I wanted to share this image taken at Hill Auditorium for the annual University of Michigan, University Musical Society Ford Honors concert which matches the photo taken at the original opening of Hill Auditorium 100 years ago (below).  This kicks off the 2012-2013, 100th Anniversary Season for UMS at Hill Auditorium and I was lucky enough to be in this anniversary photo.  The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields and Joshua Bell gave a terrific concert and the atmosphere and acoustics made it a sp

One of my favorite National Parks to work in (I have many), is the Keweenaw National Historical Park in Calumet, Michigan. The park was established to preserve and interpret the history of copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula through partnerships with both public and private organizations.

I recently attended the Performing Arts Manager’s Conference in New York. Aside from being a great opportunity to meet people from many different types of performance venues, as well as acousticians, theater consultants, and other theater design professional, the fact that the conference was in New York made it a great opportunity to tour a wide variety of theaters from massive Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall to the quirky Galapagos Art Space.

If you read my post about the Ten Chimneys cultural landscape workshop that was held on September 12th, you already know it was a great day for the attendees.  It is my hope that more activities focused on the preservation of cultural landscapes in Wisconsin will result from ideas generated during the workshop.  Throughout the day, the group discussed ideas for increasing visibility and support for significant cultural landscapes.  Many of these ideas will apply to efforts in other states, so I’m sharing them with the hope that they will be helpful.

Last Thursday morning, Tom Jester and I had the opportunity to observe the gilding work on the top two rings of the Great Hall dome at the National Academy of Science Building. The Gilder’s Studio is tasked with cleaning and repairing the Guastavino tile dome, which is decorated with tempera paints and gold leaf based on the design of artist Hildreth Meiere.

On November 3rd and 4th, the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) conducted the Campus Heritage Symposium to reflect on years of study funded by the ambitious Campus Heritage Initiative grant program of the Getty Foundation. (Quinn Evans Architects prepared the Cultural Landscape Report for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.) Dozens of presentations illustrated the tremendous diversity of campuses, from cloistered enclaves for a few hundred to sprawling complexes for tens of thousands, from Collegiate Gothic and Colonial traditions to icons of 20th century innovation.

I came across an article in the Washington Post this weekend on public clocks. Much to my surprise, it mentioned the clock we recreated for the Calvary Baptist Church spire reconstruction project. I remember working on the details for the clock's decorative Gothic face several years ago.

Last week during the Preservation Virginia Conference held in Winchester, two points were made that I found to be quite thought-provoking. Esteven Rael-Galvez, Vice-President of Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, introduced the first point with a quote from the Taos people, “wherever people go, they leave their breath behind them.” Preservation is about whole communities as represented by not just buildings but words and stories and memories.

Monday, September 12^th, was such a great day in the awesome Wisconsin hamlet of Genessee Depot! A fantastic group of 39 professionals and individuals interested in conserving significant historic landscapes in Wisconsin gathered at Ten Chimneys for a full day of cultural landscape immersion. Ten Chimneys is a National Historic Landmark created by theatre legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne as a working farm, retreat and rehearsal forum for themselves and their friends.

Unexpected discoveries are one of the great pleasures of working on historic preservation projects. In April I wrote about a 1924 newspaper found above the main lobby ceiling at the National Academy of Sciences Building. A larger surprise was the largely intact east gallery coffered ceiling and lay light that was discovered recently as interior demolition was underway. The original ceiling had been covered over (rather than demolished) when the original building was expanded in 1965 with a two-story addition.