Ron,

Although I'm glad that you found my comments of interest, please don't get
the idea that I am expressing the official "NPS view" on this (or any
other) issue.

From a practical standpoint, as you know, people can do whatever they want
to a Register building with their own money. If they want government
assistance or tax incentives, however, they do have to go through a review
process. As one who has looked at countless NRHP nominations, and served on
the Illinois Historic Preservation Council before hiring in with NPS, I do
know that very few structures are listed in consideration of their
interiors and State Historic Preservation Offices for the most part are
fairly liberal in what they will allow to be done to "private" space for
the greater good of the building as a whole. Your case sounds like the
interior might be something outside the ordinary, but it also sounds like
they are soliciting input from the community as part of the planning
process.

By the way, my example of the White House is perhaps a poor one, though it
is a National Historic Landmark, since it is one of three significant
historic buildings that is expressly exempt from review and compliance
provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (see Section 107).

vergil












                      Ron May
                      <[log in to unmask]        To:       [log in to unmask]
                      >                        cc:       (bcc: Vergil Noble/MWAC/NPS)
                      Sent by:                 Subject:  Re: How Do You Feel About Gutting an Historic Building?
                      HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY
                      <[log in to unmask]
                      >


                      06/21/2005 11:02
                      AM AST
                      Please respond to
                      HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY





Vergil,

Thank you for an informative reply regarding the NPS view on facadectomy,
as
this is directly relevant to the case last night. The buiding in question
was
designed by a local master architect, Lillian Rice, for the Rancho Santa Fe
community and has been widely published in promotional literature as a "row
house." The Santa Fe Railroad bought this property and hired master
architect
Richard Requa to design Southern California style (Spanish Colonial,
Eclectic, and
Southwest combination styles) buildings around a small commercial center
and
then they created a charter that the State of California adopted making
this a
unique community with a semi-public governing board. Rice understudied from
Requa and rose to her own level of competance. Buildings designed by Rice
are
on the National Register and are "collected" eagerely by people wishing to
own
historic homes. The local government staff brought this before the County
of
San Diego, Historic Sites Board, to see if they feel gutting the building
would
constitute an adverse effect. I know how the board reacted, but wanted to
see
how HISTARCH would react. Yours is well reasoned and interesting.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.