After the October announcement, at the Market Arcade, of the formation of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Buffalo Rising sat down with Roberta Lane of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Based at the Trust’s northeast regional office in Boston, Roberta is the Trust’s New York staff person, and also the Trust’s northeast regional attorney.
BR: What is your preservation background?
RL: I have a dual degree in preservation and law from Boston University.
BR: How did you discover Buffalo architecture?
RL: When I started at the National Trust a couple of years ago, one of the first things I saw in the Boston office was the book Classic Buffalo [by Rochester preservationists Richard Reisem and Andy Olenik] on display. Also, we had a number of prints on the walls showing Buffalo buildings, and people in the office talked a lot about Buffalo. So even before my job brought me to Buffalo, I knew that there was something very special about the historic architecture here.
BR: How does Buffalo’s historic architecture compare to that in Boston?
RL: There is more in Buffalo, and more representation of various styles. For example, Boston is lacking in Art Deco. I love driving people from out of town into the residential neighborhoods in Buffalo and showing them the extent and the integrity of the architecture—it goes on block after block. In Boston, it’s in discrete pockets. Buffalo also has industrial architecture that’s unique.
BR: How does Buffalo’s preservation activity compare to that in Boston?
RL: In Buffalo, people from all walks of life are involved. In the media, in blogs, etc., there is an amazing obsession with planning and preservation that’s unique. It’s not an echo chamber—not everyone thinks alike. But there’s a substantial level of engagement.
BR: You’ve been involved in the consolidation of two preservation organizations here. How is preservation organized in Boston?
RL: There are two organizations, which is OK because they have different missions. Historic Boston, Inc., is in preservation development – that is, they’re more project-oriented. The Boston Preservation Alliance is a broader coalition to promote preservation.
BR: How have you been involved in the preservation consolidation effort here?
RL: As an outcome of the work to designate Buffalo as the site for the 2011 National Trust annual preservation conference. It was clear during discussions that folks in the Buffalo preservation community didn’t feel that things were working, and that the groups were overlapping. We at the Trust have been involved in continuing those conversations. Looking at the preservation threats here, such as the closing of the churches and the “5 in 5” demolition plan, made it clear that the game was changing. There was a sense of needing to step up the effort, and there has been a convergence. Actually, it was unusual of the Trust to choose a location for the national conference where there was not already a standing organization with the capacity to partner with us—but we saw momentum and potential here, and thought that we could be of help.
BR: Preservation of the closed churches has been a hot topic in Buffalo. What is your perspective on that?
RL: The response to church closings has varied across the country. In Boston, there has been an effort to work with the diocese. In Philadelphia, there has been an effort to go beyond the congregations to help churches raise money for things like building maintenance. Partners for Sacred Places, based there, also works with congregations to quantify all the other benefits of keeping churches open. With the Catholic Church, keeping churches open is too much of a hot potato, so the focus has been on preservation and reuse. A Buffalo effort that started this year has attracted attention nationally.
BR: Sticking with churches, there was recently news that a Buffalo church may be sold to a congregation in Georgia and physically moved out of state. What do you think of that?
RL: Buffalo’s treasures are Buffalo’s treasures—part of the uniqueness and value of your community. It should always be a last resort to move any building, and if it becomes necessary, it should be moved to a location as nearby as possible to retain its context and meaning. So if this building leaves town, it’s a preservation loss for Buffalo. On the other hand, in many cases it seems there has not been a bright future in Buffalo for many of the closed churches. This proposed move can be seen as another sign of the demographic shifts that have impacted Buffalo.
BR: You mentioned obtaining a dual degree, one of which is in preservation, in Boston, a city which you said doesn’t compare to Buffalo in terms of historic building stock. Yet here in Buffalo there is no academic program in historic preservation. Should there be?
RL: It would make sense to have one. The huge need for people trained to work with historic buildings here can make it difficult to get all the work done, especially since Buffalo has some very extensive historic districts—Hamlin Park, for example.
BR: How will the National Trust be working with Preservation Buffalo Niagara between now and the 2011 conference?
RL: There will be a local committee focused on the conference, and they’ll work primarily with the Trust’s DC [main] office. I’ll continue to work with Preservation Buffalo Niagara as they get off the ground, and provide assistance with some issues in Buffalo such as the Peace Bridge Neighborhood which we designated this year as one of the nation’s eleven most endangered places. I’ll be in town about every three months or so.
RaChaCha
RaChaCha is a Garbage Plate™ kid making his way in a Chicken Wing world. Since 2008, he's put over a hundred articles on here, and he asked us to be sure to thank you for reading. So, thank you for reading. You may also have seen his freelance byline in Artvoice, where he writes under the name his daddy gave him [Ed: Send me a check, and I might reveal what that is]. When he's not writing, RaChaCha is an urban planner, a rehabber of houses, and a community builder. He co-founded the Buffalo Mass Mob, and would love to see you at the next one. He represents Buffalo Young Preservationists on the Trico roundtable. If you try to demolish a historic building, he might have something to say about that. He is a proud AmeriCorps alum. Things you may not know about RaChaCha (unless you read this before): "Ra Cha Cha" is a nickname of his hometown. (Didn't you know that? Do you live under a rock?) He's a political junkie (he once worked for the president of the Monroe County Legislature), but we don't really let him write about politics on here. He helped create a major greenway in the Genesee Valley, and worked on early planning for the Canalway Trail. He hopes you enjoy biking and hiking on those because that's what he put in all that work for. He was a ringleader of the legendary "Chill the Fill" campaign to save Rochester's old downtown subway tunnel. In fact, he comes from a long line of troublemakers. An ancestor fought at Bunker Hill, and a relative led the Bear Flag Revolt in California. We advise you to remember this before messing with him in the comments. He worked on planning the Rochester ARTWalk, and thinks Buffalo should have one of those, too (write your congressman). You can also find RaChaCha (all too often, we frequently nag him) on the Twitters at @HeyRaChaCha. Which is what some people here yell when they see him on the street. You know who you are.