Protecting our Neighborhoods

"The primary strength of a local designation is that it can be tailored to specific community needs and provides greater protection for local resources."
City of Prescott, Arizona, Master Plan, 1997

Lafayette's historic neighborhoods are essential to our identity as a city. Passing through the 20th century relatively unscathed by "urban renewal" and demolition, Lafayette sits as an architectural treasure on the Wabash. Surprisingly, many of these very intact and historic neighborhoods remain unprotected to this day. Protection through the establishment of local protective districts is essential to preserving our city's historic character and identity.

While Lafayette's old city boasts many historic districts that have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, very few of these districts have any real protection. The National Register of Historic Places makes this very clear stating "Under federal law, owners of private property listed in the National Register are free to maintain, manage, or dispose of their property as they choose, provided that there is no Federal involvement." Essentially, Lafayette's historic city is is grossly underprotected, leaving our historic core vulnerable to demolition, defacement, and decay. Without our historic neighborhoods, Lafayette would quickly lose what makes it, well, Lafayette.

Left- Nationally recognized historic districts, Right- Actual protected historic districts

Filling in the Gaps

Filling in the Gaps

Urban flow in old Lafayette

          We've all had that moment when we were walking through an old part of town, enjoying the line of shops or the row of houses when suddenly there was a huge empty space. A gap in the flow. A hole in the fabric. Aside from being visually unpleasant, it also discourages you from walking any further.

Though still in use, these empty spaces stand in stark contrast with the historic fabric of the old city

      Despite being remarkably intact for a city its size, Lafayette has many areas where historic buildings have been demolished, leaving empty gaps or spaces. In many cases, reconstruction of the structures that stood there is not feasible nor practical. How do we as a community restore the lost urban fabric of yesterday while moving forward? How do we fill in the gaps without damaging the historical integrity of our old city? The answer; infill. Infill is defined by the National League of Cities as new development that is sited on vacant or undeveloped land within an existing neighborhood.

New infill in historic Lockerbie Square in downtown Indianapolis

Good infill needs to respect the form, style, and fabric of our old city.

FORM  

    Creating new structures that are harmonious with our historic fabric doesn't necessarily require copying historic styles. New structures in historic neighborhoods can respect their surroundings by following the shape and form of the historic buildings around them. Roger Trancik stated in his book, Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design, that infill should "respect the existing silhouette of buildings and landscapes" and "respect existing rhythms of facades and spatial elements" (pg. 229).

This new house in Indianapolis is clearly new but respects the historic houses around it

  This house in Indianapolis was constructed on an empty lot (presumably where a historic building had once stood many years ago) close to many 19th-century houses. While the house is clearly modern, it doesn't distract or conflict with the older buildings around it, but it doesn't copy them either. Compare the new house with the old structure in the left of the photo. If you just focus on the shape, they are remarkably similar. Both have a projecting overhang of similar size, the same window and door proportions and materials. 

The end product is a new structure that respects and contributes to the neighborhood while meeting the needs and tastes of a 21st century family. As a growing and important city, this is exactly the kind of structure Lafayette's old city needs. 

                                             

STYLE

 While form is important, style is also crucial in redeveloping the empty pockets of our old city. The style of an infill project can make or break its contribution to the neighborhood around it. As stated before, new buildings don't need to copy the styles of yesterday in order to contribute to our historic urban fabric, they simply need to respect the styles around them the same way they need to respect the form. Diane Suchman proclaimed in Developing Successful Infill Housing  that "In the best communities, all the buildings are well-behaved and respect the prevailing style and character of their neighbors." (pg. 59)

Image from styleweekly.com

    Here is an example of infill that has the density and relationship with the street that COULD have made it good infill if it weren't for the conflicting style. Do you think this structure respects its neighbors? Instead of trying to use a style that respected the historic neighborhood around it, this structure was designed to conflict with it. The result? A structure that disrupts the historic flow of the street and distracts from the old architecture around it. In old Lafayette neighborhoods already suffering from lost historic buildings, a design such as this could do more damage than good!

Photo courtesy of Bobbie Lutes Photography

 In this example, we have the recently completed Lafayette Community Bank. The new structure is only a block away from our iconic courthouse, placing it in the very oldest part of town. The structure's style is clearly traditional but doesn't copy the old buildings around it. Its windows honor many of the historic windows downtown, and its heavy cornice (trim) follow the style of downtown, yet it doesn't pass as a 19th century building. A style like this doesn't distract from the historic architecture downtown but instead quietly contributes to the reconstruction of the old city's historic fabric. 

   FABRIC 

 While style and form are important, the fabric of the neighborhood is more important in planning long-term infill projects. The fabric of a neighborhood is the consistent development, the distribution of that development, and the consistent form and size of the structures within the neighborhood. For example, the urban fabric of downtown is multi-story commercial structures that are built up to the sidewalk while the fabric of St. Mary's is single family homes built in close proximity to each other. So, when constructing new infill projects, we have to ask ourselves "is this appropriate to the urban fabric?" 

Respecting the urban fabric, you're doing it wrong (photo from gopixdatabase.com) 

  The image above is an example of new development that does not respect the fabric of a neighborhood. Not only is this not harmonious with the built environment, it's also historically inaccurate. New structures in neighborhoods need to respect the density and developmental type of structure (is it commercial? Residential? Industrial? Etc.).

After photo courtesy of Bobbie Lutes Photography

 The before image above is an example of development disrespecting the fabric of an old Lafayette neighborhood. The Midwest Rentals in the historic Centennial neighborhood violated the urban fabric of a historic residential neighborhood by putting an industrial compound in the center of a residential street. Not only did this complex lower property values in the neighborhood, it also damaged the historic fabric of the street. The new row houses that are replacing the crumbling Midwest Rentals respect the historic residential neighborhood (which contains many row houses already) and again, contribute to the historic fabric of the old city. 

 As downtown continues to be revived and rejuvenation makes its way through more of the old city, we need to keep these principles in mind when we fill in the gaps. We want new buildings in the old city to respect and contribute to our city's historic fabric, not destroy or disrupt it. However, such policies of good design are difficult to have in neighborhoods lacking historic protections. In order to push for good design, we need to first get our historic neighborhoods protected. What point is there in building new structures to respect our historic urban fabric if that fabric keeps getting destroyed? 

It's All Greek to Me!

                                     It’s all Greek to Me!

           Lafayette was established in 1825, on the eve of the country’s 50^th birthday. Greek revival architecture was becoming all the rage in the United States, especially following the War of 1812. As a young nation, Americans naturally looked to the birthplace of democracy, Greece, for inspiration in their architecture. Lafayette, a booming river town was no exception and quickly built structures up in the style of the Greeks. 

Lafayette's previous Greek Revival Courthouse

Greek Revival architecture is surprisingly simple by later Victorian standards. It follows the shape and form of ancient Greek temples and structures. According to The Resource Guide from Wabash Valley Trust, Greek Revival structures are generally square or rectangular with low-pitched roofs, symmetry, dentil trim, and classical columns. 

The lower image is an example of dentil trim. Source: http://oldstonehousemuseum.org and http://www.invitinghome.com

Throughout Lafayette there are many grand examples of Greek Revival Architecture. Here are a few examples.

Another interesting aspect of Greek Revival is how often it was changed within our city. As the Greek Revival style fell out of favor after the Civil War, new styles like Italianate and Second-Empire began to take over. Many stylish Lafayette residents wanted to keep up with the trends without necessarily building a new house. Instead, many Lafayette residents replaced their Greek Revival details with Italianate trims and details. A good example is the Jones - Carnahan House. The house was constructed in 1849 in the Greek Revival by Mark Jones, a local district judge. In 1873, when Jones moved out and the Carnahans (you may know this name from Carnahan Hall downtown) moved in, they had the facade remodeled to keep up with the Italianate Style.  Although the trim has changed, the shape has remained essentially Greek Revival.

The Jones-Carnahan House (Courtesy of Bobbie Lutes Photography)

 Since Greek Revival can be very simple, it makes it very easy to destroy or obscure the original architecture.  For example, this house in Centennial was built in the mid-19^th century in the Greek revival style. It’s very simple yet in its original condition has a beauty that contributes to the character of the historic Centennial neighborhood. Centennial is NOT a protected district unfortunately, so guidelines for historic preservation are powerless in these renovations.

Before Photos from Historiccentennial.org

 

 Sadly, renovations that have removed the cornice, downsized the windows, and original siding have made this house look more at home in a newer suburban part of town than the historic old city.

While areas such as Main street and parts of 9^th Street Hill are protected, much of the city’s Greek Revival architecture is unprotected.  This lack of protection was brought front and center when St. Mary’s demolished a  Greek revival at Columbia and 13th streets (despite major opposition and efforts by neighbors and local groups) and Central Presbyterian demolished a Greek Revival at South and 8th. These houses had been standing since slavery was a legal institution, since Lincoln was president and the country was torn apart by war. They had been standing through both world wars, the rise of the automobile, the cold war and to modern day. What did them in? A need for a playground and green space.

Last image from architectural-metal.com

These structures have been demolished for a few years now, and neither playground or green space has been constructed since, leaving only empty land where Lafayette heritage once stood.We can take this loss and mourn or we can push for better protections for our remaining historic neighborhoods and landmarks.

Someone call the doctor!

Much of the neighborhood and historic south wings have been lost

How much of the neighborhood appears today

Historic preservation is often a battle of our values and raw necessity. Often times we notice that historic preservation takes a backseat to a variety of institutions, such as churches, colleges, etc. but especially hospitals. According to Norman Tyler's  Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice (Second Edition), Tyler points out that many state institutions are generally not subject to local ordinances or frequently ignore historic preservation commissions (Tyler, pg.179). The larger the institution, the harder it can be to get them to comply with a community's historic preservation goals. Furthermore, older institutions can often grow and swallow up the surrounding neighborhood. 

We've seen this with St. Elizabeth's hospital and St. Mary's catholic church. Lafayette being an older, crowded river city built for the pre-automobile age often finds itself in a fit of demolitions in order to make room for auto-era facilities (and the auto-related needs of patients). These large hospital complexes require parking, office space, hospital beds, research wings, maintenance buildings, etc., etc. This in and of itself is not a surprise and is to be expected, however, the route that such large institutions have taken in this city to address these particular needs has been one of destruction. The neighborhood around St. Elizabeth's is a prime example. With St. Mary's towering steeple in sight, making evident the close proximity of our beloved downtown, one feels as if they are driving through an outskirt of Lafayette. So devastated is the built environment that one would hardly know the neighborhood is over 150 years old. The issue further is that the new buildings and facilities replacing the old neighborhood did not accommodate the pedestrian nor did they respect the urban fabric of that neighborhood (an issue repeated in the new nearby CVS). Often the new structures were built surrounded by parking like a suburban facility. But what can be done? Community control over historic preservation in this historic (albeit troubled) neighborhood is already severely lacking and shows no signs of emerging anytime soon. As Mary Hufford remarks in Conserving Culture: A New Discourse on Heritage, often poor historic neighborhoods are treated as slums and burdens in desperate need of removal (Hufford, pg. 69). With this, there is little opposition to any expansion of an institution like St. Elizabeth's.

From this

To this

Architectural detail on home hospital pre-remodel

It isn't only with neighborhoods. Often historic hospitals themselves are pulled down in the name of progress, robbing our city of important historical landmarks. A great example is the old home hospital. Home hospital was originally built in the early 20th century as a brick colonial-revival. It was an important landmark that anchored the entrance to Columbia Park. However, following an insensitive remodel in the 90's, the building lost most of its historic character. With this loss of historic detail, there was little protest when the structure came down in 2013, leaving behind space for another, suburban and auto-oriented project in its place. While this development has offered many wonderful services to the community, one wonders if restoring the old hospital could not provide the same benefits?

 However, with all this gloom it seems as if the demolition of historic buildings and neighborhoods by major institutions is inevitable. Yet, if we look at a particular institution in our community we see that this is not inevitable. Ivy Tech Community College has re purposed the old Ross Sanitarium into their main offices. The Sanitarium, built around the same time as the original home hospital, is a beautiful example of colonial-revival architecture. Unlike its sister, it was not reduced to ruin after a botched face lift. Instead, the Ross Sanitarium has found new purpose in our growing city. The question is, how do we as a community work with these institutions to preserve our neighborhoods and landmarks, but also provide for the needs of a growing institution?

Ross Sanitarium has found new life

Hello!

Source Lafayette/West Lafayette Nostalgia Facebook

Lafayette, IN is an old river city, caught in a tug-of-war between growth and her rich heritage. Part of what makes Lafayette so special is the historical architecture, the old neighborhoods, wrought-iron fences, necropolises of white marble, and much more. As time marches on, often we find that the things that make our community special can fall prey to "progress" and decay. Soon the things that make our city special can quickly vanish. Lafayette knows this all too well. Despite having survived relatively unscathed the "urban renewal" years of 1950-1990, we've lost many important landmarks, not only in our long history, but also in our recent past. As we revive our downtown, it's essential that we find a way to protect our historical architecture in order to protect what makes downtown attractive in the first place. Our very icon as a city, our beloved courthouse, is a symbol of what historic preservation can provide. However, I don't believe this can be achieved with hostility or division. Many opponents of historic preservation have understandable concerns about cost, practicality, and how much historic preservation may affect their property rights. So how do we protect our city's history while being inclusive? I commend the impressive work of Wabash Valley Trust and the efforts of our city's historic preservation committee. The goal of this blog is to explore Lafayette's history and architecture in a way that connects us all to these "old buildings" and places. Cuz you don't know what you got till it's gone..

Source Lafayette/West Lafayette Nostalgia Facebook