Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office
Picture yourself – lounging poolside, lakeside, or on the beach – with your tablet or smart phone (or even good old-fashioned paper) enjoying the hottest summer publication that hasn’t yet made the New York Times bestseller list: #preservationhappenshere, Pennsylvania’s next statewide historic preservation plan. Continue reading
Hazard Mitigation in a Historic Context – Wrapping up the Disaster Planning for Historic Properties Initiative
Three years ago, the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) announced that we were embarking on a new initiative to, for the first time in this office’s history, address the risks posed to historic properties by natural hazards, storms, and disasters. Continue reading
Historic resources inform citizens of their unique local heritage, cultural identity, and the origins of their community. They are the corner stones of our built environment and they provide a “sense of place”. In the aftermath of a disaster, these buildings, structures, objects, and sites are often associated with the very memories and connections that a community needs to begin to rebuild. Continue reading
Are you interested in making a difference through disaster management planning? Do you want to be on the forefront of proactive historic preservation? Continue reading
Bedford and Cameron Counties are the latest counties to be surveyed as part of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office’s (PASHPO) Disaster Planning for Historic Properties Initiative, following up on the surveys done in Monroe County and the City of Philadelphia by AECOM Technical Services.
Architectural historians from AECOM canvassed the two counties to catalog historic resources over 45 years of age within 100- and 500-year flood hazard areas. Each county presented a remarkable variety of historic structures, from the Bedford Springs Resort — a National Historic Landmark in Bedford County – to Civilian Conservation Corps structures in Cameron County’s Sizerville State Park.
AECOM sought to locate and document significant historic resources from vernacular to high-style in design, and ranging from Colonial-era to mid-century modern in period, in order to thoroughly identify flood-prone historic resources in the two counties. Continue reading
What new challenges will preservationists face over the next 50 years? It’s clear that the impacts on historic places by hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and other recent tropical storms, combined with growing international concern about rising sea levels, has started to “change the tide” and bring a new focus to preservation professionals. In April and June 2016, national and international experts in historic preservation, climate change, emergency management, architecture, and planning gathered in three U.S. states to participate in a series of “firsts” to address the threats facing the nation’s historic coastal and riverine (meaning ‘situated or dwelling beside a river’) communities from flooding and climate change. Continue reading
By Samantha Kuntz
Philadelphia has managed to accrue some significant historic resources over the past, oh, 300 years or so. It is home to no fewer than 550 resources (including districts) listed on National Register of Historic Places, and it holds over 11,087 resources (including districts) on the local Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Philadelphia possesses relics of our nascent nation (the U.S. Constitution, the Liberty Bell), contains a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Independence Hall), and boasts an impressive new heritage association (full membership in the Organization of World Heritage Cities).
In other words, there must be something in the (Schuylkill and Delaware) water here.
Time for April’s SHPO Shout-Out! I’m going to mix it up a bit this month and Shout Out about something that’s happening soon rather than something that’s already happened or is in the process of happening. It’s not that I don’t have a whole bunch of great things waiting in the wings – it’s just that the 2016 Pennsylvania Statewide Conference on Heritage is a REALLY big deal and I’d be derelict in my duties as Education and Outreach Coordinator if I didn’t make sure that all of our dedicated readers know all about it. Continue reading
by Emily Paulus Everett, AECOM Technical Services
On November 6, 2015, the City of Philadelphia became the first United States city to join the Organization of World Heritage Cities – a prestigious designation that recognizes, among other things, its vast and significant collection of well-preserved historic resources. That same week, representatives from the PA SHPO, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management, and AECOM Technical Services, Inc. gathered in Center City, Philadelphia to kick off Phase 1 of a two-phase effort to protect those historic resources before, during, and in the aftermath of, future flooding events. As part of the PA SHPO’s Disaster Planning for Historic Properties Initiative, Philadelphia County joins Monroe, Bedford, and Cameron as one of four pilot counties to take into account the impact of future flooding events on historic properties. Continue reading
by Vanessa Zeoli, AECOM Technical Services
A potentially trendsetting countywide survey has just been completed in the floodplains of Monroe County, in the heart of the Pocono Mountains region of northeastern Pennsylvania, identifying all flood-prone historic properties there and laying the groundwork for the development of strategies to better protect the county’s historic built environment from future flood damage. Continue reading
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