of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio
of Chillicothe, Ross County & South-Central Ohio December 2006
On December 9th, a letter to the editor by Tom Castor appeared entitled "Carlisle problem needs solutions, not criticism." With that headline, I was hopefull that it was a positive comment about the Carlisle situation. Instead I found it to be a scathing criticism of preservation in Chillicothe. So, below I present my response alongside the pertinent text of the letter.
| Editor, the Gazette: | Mr. Castor: |
| I lived through the glory days of the downtown... ...So I know it must be as painful to other locals as it is to me to look at the burned-out hulk of the Carlisle Building, which, in its proud history, served as home to a newspaper, a club for Civil War veterans, a photography studio, plus other businesses and law offices. |
Then why did I hear you once refer to the fire-damaged building as "that piece of s--- over at the corner"? (And, it is not burned out. See my comments at the end.) |
| I believe the mayor and City Council are overdue in providing the leadership to solve the dilemma of the Carlisle Building. The downtown merchants, bankers, etc. deserve a better business environment. The city gave the current owner $200,000 in grant money which went to put a covering of sorts over the structure. Now work has stopped. No more work is even scheduled. And no one seems to know whether the owner is in bankruptcy. | I must agree. Half the problem is the city. The administration needs to work with the owners, instead of taking them to court. Use the carrot, not the stick. And, if you promise a carrot - a grant - deliver! The owners' plans depended on grants, and part of the reason work stopped is that another promised grant was not delivered. |
| Obviously, this monstrosity costs downtown businesses because shoppers would rather go elsewhere. It also means a continuing loss of tax revenue. | I must wonder why this scares people away. How long did shoppers on Bridge Street drive past the burned-out Tumbleweeds? Do they believe the disinformation that the Carlisle is unsafe? Yes, a brick fell off the tip of the unkept parapet. But the walls are nowhere near falling down. |
| Then I see an out-of-town preservationist quoted in the Gazette: "If you tear down the Carlisle Building, you don't respect the character of Chillicothe." | |
| That's pretty much what I'd expect from an outfit that specializes in shaming property owners and filing 11th-hour lawsuits against the demolition of anything. I might add they've lost most of those lawsuits. Matter of fact, Franklin Conaway was quoted as saying 61 buildings have been demolished in the downtown historic district in the past 32 years. | What outfit? The speakers were guests of the Ross County Historical Society. Perhaps you mean the Chillicothe Conservancy, who had nothing to do with the lecture. |
| Does this give you any idea of the effectiveness of this troop of space cadets? In my opinion, they have no credibility and are philosophically bankrupt. |
Perhaps their effectiveness is blunted by antipathy and ignorance. If you had attended the aforementioned talk by Jeffrey Darbee and Nancy Recchie, you might have learned intelligent things about preservation. But instead, you insists on stereotypes and misinformation. |
| At the very best, they "damn with faint praise" anyone who rehabilitates a building. | Perhaps so. But I do try to remember the effort and money people invest in their properties. |
| If attorney Joe Motes spends a king's ransom refurbishing the old Herrmann's Shoe Store, then their comment is: "Yes, but the doors are the wrong color." | Do you actually think that storefront is attractive? Yes, it's tidy and maintained, but it could have been done so much better with proper information - information that the Design Review Board should be providing, and well-versed in. |
| If the county spends $800,000 restoring the courthouse bell tower and preserving and replacing stonework, we are told: "That's only a paint job and the money could have been better spent on the Carlisle." | I never heard anyone say that, and its a misstatement anyhow. There was far more done to renovate the courthouse than a paint job - perhaps too much. (It's a good job, but overdone.) |
| When St. Mary's Church cleaned its exterior some 20 years ago, their comment: "They used the wrong process and the bricks may bleed!" | Sandblasting bricks is like using sandpaper on you car's coat of paint - It will eventually cause long-term damage. |
| I have yet to hear one word of praise from the Chillicothe Conservancy for the hundreds of thousands of dollars churches have spent in the downtown historic district. | Like demolishing buildings? Yes, there are some significant and attractive additions and renovations. But all the new parking lots are at what cost to the character of the downtown? |
| Do they have a kind word for attorney Sherri Rutherford, who remodeled her law offices at Main and Walnut streets and put in new sidewalks and a parking lot? | It's a good job. But, I haven't heard anyone else compliment it - including you, until now. And, the parking lot replaced a log house. How many of those remain in the downtown? If well renovated, how much would they add to the character of the downtown? |
| Would they like to compliment the folks at Anderson's Drugs, who transformed one of the ugliest buildings on Main Street into one of the most beautiful? They also put in new sidewalk and a parking lot. | I did. See my July 2005 article. But putting a strip-mall facade onto a downtown building is not in keeping with the downtown character. Also, the parking lot was already there. |
| No, the only thing these self-styled preservationists have in their collective purse is criticism for anyone who disagrees with them. | We are not self-styled. We believe the same things as preservationists in, say, German Village. People listen to them there. When you visit that neighborhood, can you tell that? No, we don't have criticism for those who disagree. We have criticism for those who are wrong. |
| They have no money and no constructive plan for the Carlisle or the adjacent Howson Building. | THAT IS NOT OUR JOB! That was a job we had high hopes for, taken on by a new owner with partnership with the city - by private enterprise with support from local government - not by preservationists. And there has been little local support of the project. No wonder it has stopped. |
| We had constructive plans for the canal warehouses at Mulberry and Second streets. Now they are a parking lot. We had constructive plans for the "St. Clair Headquarters" and its surrounding building. Now they are an empty building. We had constructive plans for the Greek Revival styled land offices on West Second Street. Now they are a lawn. How do those contribute to the downtown character? | |
| Time is running out for both structures, and for what was once proudly hailed as "The Crossroads of Southern Ohio." | Time is running out for the character of the unique and irreplacable downtown. Every gaping hole and marred facade strips it a little more of its vitality. And, every person who does not see that allows it to happen more. |
| Tom Castor | Kevin Coleman |
Well, it appears that criticising the administration and preservationists in the same letter curries favor with the administration. Mr. Castor, in all his wisdom on historic architecture and sensitive urban development, is now seated on the Design Review Board and will pass judgement starting in the January meeting.
P.S. While combing through my files, I came across another letter to the editor penned by Mr. Castor. His August 21st, 2005 letter can be found in my January 2007 Preservation Briefs.
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A few tours of the Carlisle Building were available in April of this year. Most who took them were enlightened about the condition of the building. Too bad others weren't. |
Misconceptions and misinformation continue about the Carlisle building. In addition to the above misstatement that it is a "burned-out hulk," the December 6th Gazette article on the downtown revitilization effort, "Group looks for help to revitalize local downtown," had a photo of the Carlisle Building with a caption that stated that the "fire gutted the building."
It did not gut it; it is not burned out. The damage was contained to a small area, and most of the wooden framing inside is undamaged. That is not "gutted" or "burned out." Get your facts straight!
