A HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADVOCATE IS BORN
I was predestined for a life of historic preservation advocacy, having come into the world loving old stuff. To compound this natural affinity, my mother, born in 1919, shared with me the rich culture of her day & entertained me with tales of her family, back several generations. Here she is at age 3, posing with her brothers & her elegant mother, fashionable in silk cut velvet, & coifed in a Marcelle wave, the style of the day. At 4, I sang Italian opera, danced the Charleston & could deliver the phrase, “I vant to be alone,” with all the elegant melancholy of Garbo. If you want to know what I look like, combine my mother as the child, & my grandmother as the young mother you see here, & there I am, complete with their bad knees & a love of grammar.
During my teen years, my boyfriend & I ditched school regularly to haunt thrift shops, looking for vintage clothing & antiques. Boyfriend grew up to run a trading post, dealing in Native American antiquities. I never actually grew up, but in the 80’s, owned a vintage clothing store for many years & was in love with every piece.
The first house in which my husband & I lived over 50 years ago, was a tiny Folk Victorian in downtown Phoenix. From there we went on to a 30’s apartment, several bungalows, a 3 story Mid-Century hillside house & restored 5 old houses in varying states of decay.
BECOMING ACTIVE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION
After years of despairing over the destruction of historic properties & materials, I decided that I needed to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! & became a loud old house advocate & educator. I began by helping to produce historic home tours in my bungalow neighborhood in Los Angeles, seminars featuring nationally know preservation speakers & fought the good fight to preserve a historic building at the corners of our Main & Main. I produced a documentary film about my new bungalow neighborhood in Tampa, SEMINOLE HEIGHTS: An Intimate Look at the Early Years. Premiered at a 20’s extravaganza theatre, filled to a roaring capacity, it is my crowning achievement.
When I turned 70, I felt that we needed to downsize. Living in Florida, & having experienced 8 too many hurricanes, I decided that I wanted to live in a block house that was less likely to be blown down by the huffing & puffing of a bad storm. I now live in a block Mid-Century Modest & I have to admit the culture of that period, in which I grew up, owns part of my heart.
My last preservation campaign was to help lead the neighborhood in the preservation of the stucco, Spanish Revival entry arches that still remain from the land boom of the 1920’s. Juxtaposed against the post-WWII streetscape, they honor the dashed dreams of the people, who, 100 years ago, lost their hard-earned money on a failed subdivision. These symbols of 2 of Florida’s Boom & Bust cycles deserved to stand & we, 3 women on a mission, leapt in as estimates were being obtained to turn them into dust. And we prevailed.
ADVOCATING FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OUR HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Bungalows changed my life & though my knees are too creaky for soapbox standing, I still have something to say about them & the importance of their preservation. The purpose of my current platform, this blog, is to inspire others to cherish & care for our old houses. There are many DIY sites online, & they will be referenced here, but this blog is about the houses & the history. This blog is not about how to choose a color to paint your kitchen, it’s about why you would pick that color, based on the best preservation practices & universal design theory. It’s about knowing the basics of how your old house came to be- the technology & culture of the time that inspired it.
It’s about how to hire the best tradespeople & how to oversee them- knowing enough about how your house works to get the highest quality work. My blog features articles by professional guests renowned for their preservation knowledge & experience. My social media links will take you to videos by pro’s & scholars that will educate & entertain you.
My heart’s purposes are to help you restore & preserve your bungalow so that it can be enjoyed, delight & teach for the next 100+ years & to inspire you to seek your own soapbox from which you can speak old house. Every day the wrecking ball performs its dirty deed.
But my overriding purpose is to encourage & teach you to be an historic preservation advocate & a hero for our built cultural heritage. Visit this page to find a group that you join & help.
PLEASE send me information on the activities in which you participate. I would love to post an article about your group & its successes.
