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MEETING REPORT ISSUES IN URBAN PRESERVATION COLLOQUIUM April 13, 1988 Palmer House Chicago, IL Various urban preservation issues v.iere discussed at the colloquium. The colloquium vla.•_ a part of the annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians. Richard Longstr•e th from George Washington University made a. pr•esentat i on on why historic buildings should be saved. Historic organizations need to present a clear vie 1 1—defined case of reasons t'dh;ti' a building should be saved. He exemplified this by using the example of the Greyhound Station in Washington, DC and a 1930 __• retail center in Silver Springs, MD. These tvto mere cases vihere the historic value of the buildings vias not obvious. The Greyhound Station was covered over vji th metal facing material; but v)za . fully intact underneath. The retail center vtas an example of a retail "park and shop" fa.c i 1 i ty that had suffered some al ter•at i ons. Tared Sh l aes of Panne l 1 Kerr Forster , a Ch i cago account i ng firm, presented basic information about the value of the tax credit rehabilitation program and hove it vias negatively affected under the recent tax bill. Ne l 1 i e Lonc,_d•Uor•th of Preservation Action spoke to the value of the Section 106 review process in protecting National Register properties. She indicated that there are no controls for projects t,.iher•e private money is used. She encouraged local government attempts to establish means to protect historic properties in such cases. She discussed Preservation Action's efforts to push for changes in the tax bill to correct problems with the recent changes. Tobin Richter, attorney and President of Landmarks Preservation Council of I 1 1 i not s, presented information on the recent court challenge to the City of Chicago'= de —de s i gnat i on of the McCarthy Building. The McCarthy bu i 1 d i ng k,.tas designed by John Van Osde 1 , Chicago's first professional- arch i tect after the 1871 f ire (•y.nd the Second St. Joseph County Courthouse). Chicago de —designated the building viithout going through the set procedures because of pressure to develop the block. The city felt that the benefits of the development outweighed the historic value of the building even though early development plans included the preservation of the building. LPCI and National Trust chat1enged the de —designation but lost in court. The court ruled that a municipality has a. legal right to reverse itself by passing another ordinance. Supr• i s i ngl y, the court