Extending the Legacy: GSA Historic Building Stewardship 2008
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
EXTENDING THE LEGACY GS A HIS T O R I C B U I L D I N G S TE WARD S HI P | 2 0 0 8 Preface The decade since the Center for Historic Buildings issued its first major publication, Held in Public Trust: PBS Strategy for Using Historic Buildings, has been a watershed period of stewardship achievement for GSA. During this time, GSA has firmly established itself in the forefront of the preservation profession, gaining recognition for the policies and model practices that make preservation integral to our business. GSA greeted the millennium with GSA Historic Building Leasing, a breakthrough report examining how GSA is supporting the reuse of historic buildings nationwide in large and small lease acquisitions, with solutions for tailoring tenant space requirements and marketing to promote agency location in historic buildings and districts. A year later, the Center released a six-volume Preservation Desk Guide featuring dozens of model GSA documents created to meet preservation responsibilities associated with our activities involving historic buildings. GSA’s 00 Legacy Vision took the strategy outlined in Held in Public Trust a step further to promote fiscally prudent use of our historic buildings by establishing architectural merit-based stewardship priorities and outlining specific financial turnaround measures for historic buildings that are not performing well. GSA’s national preservation policy, ADM 100. Procedures for Historic Properties, issued in 00, offered guidance to integrate Sections 106 and 110 into GSA’s daily business, help- ing associates keep historic buildings occupied and generating revenue to support their long-term maintenance, repair, and capital investment needs. The Center’s ground- breaking study Growth, Efficiency and Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, also released in 00, examined our poorly understood Modern federal office build- ings within the context of their time, with specific guidance for assessing National Register eligibility and case studies illustrating successful solutions to the unique pres- ervation challenges buildings of this era present. GSA took a second opportunity to comprehensively examine its nationwide stewardship track record in 005 with the publication of Extending the Legacy: GSA Historic Building Stewardship. The report affirmed impressive stewardship achievements in each Public Buildings Service (PBS) business area and a continued need to promote the Legacy Vision goal of putting historic buildings first in crafting space acquisition, investment, and dis- posal strategies. It also underscored the value of online resources, such as the key word searchable version of the Preservation Desk Guide, launched in 004, that help GSA asso- ciates meet agency stewardship responsibilities successfully with less effort. Collateral rewards for these efforts include the benefits successful GSA approaches offer other organizations facing similar stewardship challenges. Federal and internation- al agencies are turning to us for guidance, not only on preservation policy and practice, but also on achieving the broader vision of well-integrated change. We are proud to have been sought out by government agencies and heritage organizations in Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the Soviet Union, as well as the Department of State, for guidance on managing a geographically diverse historic building inventory in a fiscally constrained steward- ship environment. GSA’s technical preservation expertise is actively sought in professional conference venues and by private architects and other government agencies. We are honored to have received international recognition for our stewardship policies and processes in awards from the Association for Preservation Technology International, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the American Institute of Architects, as well as statewide preservation organizations and trade associations. Our model preservation contract qualification requirements, technical specifications, design solutions, compliance checklists, and preservation report submission standards are benefiting state, local, and private sector projects as well as GSA regional project teams. In 004, GSA’s perimeter security “kit of parts” prototype generated nationwide interest among design professionals since results of the Center study Perimeter Security for Historic Buildings appeared in professional journals, trade magazines, and McGraw Hill’s 004 Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design. In 009, GSA’s Center for Historic Buildings will release a new lobby security design guide for historic buildings. The guide examines a variety of historic building lobby sizes and configurations, with illustrated case studies and layout guidance, for successfully integrating security processing into historic building entry areas. Since its inception, the Center has energetically worked to improve the body of online preservation resources available to GSA associates nationwide, with online versions of all publications and guidance, along with a wide range of templates and model documents available by business function subject menus or searchable databases such as the online 4 Desk Guide. A substantial body of building documentation is now available in high-quality posters, brochures, and films to raise awareness among GSA associates, tenants, and the public. All of these materials are available in print or online. In this year’s Extending the Legacy update, we are proud to report successes in all areas of GSA activity affecting historic buildings, along with new publications and initiatives that are already bringing results. GSA’s 008 guidance publication, National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Guidance for the Disposal of Historic Property, outlines an array of authorities and innovative approaches for meeting federal stewardship goals and GSA interests. The guide includes a large selection of annotated sample documents developed by GSA preservation and disposal teams, detailing how to carry out each approach successfully. Our ten-year Modern-Era Buildings Initiative has earned national attention as a model for broad-based policy that touches on all aspects of historic building inventory management. No success occurs in a vacuum. Our stewardship achievements depend on the efforts of front-line regional associates; contract architects, engineers, and construction firms who turn agency housing plans into physical space in new or existing buildings; and agency leadership. GSA’s Regional and Assistant Regional Administrators, Portfolio Directors, Property Development Directors, and Regional Counsel have proven great supporters of agency initiatives that favor historic building reuse and historic communities. Among the organizational advantages that have helped to make GSA’s substantial stew- ardship achievements possible is a culture of conscientious pragmatism fostered by public-spirited, yet business-minded, national leadership. This culture also supports an active exchange of knowledge, interdisciplinary collaboration, and expertise that travels from the bottom up, as well as from the top down. In this environment, extraordinary stew- ardship achievements can become routine business. Rolando Rivas-Camp, FAIA. Director, Center for Historic Buildings. 5 Contents. Preface page . Chapter 1 Executive Summary page 10. Chapter 2 Introduction page 1. Chapter GSA’s Historic Building Inventory page 14. Monumental Buildings ................................................................... page 16. National Historic Landmarks ............................................................ page 20. Surplus World War II Property ........................................................... page 20. Modernism ............................................................................... page 24. Tomorrow’s Landmarks: The Design Excellence Program .............................. page 27. Chapter 4 Using Historic Buildings page 8. Reinvestment ............................................................................ page 28. Reprogramming (owned inventory) ..................................................... page 41. Outleasing (owned inventory) ........................................................... page 42. Leasing ................................................................................... page 48. Acquisition ............................................................................... page 52. Integrating GSA’s Portfolio and Stewardship Strategies ............................... page 57. Promoting Urban Location and Reuse .................................................. page 68. Stewardship Planning for Historic Properties Leaving the Federal Inventory .......... page 71. Chapter 5 Care and Treatment of Historic Buildings page 8. Section 110 Compliance: Identification and Preservation Planning ..................... page 83. Archeology page 89. Section 106 Compliance: Project Development and Public Participation .............. page 95. Fostering Greater Awareness and Ability: Training and Recognition .................. page 123. Advocacy and Education Partnerships ................................................. page 126. Chapter 6 Conclusion page 132. Chapter 7 Notes page 16. Chapter 8 Appendices page 18. Appendix A: GSA’s Historic Buildings .................................................. page 138. Appendix B: ADM 1020.02 Procedures for Historic Properties ........................ page 148. Appendix