Local historic districts under threat in Michigan

[mikefmich]

Pam, this proposed legislation is certainly disturbing and speaks to a general ham-fisted approach to governing; however, I noticed that the original bill was introduced and passed in 1970. Many of the homes and neighborhoods protected by Historic Designation where built in the teens and 20s; meaning that in 1970 those neighborhoods were barely 50 years old.

My question, not to be smartassery, is: could the whole of Harper Woods be declared Historic because they are over 60 years old?

Not a prayer. Unless they unearth Casper Salter's log cabin or the bodies buried behind the old Wildwood Bar.

[Honky Tonk]

Not a prayer. Unless they unearth Casper Salter's log cabin or the bodies buried behind the old Wildwood Bar.

No joke, you used to drink @ the Wildwood?

[gnome]

You do know the difference between one-of-a-kind, commissioned, designed, and hand built homes, like in BE or IV, and a 60 year old cookie cutter suburban homes?

I thought the working class homes of Corktown are considered historic. Was I wrong about that or is it your position that only the well-healed deserve protection?

i understand your point that intricate craftsmanship and detailed woodworking should be honored, but does that mean Meis is out and only more is more?

Like it or not, returning G.I.s from WWII built the suburbs with the idea that home ownership was not the sole purview of those in with estates and help.

[Honky Tonk]

I thought the working class homes of Corktown are considered historic. Was I wrong about that or is it your position that only the well-healed deserve protection?

i understand your point that intricate craftsmanship and detailed woodworking should be honored, but does that mean Meis is out and only more is more?

Like it or not, returning G.I.s from WWII built the suburbs with the idea that home ownership was not the sole purview of those in with estates and help.

My position is NOT "that only the well-healed deserve protection", my position is they are very unique one of kind homes. Mass-produced post war GI Bill homes are not. And yes, I do like it. I'm just not going to post something equating BE and IV to Livonia.

[mikefmich]

No joke, you used to drink @ the Wildwood?

No but the owner used to chase us off the wooded acres while we were trying to get the icicles from the building. No gutters.....the best giant icicles for miles around.

Had it continued to exist, I'm sure I would've drank there in later years, I drank most every place else on the east side. lol

[gnome]

I don't see where fancy and historic are the same thing. History is not only made by the rich, but the working man too. Maybe the law should be renamed: Fancy Preservation. That way we don't have to worry about those Corktown worker cottages.

[Honky Tonk]

I don't see where fancy and historic are the same thing. History is not only made by the rich, but the working man too. Maybe the law should be renamed: Fancy Preservation. That way we don't have to worry about those Corktown worker cottages.

I think we should preserve the donkey in front of Bray's Hamburgers in Westland.

[Zads07]

This thread is not a joke. If you side with this legislation, then move away from Historic Districts in your town, move far, far away.

When you go to a new town or new city, what grabs your eye first? Buildings of course. The skyline of NYC, the historic buildings of a small farming town, they're all the same, they're historic. If there's no historic districts, tourism dries up, we lose out on our own history and we never learn. Isn't the old saying, "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it?"

This will just keep repeating and we'll never have the history of our great towns, cities and historic districts if this law goes through.

[p69rrh51]

My position is NOT "that only the well-healed deserve protection", my position is they are very unique one of kind homes. Mass-produced post war GI Bill homes are not. And yes, I do like it. I'm just not going to post something equating BE and IV to Livonia.

Actually Livonia has a terrific historic district. Made up of mostly modest sized houses built for the working class.
An historic district can be one or multiple buildings, and most districts are not as grand as Indian Village or Boston Edison.
One of requirements to be considered for inclusion in an historic district is the building must be at least 50 years old. That is just one of the factors considered. By the way a huge chunk of the metro area qualifies for inclusion from an age standpoint not just Livonia.

[p69rrh51]

This group of houses are from one of my favorite historic districts in the metro area, the Henry Ford Homes Historic District in Dearborn. 156 of a planned 200 to 300 houses were built. Designed by Albert G. Wood there were several different models, and all were built between 1919 and 1920. The houses were built for workers of modest means but with the same quality seen in the houses of Indian Village or Boston Edison.

[archfan]

Pam, this proposed legislation is certainly disturbing and speaks to a general ham-fisted approach to governing; however, I noticed that the original bill was introduced and passed in 1970. Many of the homes and neighborhoods protected by Historic Designation where built in the teens and 20s; meaning that in 1970 those neighborhoods were barely 50 years old.

My question, not to be smartassery, is: could the whole of Livonia or Harper Woods be declared Historic because they are over 60 years old?

Maybe. As far as I can tell, Michigan uses the criteria of significance from the National Register of Historic Places:

1. That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
2. That are associated with the lives of significant persons in or past; or
3. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
4. That have yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in history or prehistory.

http://www.nationalregisterofhistori...s.com/faq.html

Someone could make the case that a section of Livonia -- containing three bedroom brick ranches with two car garages and a picture window framing a single lamp -- was historic. That the houses embody a distinctive type and method of construction from the postwar suburbanization period. Won't happen anytime soon but if they did, they might qualify under the guidelines.

[gnome]

P69r, Archfan - Thank you for the informed answers.

[G-DDT]

This thread is not a joke. If you side with this legislation, then move away from Historic Districts in your town, move far, far away.

When you go to a new town or new city, what grabs your eye first? Buildings of course. The skyline of NYC, the historic buildings of a small farming town, they're all the same, they're historic. If there's no historic districts, tourism dries up, we lose out on our own history and we never learn. Isn't the old saying, "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it?"

This will just keep repeating and we'll never have the history of our great towns, cities and historic districts if this law goes through.

I agree.

Ever been to Syracuse? One of the only good things about Syracuse is the old buildings there.

Once we lose our roots to the past, we lose far many other valuable things connected.

To digress into a conspiratorial overview: The more a system of governing and society inevitably slides into becoming a kakocracy, the more it snuffs at the value of history, and/or worse, views history as an enemy to it's abominous ideology. Every time a "New World Order" rears it's ugly head, it wants to target those ancient groups that have held on to the past long enough to existentially view their new, stupid movement as being just another drop in the bucket in a long line of empires that have risen and fallen. Groups like Native American Indians, the Catholic church, Orthodox faiths [[Jewish or Christian), the Amish, even gypsies serve as a testimony-even just by existence alone-that rankles such movements. At the least, they supply a time-enduring and time-honored option to the engineered pap that such movements are attempting to foist onto people. Those putting a legal foothold in to let history be jeopardized are becoming less different than the terrorists who like to desecrate art and historical relics in museums overseas.

Once we let everything from books [[and other mediums) to our very historical regions be up for removal to make way for an over-enthusiastic delusion of "progress" we lose the path behind us that helped us best indicate where we were heading towards in the first place. We won't learn from mistakes from the past if we blindly "do over" and reboot everything. At the very least, we run a risk of becoming perfunctory and chincy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3dhSnEtdWwWhich is why most European nations value old examples of architecture and cultural legacy.-and I don't say all of this because my father worked in a museum, either.

Not that history is all that sacred a science. My first boss in Cambridge/Boston [[a homeless man who paid me $20 an hour to set up an outdoor bookstore in front of a Tobacconist shop in Harvard Square) once riddled me "Who writes history?" "The rich?" I replied, cautiously. "Nope." he answered back "the winna's." Which is true. Howard Hughes was rich, but the way the Mormons had his detachment from reality into a spin for their exploitation, we may never have all the answers surrounding him. I highly recommend reading "Lies Across America" by James Loewen.