Historic Preservation

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   Historic Preservation
When is HISTORIC not HISTORIC in Middletown, that is the question for today?
For numerous years City Hall has used millions of dollars of our tax dollars on Historic Preservation of THEIR DOWNTOWN area. City Hall has told taxpayers  numerous times that Historic Preservation is their priority.  
We even have a Historic Review Board to make sure businesses and home owners follow these rules to the letter or suffer the wrath of Mr. Kohler. 
So you can imagine my surprise as I drove down the street the other day and saw a house that is listed on the National Historic Registry because only about 2,500 of these houses were built in the US, with a demo sign on the front of the house.
These homes were even featured in a PBS Special film.
How did this happen? Doesn’t anyone from City Hall look at the houses that Mr. Adkin’s has placed on the demo list? So you must ask yourself just how historic does a house need to be if not located on Main Street before City Hall will make an  effort to save it?
This LUSTRON HOME needs to be removed from the demo list and an add placed to sell this home and move it to another location or sell it to a private owner and let him dismantle it so the parts can be used to save other Lustron Homes here in Ohio. This is like watching a 1957 Chevy being crushed…when they are gone…they are gone forever.
Here is the link to the LUSTRON HOME web site
http://www.lustronpreservation.org/index.php

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Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Historic Preservation Posted: May 19 2013 at 11:18am
	Historic Preservation When is HISTORIC not HISTORIC in Middletown, that is the question for today? For numerous years City Hall has used millions of dollars of our tax dollars on Historic Preservation of THEIR DOWNTOWN area. City Hall has told taxpayers numerous times that Historic Preservation is their priority. We even have a Historic Review Board to make sure businesses and home owners follow these rules to the letter or suffer the wrath of Mr. Kohler. So you can imagine my surprise as I drove down the street the other day and saw a house that is listed on the National Historic Registry because only about 2,500 of these houses were built in the US, with a demo sign on the front of the house. These homes were even featured in a PBS Special film. How did this happen? Doesn’t anyone from City Hall look at the houses that Mr. Adkin’s has placed on the demo list? So you must ask yourself just how historic does a house need to be if not located on Main Street before City Hall will make an effort to save it? This LUSTRON HOME needs to be removed from the demo list and an add placed to sell this home and move it to another location or sell it to a private owner and let him dismantle it so the parts can be used to save other Lustron Homes here in Ohio. This is like watching a 1957 Chevy being crushed…when they are gone…they are gone forever. Here is the link to the LUSTRON HOME web site http://www.lustronpreservation.org/index.php

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 19 2013 at 11:49am
	We have numerous Lustron Homes in our community. All the interior walls in these homes were porcelain on steel also. Help furnish ’50s house at museum Public is being asked  to provide items for the recreated prefab home Associated Press 10:42 PM Sunday, January 1, 2012 COLUMBUS — For an upcoming exhibit, the state’s history museum will recreate an entire 1950s prefab home that has an Ohio connection, and the public is being asked to help furnish it. “What we’re looking for are hands-on objects, knickknacks, things from everyday life, anything that would have been in your house,” said Cameron Wood, history curator at the Ohio Historical Center. The kinds of things the museum is looking for include comic books, toys and games, household appliances, furniture and clothes, Wood told The Columbus Dispatch. The donated stuff, which won’t be returned, will be part of an interactive exhibit set to open in the fall inside a reconstructed Lustron porcelain and steel home. It will be rebuilt inside the historical center in Columbus. “Our hope is that people that go through this will get a real sense of what it’s like to live in the 1950s,” said Mark Holbrook, marketing manager for the Ohio Historical Society. The society will dust off some 1950s artifacts in its own collection for use in the exhibit, including oddball items such as emptied metal tubes of shampoo, hair tonic, toothpaste and other household products. Also on display will be museum prizes from the era, such as a Cleveland Indians baseball pennant picturing and autographed by outfielder Larry Doby. He broke a color barrier in 1947 by becoming the first black player in the American League The exhibit will mark a homecoming for the Lustron house, which has been on display for three years at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The prefabricated, modular home was one of many turned out by a Columbus factory from 1948 to 1950 and advertised during the post-World War II housing boom as “The House America’s Been Waiting For.” The Lustron company fizzled quickly. It filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated in 1951.

Libertarian Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Immigrant Joined: May 09 2013 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Libertarian Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 19 2013 at 12:49pm
	Thanks for the heads-up, Vivian. I was told previously that Mr. Akins must verify that any property slated for demolition shall be certified as not being listed, nominated for listing, or eligible for listing by appropriate federal/state/local historic preservation entities. Do you have the listing of the 300 houses he is tearing down? I have noticed that the wrecking ball is making an already bad situation worse on Baltimore, Young, etc.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 19 2013 at 1:51pm
	Libertarian Mr. Adkins is only releasing about 10 to 15 houses at a time and then they go directly to different demo companys. Wrecking crews can be seen all over the 2nd Ward. This Lustron Home is located on a really nice large corner lot with large trees.

Libertarian Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Immigrant Joined: May 09 2013 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Libertarian Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 19 2013 at 5:35pm
	Once Mr. Akins completes his mission of "carpet bombing" Ward 2, what are his plans (if any) to revitalize the area? Will he be asking for more funds to handle tall weeds and grass mowing? Will this "saturation demolition" further discourage property reinvestment, encourage additional abandonment, accelerate property value decline, marketability, etc., etc.?

Voleye Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Immigrant Joined: May 09 2009 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Voleye Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 19 2013 at 10:40pm
	I disagree, I used to live less than a block away from that house, It needed torn down 10 years ago, There are far more than 300 houses in the city that needs torn down, this is one of them.

darcy1969 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Immigrant Joined: Jun 18 2013 Location: Applewood Status: Offline Points: 20	Post Options Post Reply Quote darcy1969 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 28 2013 at 8:31pm
	Can anybody give me a list of the 345 state owned properties? I need one for a home and I need one for a business. Other people I know do too. I was referred to the Auditor's office next or advised how to compile one myself between two separate web sites information so I can figure out where they are. I am just wondering now does anybody have one already compiled that I can get a copy of so me and my neighbors can proceed?
	Darcia

trimtab Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List MUSA Immigrant Joined: Jan 20 2013 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 27	Post Options Post Reply Quote trimtab Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 02 2013 at 11:19am
	how many houses in Middletown have their original roofs and siding that's never been painted or replaced since it was constructed - in over 60 years? the house in the photo has both original roof and siding. it was a revolutionary technique that was too far ahead of its time. Middletown has a direct connection to the Lustron houses, the enameled steel, pre-fabricated structures built in Columbus. Armco attempted to serve the same market with its Steelox product - then found a less controversial path with pre-fab commercial buildings & structures. It would be so much better for the house to be dis-assembled, even if for scrap - just to witness how they were put together. maybe the folks at TV Middletown could be there to capture the moment regardless of how its dispatched to the dustbin.

Bobbie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 05 2009 Location: Middletown Status: Offline Points: 288	Post Options Post Reply Quote Bobbie Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 06 2013 at 8:26am
	I was told this house was demolished yesterday.

Vivian Moon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 16 2008 Location: Middletown, Ohi Status: Offline Points: 4187	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vivian Moon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 06 2013 at 9:33am
	Another sad day This house should have been moved to the empty lot on South Main Street and restored

over the hill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 19 2012 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 952	Post Options Post Reply Quote over the hill Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 06 2013 at 10:30am
	Well, thanks Dougie, where was the Historical Society on this one. Oh, maybe it wasn"t directly connected to S. Main St. so they aren't interested. Pick and chose, again the usual reaction of the "chosen few". And what good is M. Kohler when it comes to preservation?

over the hill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Citizen Joined: Oct 19 2012 Location: middletown Status: Offline Points: 952	Post Options Post Reply Quote over the hill Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 06 2013 at 11:18am
	Vivian why don't you go to council and mention what has happen to this "historicly significant" home. Tell them we have others in the community ask where is our Historical Society.

squeemy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Dec 23 2009 Location: Middletown Status: Offline Points: 125	Post Options Post Reply Quote squeemy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jul 06 2013 at 12:43pm
	I'm not a big fan of historic preservation - obsolete dwellings with no architectural significance are fine candidates for demolition. by obsolete, I mean those so damaged, usually by neglect, that the costs of repair exceed the property value. I'm also very much aware of the costs and headaches associated with trying to run a museum as part of the local historical society. folks are much more inclined to talk than volunteer their time toward efforts to manage and maintain our historical assets I'm also aware of our community's significant contribution to both the Lustron and Steelox enterprises. examples of steel pre-fab buildings are still very much with us in MIddletown (the Research building on Curtis is another beautiful example). perhaps the best way to begin our acknowledgement for their contribution is to identify them, mourn their loss and look upon those that remain in a new light.

Historic Preservation

We have numerous Lustron Homes in our community. All the interior walls in these homes were porcelain on steel also.Help furnish ’50s house at museum

Public is being asked to provide items for the recreated prefab home

We have numerous Lustron Homes in our community. All the interior walls in these homes were porcelain on steel also.

Help furnish ’50s house at museum

Public is being asked  to provide items for the recreated prefab home