​Farmers have an old saying: “make hay while the sun shines.” At the League, with all of New York State to cover and many months of unpredictable weather, we like to do workshops while the sun shines!

June 28 - The Preservation League and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation presented two free workshops in Newburgh to help people take advantage of New York’s Historic Tax Credits. The workshops were held at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site and addressed the specific needs of homeowners and commercial property owners. During the workshop, staff from the State Historic Preservation Office reviewed the basic guidelines of the program and answered questions on the application process.

The workshop was presented by the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Additional support was provided by U. S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney; the City of Newburgh; RUPCO and the Newburgh Community Land Bank. 
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June 30 - Presented by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the Long Island Historian Summit in Roslyn gave historians an opportunity to discuss the challenges, opportunities and experiences they face.

Speakers and moderators included New York State Historian Devin Lander, Assistant Commissioner for Archives and New York State Archivist Thomas J. Ruller, the Suffolk County Historian, and historians from the Town of North Hempstead, Village of Southampton, Town of Brookhaven and Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, President, Board of Trustees of Association of Suffolk County Historical Societies and Trustee of the Preservation League.

July 11 - Preservation of cultural resources is an ongoing challenge. The Preservation League was pleased to partner with the Greater Hudson Heritage Network and the Jay Heritage Center for a workshop to de-mystify the process of applying for historic preservation grants, and to inspire heritage sites to seek funding for prospective preservation projects.

The workshop focused on historic preservation grant funding opportunities, discussed the importance of sound project planning, and reviewed some successful preservation projects. The discussion included the Preservation League and the New York State Council on the Arts’ partnership programs: Preserve New York and the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program as well. Missed the workshop? Stay tuned – a webinar will be offered in November and feature a brief overview of funding sources and a case study. For more information visit http://www.greaterhudson.org .

July 14 – The League helped Southern Tier homeowners, commercial property owners, realtors, contractors, and community leaders learn how preservation can play a key role in economic development, community revitalization and smart, sustainable growth. The free workshop was held at the Tioga County Historical Society in Owego and was co-sponsored by Preserve Owego, the Village of Owego, Preservation Association of the Southern Tier, and the Owego Historic Property Owners Association with refreshments provided by Carol's Coffee and Art Bar.
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The workshop discussed the benefits of historic preservation with a focus on community revitalization through use of historic preservation incentives. The Preservation League provided information on using Historic Tax Credits to make repairs to properties, with a special focus on repairing, restoring and preserving original windows in historic buildings. Alphonse Pieper, former executive director of Historic Ithaca and owner of Building Preservation Works LLC of Homer, NY conducted a walking tour of the Owego Central Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

July 12 -14 – League staff joined a panel discussion titled “Preservation for Whom” at the Legacy City Preservation Conference in Buffalo. Moderated by Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Executive Director of PUSH, the panel discussed the role of marginalized communities in neighborhood revitalization, and how rebuilding efforts need to strive to be inclusive and non-displacing, using Buffalo and Upstate New York as case studies.

We’ve got more workshops coming up – including 8/9 in Dutchess County and 8/14 in Schoharie County – focused on applying for Technical Assistance Grants, a signature grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Preservation League. We’ll hope to see you as we travel across New York State – so our past has a future!

Even if you are not interested in Buffalo architecture (but you should be!), I highly recommend you peruse Buffalo Architecture and History (BA&H).
 
Started in the 1990s by a retired school teacher, Chuck LaChiusa continued his interest in Buffalo architecture by creating a web site that, in his words, “took on a life of its own”.  Chuck is neither a web nerd nor a web designer and he still uses a 1990s web building program that lacks today’s bells and whistles.  For LaChiusa, it is the content that matters; content that has reached epic proportions with information on thousands of places, an estimated 40,000 photos, and thousands of scanned documents.  
 
BA&H has become a vast storehouse of information on American architecture, using Buffalo as a laboratory.  Within the site is Chuck’s Illustrated Architectural Dictionary, with 845 listed terms.  Terms like Capital and Eaves are defined and then illustrated with dozens of internal links to photos of Buffalo buildings.  When needed, Chuck provides examples from national and international buildings.   
 
BA&H has 8 other dictionaries, including the frequently visited Illustrated Furniture Glossary, with its descriptions, photos and internal links for over 400 terms, like Pier Glass. There is another dictionary for Stained Glass, one for Iconography and, as a Buffalo special, Grain Elevators.
 
BA&H’s Architectural Styles highlights 37 styles and nine 20th Century substyles, with written descriptions and numerous photos (example: Italianate In Buffalo).  
 
You must also check out Chuck’s List of Architects and firms with projects in Buffalo; 171 are listed, with 242 internal links showing one or more examples of each of their projects. You’ll be impressed with the info Chuck provides on a roster of iconic architects with projects in Buffalo, including H.H. Richardson, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Louis Sullivan,  McKim, Mead and White, Olmsted & Vaux, and homegrown notables such as Louise Blanchard Bethune (the AIA’s first female member) and Green & Wicks.
 
When you visit Chuck’s site, plan on exploring Buffalo just for the fun of it.   Here’s sampler of some of the places you can enjoy:  Williams-Butler Mansion   American Elevator  ­­­­­­­   Delaware Park     Darwin Martin House    Kleinhans Music Hall     The Breckenridge Street Church     Forest Lawn Cemetery  As you explore these and other places, you’ll find links to their architects and multiple other links that illustrate architectural terms and styles.  Warning: BA&H can be addictive!
 
If even possible, printing BA&H’s vast number of pages would create a comprehensive encyclopedia on architecture (and consume way too many trees).  Fortunately, unlike the ephemeral nature of virtually all web sites, BA&H will live on as a vast archive of architectural content.  In 2016, SUNY Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning agreed to maintain this website in perpetuity.  So, BH&A will continue long after LaChiusa himself, providing all of us and future generations a guide to Buffalo and American architecture as it was so well recorded in the early 21st Century.
 
Henry McCartney, now retired, was executive director of the Landmark Society of Western New York from 1984-2005 and of Preservation Buffalo Niagara from 2009-2012. He is a longtime member of the League’s board of Trustees and currently serves on our Trustees Council.

The 115th Congress convened on January 3rd and those of us concerned about the future of historic rehabilitation tax credits are watching the discussion of tax reform very closely.
 
The Republicans in Congress have made it clear that one of their priorities is reform of the federal tax code – and the message has been echoed by the incoming Trump administration. In fact, following the election, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), said his committee would be focused on building tax reform legislation based on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s A Better Way Forward on Tax Reform blueprint released last year. This document proposes to streamline the federal tax code by eliminating most tax credits and deductions, including the federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program.
 
A recent editorial in the Buffalo News illustrates that here in New York, historic rehabilitation tax credits have been instrumental in attracting investment to our hard-to-develop urban centers. Projects in our state are able to access not only federal but also New York State rehabilitation tax credits – for up to 40% of their qualified rehabilitation expenses. This helps developers balance risk and reward when taking on challenging renovation projects, and ultimately benefits all New Yorkers.
 
Data from the National Park Service show that between 2002 and 2015, $3.8 billion of rehabilitation costs were incentivized by the tax credit in New York State, generating over 49,000 jobs and nearly $990 million in federal, state and local taxes. Preliminary reports for the most recently completed fiscal year rank New York State first in the country in the total value of rehabilitation expenses utilizing the tax credit, surpassing the next closest state by $160 million.
 
With the new Congress in place and tax reform likely in the very near future, editorial boards throughout the state are taking notice. In addition to the Buffalo News, the Albany Times Union called on Congress to protect the federal historic tax credit in Washington at a time when uncertainty surrounding tax reform is stalling potentially transformational projects.
 
The League has long been, and will continue to be, a vigorous supporter of this vital tool for economic revitalization. We’ll be taking this message to Washington, D.C. later this year. To stay engaged in our work, take a moment to register for our Action Alerts and watch for future updates and calls to action on this important issue.  

On August 6, 2015, the Chautauqua Amp’s Historic Preservation Panel released its report on the preservation of the Chautauqua Institution’s historic amphitheater. League President, Jay DiLorenzo, participated on the panel. The Chautauqua Institution seeks to renew its historic amphitheater (“the amp”), a contributing part of the Chautauqua National Historic Landmark District.

The Chautauqua Institution invited panelists to participate at the suggestion of the National Park Service and the panel spent four months meeting regularly to assess the amp’s most significant character defining features, review current and suggested project designs, and offer recommendations. Joining Jay DiLorenzo on the panel were Julian Adams and Kathleen LaFrank from the New York State Historic Preservation Office, Peter Flynn of Flynn/Battaglia Architects and Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Theodore Lownie with HHL Architects, and Caleb Pifer from The Historical Society of Erie County (PA).

Since 2011, the Preservation League has participated in discussions regarding Chautauqua Institution’s desire to renew the historic amphitheater, initially as part of the Amphitheater Study Group. Throughout that time, the League has advocated for a solution that respects the amp’s history, preserves its unique character, and celebrates its landmark status. We hope that Chautauqua Institution takes the opportunity with its board vote later this month to preserve the amp and follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced on Tuesday 1/27 that it would name the Chautauqua Amphitheater, a National Historic Landmark located 70 miles southwest of Buffalo, N.Y.,  a National Treasure. Known as the Amp, the Chautauqua Amphitheater, which has hosted a wide range of leaders, activists and artists over its 122-year history, is threatened by the Chautauqua Institution’s plan to demolish the Amp to make way for a replica.

Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League, was there to participate in the announcement. 

More photos here https://chautauquaampnationaltreasure.shutterfly.com