PAWV Announces West Virginia Endangered Properties List For 2010
Information for Media Coverage: Related Subjects: Text of Press Release 2009 Endangered List Photographs for Press Use Other Sites From Past Lists Endangered List 2010 PDF Suggestions for Next Year's List? Photos from Press Conference (4 Feb 10) Where Are They Now: Follow-Ups!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jan 2010 Contact: Lynn Stasick lstasick@gmail.com 304 685-8119   Martha Ballman mballman@pawv.org  304 345 6005 Eight historic and significant sites comprise the 2010 West Virginia Endangered Properties List. The selection includes a former school, a library, train depot, bank, diner, museum, and an active church. All areas of the state from Charles Town to Charleston are represented. Properties are listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and meet other criteria such as historic significance, geographic location, preservation emergency, and resources available to resolve the endangerment. Lynn Stasick, historic preservationist, will be the field representative available to help based on the needs of each community. This project is assisted by a Partners in the Field challenge grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the support of generous donors who have answered that challenge. Stasick explains “I work with each property and each community in an effort to rehabilitate and adaptively re-use these unique and historic sites.” In addition to an assessment of each property, Stasick helps with raising public awareness, building local support and capacity, and providing preservation expertise to assist local preservation efforts. Berkeley Springs Train Depot is a 1915 Mission/Spanish Revival style depot features a low profile and red tile roof. It is locally significant as being the last remnant of the once-present Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The depot was rented to the town of Bath (Berkeley Springs) until 2005 as a municipal center and police department. In 2009 the building was closed due to its rapidly deteriorating condition. The heavy roof tiles are falling through the rotting underlayment with temporary supports to stabilize the eaves. Once rehabilitated, the facility will house a community meeting center with displays showcasing the B&O railroad significance with the depot as the remaining icon of the era. Charles Washington, who founded Charles Town in 1786, began constructing his Early Classical Revival mansion, Happy Retreat, in 1780. Nearby at least seven other homes were constructed by Washington family members, including Charles’ brother George, who frequently visited Happy Retreat. The threat to Happy Retreat arose several years ago when the owners expressed their desire to sell the home and its 12.2 developable acres. Two other Washington family homes had just been lost to development, so the threat was all too real. To stave off a sale, the grassroots Friends of Happy Retreat began raising funds to keep the property under option. After four years, however, the group realized that it would be impossible for them to raise enough private funds to acquire and sustain it for public enjoyment. So the nonprofit is now seeking public partners to join them in a new initiative: to develop Charles Washington’s Happy Retreat into the centerpiece of heritage tourism in Charles Town. . Church of God and Saints of Christ Tabernacle is a superb Greek Revival Romanesque church. It is a key anchor of the Wheeling historic district in which it is listed. Built in 1835, the interior has cathedral ceilings, original stained glass windows, and a balcony with slave gallery. Although still in use, this building has severe problems. The roof and box gutters have failed allowing water to intrude and the front steps supporting the columns and portico are crumbling. In addition to church services, the church is home to Saints Charity which this year alone provided clothing, hunger relief, living assistance, computer literacy, and children’s summer programs to over 1,200 families. Greenbrier County Public Library is a 1834 Adams style building in Greenbrier County and was significant as the “Library and Study for the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia” prior to West Virginia statehood in 1863. The building served as a Union hospital and barracks and still has soldier’s inscriptions on the interior walls. Owned by the town of Lewisburg since 1935, it was the Greenbrier County Library from 1941 until 2007. The building is reasonably stable, but interior floors have buckled due to water intrusion, and water pipes have burst from lack of heat. It needs a new roof and rehabilitation of windows and bathrooms. The New River Community and Technical College is interested in creating a student fine arts gallery and arts library here. Hawk’s Nest State Park Museum at Ansted was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The native chestnut log building sits atop massive fieldstone foundations. Until 2005, the museum housed the Calhoun Collection and Native American artifacts. This building serves as an anchor for the lower park picnic area, gift shop, restrooms, and New River overlook; all constructed by the CCC. The museum closed due to accessibility issues and is in need of major repairs. Work on roof, gutters, siding, timbers, stonework, windows, and heat are all needed. Once repaired, the building can be an interpretation center for the park. Little Kanawha Valley Bank is a quaint, one room, wood-frame building in Glenville represents a visible example of rural Appalachian economic development. Constructed in 1901, it is clad in decorative pressed metal with wire bank teller’s cages still in the building. This structure is facing serious preservation issues. Termite infestation and poor drainage have had a devastating effect on the sills, floor beams, flooring, and to an unknown extent, other interior and exterior components. The window sills and sashes are decayed and some of the exterior pressed metal panels are deteriorated. It is significant as a heritage tourism asset for the Little Kanawha Byway and the Glenville Folk Festival. The Quarrier Diner in Charleston is one of several Art Deco style buildings populating Quarrier Street. Built in 1946, the restaurant seated 300 people and was a popular destination for fifty years. The building is constructed of brick with a façade of contrasting maroon and cream glass panels with curved windows and a curved entranceway and handrails. Now vacant but stable, the building is missing windows and has roofing issues. But its greatest threat is unsympathetic development. The property is listed for sale and the FBI has shown interest, with developer proposals that the Quarrier be demolished. An alternative use or development plan that includes the historic structure will be needed to save this building. The Riverside African-American School in Elkins began in 1906 as a simple one floor brick building. In 1925, a second floor was added. What makes this building highly significant is its history as the educational forum for the Black and Native American populations of Randolph County and surrounding areas for five decades. Fifty-five years of neglect have taken their toll. Water intrusion has caused severe structural deterioration to Riverside’s interior walls, floors, windows, and roofing system. School alumni and a dedicated team of volunteers are working to purchase and rehabilitate the building as a new “Riverside African-American Heritage Center” to serve the local community. Endangered lists of at risk historic properties are compiled primarily to bring attention to the plight of the properties and the organizations involved in their preservation. These lists have been used by preservation organizations for many years to help draw attention to diminishing historic resources. With new properties accepted annually to the program, PAWV’s Endangered List will help focus attention on the most pressing issues or significant resources in the state. Additionally, utilizing funding through a National Trust for Historic Preservation grant, PAWV staffer and historic preservation consultant, Lynn Stasick will be assisting each community to rehabilitate and re-purpose these historic and unique sites. Capitol Music Hall of Wheeling from the 2009 list, has reopened and is no longer considered to be endangered. Rehabilitation work is ongoing for the other seven properties named to the 2009 list: Hinton’s McCreery Hotel, First Ward School of Elkins, Wyco Church of Mullens, Tyler County Home, Glenville Bridge and the Waldo Hotel of Clarksburg. Look for updates in the Field Notes section of our website. Nominations to the 2011 Endangered Properties List will be accepted in the fall. The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia is a statewide grassroots organization supporting historic preservation in the mountain state. Since 1982, the nonprofit PAWV has been working to preserve West Virginia's precious historical resources for the benefit of future generations. www.pawv.org