. Cast-iron storefronts fit the bill – readily mass-produced in great detail, and easily bolted onto plain masonry structures, they could be assembled in a matter of mere days.

Today, cast-iron façades in the SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District abound with rich detail. Unlike stone carvings that wear down over time, cast-iron details remain crisp and clear. Elegant columns, arches and pediments frame large window bays, and bring to mind the stately palaces of the Grand Canal of Venice. Cast-iron surfaces are painted in various colors, and some pass as carved stone – a magnet reveals the true material beneath the paint.

The children on the tour explored SoHo with magnets in-hand. The children also used architectural flashcards to help identify architectural elements such as columns, arches, pediments, and porticos. In the classroom, they cut out columns, arches, and lintels to paste onto colored construction paper in architectural designs of their own creation.

Report Card: Urban Design in the Second Grade

Money City Buildings

Sustainable historic preservation depends on educational outreach. Laura L. Thornton, Director of Education for The Trust for Architectural Easements, visited second-grade students in New York City’s public schools this past spring. Thornton worked with children at P.S. 86 in Brooklyn and P.S. 287 in the Bronx. Each class designed and built an imaginary city out of cardboard boxes. The children not only learned about architecture and urban planning, but also reaped the benefits of shared ideas and teamwork – dream cities unique to each class!

Thornton visited five second-grade classrooms each week, remaining for nearly an hour with each class. She partnered with Hae-In Kim, of openhousenewyork, a non-profit organization specializing in the development and presentation of educational programs focusing on the New York City’s built environment. Together, Kim and Thornton helped the students to work together to create imaginary cities on the floors of their classrooms.

Student enthusiasm for the project abounded. In the first session, Kim and Thornton discussed cities and urban planning. The children listed all of the components necessary to make good cities: police station, fire station, school, library, bus station, post office, stores, and places to live. (The zoo, the amusement park, the beach, and the candy store were not forgotten.) Students also voted on names for their cities: Ice Cream Town, Money City, Candyland, Pokemon Town, and High School Musical World.

Next, each student was asked to create a building out of a box brought from home. Some students designed stores and public buildings, while others made houses or apartment buildings. Students covered their boxes with brightly-colored construction paper, and decorated them to create their assigned buildings; a “Donut Shop,” for example, featured an oversized paper doughnut upon its roof, while a bank was covered with dollar signs.

Once the buildings were completed, the students of each class gathered together to map out their city on a big piece of paper. Kim and Thornton encouraged the students to think as urban planners, and to consider building locations and groupings. “Which buildings should be located together?” they asked the students. “Where should those groupings be placed within the city, and why?” As the students developed their cities, they honed in on their critical thinking skills.

Students also discussed how they wanted their streets to run, and where to put rivers, beaches, and parks. Streets were named according to city names: Ice Cream Town, for example, featured streets named after ice cream flavors – Pistachio Street and Mint Chip Ice Cream Lane. Some classes chose to have a town center, either a town square or a central circular space, while other classes marked the centers of their cities with major intersections.

With the land mapped and the streets surveyed, the students placed their buildings, along with paper trees, on the maps, and their cities took shape. Kim and Thornton helped the students evaluate their cities: the locations of some buildings were changed, and suggestions were solicited as to what other buildings might be included. Students wanted to add people, cars, stop signs, traffic lights, and yellow lines down the centers of the streets – they were beginning to think like urban planners.

Kim and Thornton also led the students on walking tours around the neighborhoods of their schools. With large flashcards, they taught the students architectural vocabulary like “column,” “colonnade,” “round arch,” “pointed arch,” “pediment,” “porch,” “gargoyle,” and “frieze.” The children looked for examples of these terms during the walking tours, and also picked up a little bit about the history of their schools’ neighborhoods.

Kim and Thornton were successful in getting the children to think critically about their communities. The students also learned about the importance of good teamwork; planning and building their cities were group efforts, and the children learned to respect their classmates’ work and ideas. Now, the students are hoping that architectural educators will continue to come to their schools and teach them about architecture. In the fall, Thornton will work with public school students in Washington, D.C.

Here is what the students’ classroom teachers had to say about the program:

“The discussion about where buildings should go and why they should be placed there was interesting, child-centered, and provoked fine thinking.” – Ed Clinton, P.S. 287

“Every session was well thought out and organized. The session in which students designed their assigned buildings was successful, and they certainly enjoyed putting their buildings together to create their town.” – Cynthia Calderon, P.S. 86

“The most successful part of the workshop was the hands-on activity of building and decorating. The students really enjoyed it.” – Ms. Sorgini, P.S. 86

Reclaiming the High Line

.... image courtesy of James Shaunessy

In the 1930s, an elevated rail system known as the High Line was constructed on the West Side of Manhattan. It delivered freight directly to factories and warehouses on the West Side, from St. John's Park Terminal to 35th Street. It improved efficiencies and was instrumental to the city's commercial development. Since 1980, the elevated track system has been just a shadow of itself. Trains have not traveled its tracks for more than two decades, yet like the other industrial remnants, it played a historic role in the evolution of New York City. The Trust for Architectural Easements supports Friends of the High Line, a community group working to preserve the High Line and transform it into a linear park. Since 2004, the Trust has contributed $100,000 to the organization. The first grant supported an educational program for high school students in the High Line district that covered the city's industrial and manufacturing history, including the history of Manhattan's West Side and the nature of its evolving neighborhoods, industrial architecture, and civic planning, urban planning and preservation processes. More recent funds have helped underwrite the cost of a public exhibition of the designs for Section 1 of the High Line Park and related educational activities.

The Trust's 2007 grant sponsored the production of a short documentary narrated by Ethan Hawke. The documentary can be viewed at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1tVsezifw4

Supporting MoMA in Educating Youth on Architecture

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mies van der Rohe Archive, gift of the architect

The Trust for Architectural Easements made a $50,000 two-year grant to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to support the research, writing and free distribution of a series of two education study guides based on the Museum’s extensive architectural collection. These guides have been designed to help kindergarten through 12th grade teachers integrate architecture into their current curricula. An essential goal of these guides is to explore buildings from multiple perspectives, including the history, aesthetics, engineering and the social significance of representative buildings.

Rise of the Modern City: A Guide for Educators, the first MoMA study guide, focuses on the history behind the planning, design and construction of the tall buildings or "skyscrapers" that make up our modern cities. The guide examines the unique architectural development of skyscrapers in America throughout the 20th century, primarily focused in New York and Chicago. It provides summarized information about the architects, the clients, engineering and structural matters, an exploration of materials used in construction and the aesthetic and social history of these majestic, engineering marvels.

Rise of the Modern City includes suggested activities, homework assignments, and research projects, as well as glossaries and bibliographies. The instructional guide and student activities may be downloaded as a PDF on MOMA's website at the following link: http://www.moma.org/modernteachers/guides.html.

Advocating Historic Designations

Preserving New York City’s cultural and architectural heritage has guided the Historic Districts Council (HDC) from its founding in 1971. One of the HDC’s most important roles is to serve as an advocate and advisor for neighborhoods which merit historic designation but have not yet received official designation as an historic district.

An essential tool in that effort is HDC’s publication, Creating an Historic District. Originally published in 1992, the book outlines New York City’s landmark designation process in an easy-to-read, detailed step-by-step format. Given the myriad changes to the landmark designation process that have occurred in the thirteen years since the book was issued, however, the HDC is creating a new edition which will reflect both changes to the Landmark Preservation Commission’s designation process as well as those brought about by the availability of online resources and electronic communication. The revised publication also outlines alternate strategies to guide neighborhood preservation, including gaining listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

The Trust for Architectural Easements is a major contributor to HDC for the publication of Creating an Historic District and sees this worthy project as an extension of its own commitment to preserving historic structures and neighborhoods in New York City.

The new, color, soft cover edition of Creating an Historic District will be available in the Spring of 2006 for $39.95. To order a copy and to learn more about the Historic Districts Council, please contact hdc@hdc.org or visit www.hdc.org.

National Building Museum Celebrates 25 Years with New Exhibition

National Building Museum Great Hall © Hoachlander Davis Photography, courtesy National Building Museum

Exhibiting the nation’s innovations in architecture and construction, the National Building Museum in Washington, DC is America’s premier cultural institution dedicated to architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications.

In December of 2005 the National Building Museum celebrated its 25th anniversary with the opening of a new exhibition entitled Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection. Cityscapes Revealed explores America’s architectural heritage through original building fragments; rare, early 20th-century photographs; intricate architectural drawings; and more. The exhibition reflects the Museum’s rich permanent collection relating to quintessentially American, 20th-century-building typologies, from Beaux-Arts-style residences to main street storefronts and sleek downtown skyscrapers. Educational programming related to Cityscapes Revealed is offered throughout the duration of the exhibition, with programs for professionals, adults, youth, and families.

A major contributor to the museum and this exhibition in particular, the Trust for Architectural Easements is dedicated to preserving the nation’s architectural heritage and considers education a key element in building appreciation for historic buildings and landmarks.

The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. To learn more about the museum visit its website at www.nbm.org.

National Building Museum Press Release
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An Art Deco Revival

The Chrysler Building, Waldorf-Astoria and Rockefeller Center are among the hundreds of examples of the Art Deco architecture that during the 1920s and 1930s helped create the image of New York City as the world’s most modern metropolis. Coined in the 1960s to describe a style of French decorative arts, “Art Deco” now refers to almost anything from saltcellars to skyscrapers, produced anywhere in the world during the early decades of this century, using abstract, stylized floral, geometric or streamlined design.

Though Art Deco may have gotten its start in France at the 1925 Paris Exhibition, many would argue that it reached its architectural zenith in New York City. New York City’s Art Deco buildings -- following a massive reawakening of interest during the 1970s -- today survive as prized remnants of a distant yet modern past that still help define the city’s visual identity.

To help educate the public and to honor the important and unique contribution of Art Deco to American architecture, the Trust for Architectural Easements has awarded the Art Deco Society of New York a grant to help underwrite their hosting of the 8th World Congress on Art Deco. Grant funds were used to support lectures, walking and bus tours, cultural and social events, education programs and a focus on Lower Manhattan/Wall Street architecture. At the core of these educational programs is a three-day symposium at the City University of New York Graduate Center which will draw up to 700 participants from around the world to study and celebrate the unparalleled design achievements of the inter-war years. The American Institute of Architects will provide continuing education credit for participants.

The Next Generation of Preservationists

Sculpture of Carl Schurz in New York's Morningside Park

As just one of several projects receiving funding from the Trust for Architectural Easements and being implemented through the Art and Antiquities unit of the New York City Parks Department and its Citywide Monuments Conservation Program, the monument to the Civil War general and politician, Carl Schurz became a classroom setting for students learning the rare skills of sculpture conservators and overall restoration.

The Citywide Monuments Conservation program is a program that gives college interns studying historic preservation, objects conservation, art history or urban planning an opportunity to learn the precepts and methods of outdoor monuments conservation. They receive technical, hands-on field training in the analysis, treatment and maintenance of monuments, sculptures and fountains that are located outdoors. The program has been mutually beneficial for the students and the public monuments that are being cleaned and repaired. The students are scheduled to work on several dozen other projects at various locations throughout the boroughs of New York City over the coming years.

The Trust for Architectural Easements, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the architectural heritage of our nation, sees its involvement in the restoration effort as a way to seed the future of preservation: "It's always a challenge to find the resources for restoration because it is rarely a top priority in educational curriculums. This project is ideal because it has a tangible impact on restoration projects today and builds the next generation of preservationists for tomorrow," adds Steve McClain of the Trust.

Building Appreciation in Students

Learning to Draw Floor Plans in Dorchester

What good is historic preservation if future generations don't appreciate its value?

To forever safeguard historic neighborhoods, the Trust for Architectural Easements knows it has to commit resources not just to the structures themselves, but also to the organizations that will educate future generations. This education ensures that the next generation appreciates the beauty and cultural importance of their historic neighborhoods.

For this reason the Trust has teamed up with Historic Neighborhoods of Boston and provided the organization with funding for a Challenge Grant, which supports a two-program initiative to build awareness for the value of preservation among students.

The first program, "Just Around The Corner," uses the neighborhood around a grade school as a six-week course. Students connect with their neighborhood through walking tours, mapping exercises and art and journal projects as they learn about historic buildings and begin to develop an interest in their surroundings. "City/Build," the second program, pairs a class of high school students with a current renovation or development project. During the 14-20 week course in the classroom and on site, students work with the team of architects, engineers and developers on site to solve problems, learn teamwork and develop presentation skills.

"Boston has a lot of historic areas, some of which are not as well known as others," says J. Charles Swift, executive director of Historic Neighborhoods. "Understanding of these neighborhoods and their history fosters pride and self-esteem in young people, so the outcome is a win-win, for the neighborhoods and the kids."

Architecture Appreciation Course

The architectural treasures of our past often feature intricate columns, detailed sculptures, arches and ornaments. It is these elements and the craftsmanship that created them that define America’s historic office buildings, homes, theaters, banks and religious buildings. The Trust for Architectural Easements is working to cultivate an appreciation for these treasures by funding the development of a secondary school curriculum emphasizing the importance of historic preservation, career opportunities related to architecture, and the history of American architecture as it relates to function and art. The Trust’s grant of $75,000 to Friends Seminary School of New York has funded the development of a course that covers the history of American architecture, the study of architecture as a career choice, and analyses of historic buildings.