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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 17, 2023 Historic Preservation Commission Meeting - MinutesA �. ry-�x April 17, 2023 6:00pm CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Sarah Andrews — President Joan Downs-Krostenko — Secretary & Architectural Historian Elizabeth Hertel Don Dietz Peter DeKever Michael Skaggs MINI ITFS HYBRID MEETING MEMBERS ABSENT: David Wyncott — Vice President Andrew Jones — Treasurer I. CALL TO ORDER — 6:00 pm II. ROLL CALL III. PUBLIC HEARING a. CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS Council Chambers, 4th Floor County -City Building, South Bend, IN ALSO PRESENT: Adam Toering Ross Van Overberghe Kate Bolze Kathryn Hough i. 2023-0403 206 East Bartlett Street River Bend LHD, Ordinance #8308-92 (Audio Position: 01:24) The staff report was presented by. Adam Toering Commissioner Dietz was late to the meeting. He took his seat around Audio Position 2:38) Staff Recommendation: The proposal calls for enlarging existing window openings and creating new window openings. Where the openings will be created/enlarged, the existing sills will be discarded and new 2" concrete sills will be installed. Staff makes no recommendation based upon lack of information. The applicant was represented by: Derek Swiscz, 609 Riverside Dr, South Bend, IN 46601 served as the applicant. The public was represented by: there was no one from the public to speak. After due consideration the following action was taken: Upon a motion by Elizabeth Hertel, seconded by Peter DeKever, and carried by vote, the Historic Preservation Commission APPROVES Certificate of Appropriateness Application #2023-0403. Vote: 5-0-1. Five in favor, none opposed, one abstained. COA#2023-0403 is APPROVED. b. NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NOMINATION SARAH ANDREWS PRESIDENT St. Adalbert Church Complex (Audio Position: 12:04) The staff report, which is publicly available on the City of South Bend's online document portal with supporting documentation, was presented and read into record by Historic Preservation Administrator Adam Toering. A CERTIFIED LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADAM TOERING OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADMINISTRATOR EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 1400S County -City Building 227 W. Jefferson Blvd. South Bend, Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9371 f 574.235.9201 southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Staff Recommendation: It is recommended that the Historic Preservation Commission concur with staff that the property meets the criteria for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C. Staff requests that the Commission direct staff to submit the appropriate report of the public hearing, includinq public comments, to Mayor James Mueller for his concurrence, in compliance with Indiana's Certified Local Government regulations. The Certified Local Government Report on the Nomination of the St. Adalbert Church Complex to the National Register of Historic Places will then be forwarded to the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology for further review, followed by consideration of the nomination by the Indiana Historic Preservation Review Board. The following from the public spoke in_favor of the nomination: Gavin Moulton, 1542 Marigold Way, South Bend, IN: "Good evening. My name is Gavin Moulton and I'm a doctoral student in history at the University of Notre Dame researching religion, labor, and culture in the industrial Midwest. It is a tremendous honor to present the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Saint Adalbert Church Complex to the Historic Preservation Commission on behalf of Saint Adalbert Parish tonight. When I decided to pursue a PhD two years ago, South Bend's rich history of migration and unionization, and the city's extraordinary variety of religious art and architecture drew me as much as did the expertise of professors at Notre Dame. Before I visited campus's Golden Dome, I made sure to stop by the west side to see the equally impressive twin spires of Saint Adalbert Church. As I hope you will have a chance to experience, St. Adalbert's soaring towers and Gothic vaults leave a lasting impression on any visitor, but I was awestruck by John Mallin's 1941 Labor mural in the church's north transept. After two years of research, unpacking the mural, symbolism, and historic context, I remain enthralled. Each time I return to St Adalbert, time pauses, and I join with the coal miners, iron workers, and garment makers, Polish men and women workers alike, looking upward from a smoke belching factory in the foreground to a sorrowful message emblazoned on the sky. By the sweat of your brow, you shall eat bread reads the message, a Polish biblical verse resting on a burst of golden rays. The verse in the mural, Genesis 3:19, summarizes the Polish story in America. Like Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden, the Pols of South Bend worked by the sweat of their brow as they fled imperialist violence in their homeland. Clustered densely in cottages around their churches, Pols braved horrific working conditions in unregulated capitalist industry. They lived frugally, sowing gardens in their front yards and sending all family members out to work to support, but giving generously Pols raised the first building of Saint Adalbert, a Renaissance revival brick structure that provided religious, educational, and social functions for the community and that preserved Polish culture in a hostile society. As America closed its doors to southern and eastern European migrants in 1924, the Pols of St Adalbert proudly and boldly dedicated a church of grand proportions as a marker of their continuing presence and contribution to South Bend in 1926. The communal strength of the west side's Polish community, as evidenced by the new church, shocked South Bend and Indiana elites included the local Catholic Bishop who held prejudiced views about Eastern European migrants. St. Adalbert is a national cultural resource. It enriches the perspective of Notre Dame undergraduate students who visit to learn about immigrant Catholicism. Page 12 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION It contains rich archives and art that shed light on decades of Polish migration and community formation for historians. It is an open-air museum containing over 100 years of Midwestern architectural history, from Renaissance Revival to Mid -Century Modern, on a single site. The story of struggle, written in the bricks of St. Adalbert, etched into its monuments, painted on its walls, is an operatic ode to the intertwined histories of migration and labor in this city. More than the Oliver Mansion, more than the JMS building, the complex of buildings and monuments at St Adalbert best encapsulates the struggle and legacy of industrial South Bend. As much of South Bend's industrial heritage, such as large segments of the Bendix factory and Brewing Association building, continue to crumble, the value of St. Adalbert as a dynamic and wholly intact testament to decades of industrial history is greatly heightened. Over the past two years, I feel extraordinary privilege to have compiled the history of St Adalbert and to have worked closely with such wonderful community members on the church's restoration committee, but I would be remiss to only speak about St. Adalbert's past. South Bend owes a great debt to the Latino community for continuing to preserve St. Adalbert. As St. Adalbert has been a refuge for Polish culture for over a century, so too now it is a living center for our Polish and Latino heritages. As a historian and architecture writer, I can think of no greater monument in South Bend meriting inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Tonight, I ask the Commission to join us in preserving and promoting St Adalbert as a national significant site of architectural, labor, and migration history." Commissioner Andrews: "That's fantastic. Thank you, Gavin... Thank you so much for compiling that and kind of helping us to see the bridge between the Pols and the Latinos who now take such great care of this beautiful parish. Is there anything else that you'd like to add just from your experience the last two years there?" Gavin: "Just that it's been wonderful and to thank Don and Benito and Shelia and Kil and everyone else in this room who has helped me put this together. I first reached out to Adam, at the invitation of the parish, actually. I had known about St. Adalbert, but I became involved directly in this project through the artist's granddaughter, John Mallin, who maintains his archive, and she wrote to me and said, you know what they're doing at St. Adalberts, right? And I had no clue of the scope of this project, which as Don might be able to tell you later, is to put together a 10-million-dollar restoration of the church, stabilize the building and maintain all of the invaluable paintings inside. So, it's been an incredible experience to be able to engage in such meaningful public history, especially around shared histories of Polish and Latino migration and the prejudice that both groups continue to face." Don Popielarz, 2805 Sunnydale, St. Joseph MI: "We are in the beginning stages of a restoration of the church. We have received permission from Bishop Rhoades to proceed. We have, the parish at large is very, very supportive of our endeavors. There was a letter sent by Father Ryan, which I'm sure everyone has seen that. He mentions also that Bishop Rhoades gives his approval and Diocese's approval to this project. Our plan is to seal the envelope so that there's no water coming in, so there's no destruction. In some of the pictures you can see where there's water damage. We've hired architect Kil from South Bend, who is well versed in architectural historical preservations. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have Page 13 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION and open up the floor to our other members from the community including Ms. Niezgodski who's here to give her support too." Commissioner Andrews: "Any questions from the Commissioners or comments?" Commissioner Skaggs: "I have questions about sort of who is involved here. Legally, does the parish own all the property?" Don: "It depends who you ask. The legally, I would think the diocese owns the property itself and that's why we made sure that Bishop Rhoades would give his permission for us to move forward and also to get his permission to seek the designation as an historic uhm, to placed on historic register." Commissioner Dietz: "Has the fundraising campaign started already?" Don: "No, it hasn't started" Commissioner Dietz: "What does 10 million accomplish?" Don: "10 million dollars will accomplish a great deal. It may not be enough. We have, Mr. Kil can speak to this more, his firm has started an initial assessment VI LIIC VUIJIUC. V7IIc1l WG'IC hoping, lg, VI course flIgIIJ Vv 111 cIlallyG, VJc'rc IIVpiily to seal the envelope, get the brick work, the roofing, things of that nature. I'm guessing one million, 1.5 million. We have talked with and we've retained a liturgical restoration firm out of Milwaukee, Conrad Schmidt. Their early estimates are anywhere from 5 million to 10 million dollars on the top end, and of course everything is subject to change because we don't know what we're getting into. Mr. Kil did tell me a week or two ago that he's found nothing alarming and I'm hoping that they stay with that. The thing is, if our plan is to try to get this done by the 100th year of the anniversary of the church, which is 2026. It's an ambitious deadline, but something that we can accomplish if everything falls into place. We have undergone training with Indiana landmarks. Our last session is going to be the last Saturday in April. It's been four times that we've met down there. Wonderful people, we have a representative today from Indiana Landmarks, all local people, they've just been a wonderful source with potential funding, grant application, suggestions on how to approach the community for fundraising. Fundraising within the church because, quite frankly, if we had to rely on solely on just our parishioners to raise 10 million dollars it won't happen. But the problem is if we don't do anything, that building is going to fall in on itself and what we'd like to do is to get it back where it needs to be to ensure that it's here for another 100 years and I think we're off to a very, very impressive start and there's a few things that will maybe be shaking into place within the next month or six weeks. So there will more news in that regard." Commissioner Andrews: "Thank you. Would anyone else like to share?" Shelia Niezgodski, 4942 Scenic Dr, South Bend, IN. 6th District Council Member: "I am here in support of St Adalbert's to be on the national registry. It's a wonderful church. It has been there for as long as I can remember and established in 1910. Baptisms, weddings, community centers, just so many things that have happened with this property. Being Polish myself and looking at the art that is throughout that. We did a tour with them and it would just be a shame to see that lost. You have the students from Notre Dame that come and study those arts. The stained glass is even more valuable than Tiffany glass and I cannot imagine what it would look like once it's thoroughly cleaned. And when you look at this building and think of the amount of labor of love, that went into that being built by Polish immigrants, it makes me proud of my heritage. And as was discussed earlier, we now have the Latino population is Page 14 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION coming in, they're taking care of that. They are immigrating to the west side, just like my family did and I believe that we need to afford them the opportunity to keep this church up for that next wave that comes in. I don't know what the next wave of immigrants may be, but I have a feeling they're going to be coming to the west side. So I'm just very honored that they asked me to come and talk on their behalf. As the representative from that area, I can tell you the church is well used and well attended and it is just an anchor for that community. Myself, speaking from putting my Council hat on, I would love to see a way to tie this into the Western Avenue corridor and really develop that neighborhood into a very meaningful place. There's no neighborhood association currently. Don contacted me about that and I believe we're going to start working on that, but it's just such a meaningful place and gathering place for so many people. You have the center for Mexican culture there. That has a very large congregation, I believe it's over 1000 people, so it's very well attended, it's very well supported. So anything that you can do to help get this application processed through, I would really appreciate. It is just such a wonderful place, it is truly historic and I'm just proud to be up here to say how much I support their project. 10 million dollars is very ambitious, probably will need more at some point, but I believe once they get going, in their campaign and get everything established, one thing at a time, that this will be obtainable for them to reach." Commissioner Andrews: "Thank you so much. Would anyone else like to speak? Greg Kil with Kil Architecture and Planning Studio, 1126 Lincolnway East, South Bend, IN: "I'm originally from the west side and it is an honor, and with humility, that we have accepted the commission to study the church, but the request in front of you is for the complex of buildings at St Adalbert's Parish and I'll touch on our familiarity with the school building. We did a study of the school, I think back in 2005 of some improvements. Funding wasn't available for all of that, but that plan is in place for some accessibility upgrades, a possible addition to the west side of the building, there was a fellowship hall that was, I think, destroyed by fire, I believe, at one point years ago. The school, now with its population and census at a high level compared to a number of years ago is significant. The Hispanic population and the members of the congregation there is significant, but in terms of the architecture, I think it's important to note that the building, from our initial assessment, which we've done, just started our field work and a draft will be providing to the building committee before the end of the month is that structurally in very good shape, but like any building that's approaching 100 years old need maintenance and we're only stewards. It's exciting to see the focus and the effort by the members of the parish and by the diocese and with the Bishop's support, and I believe the community support to develop a plan for rehabilitation and restoration of the building for its next 100 years." Commissioner Andrews: "Fantastic. Thank you. Any questions from the Commissioners? Alright. Thank you so much." Todd Zeiger, with Indiana Landmarks, 801 W Washington, South Bend, IN: "I'll be brief. Just wanted to add our support to this. It has been a pleasure to work with this group. I spend a lot of time traveling around in my region and looking at a lot of old churches and it becomes fairly apparent pretty quickly which ones are the congregations have legs that will take whatever energy and move forward and which ones won't, and this one clearly was one of those who, if with advice council, will run with that and they have, as Don mentioned, they're part of our sacred places Indiana program, which seeks to help build Page 15 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION the capacity of congregations that have these amazing resources to help them become more integrated even in their community, and use them as community assets and that's what they're doing here. So I'm just so pleased to see them here this evening and to get this moving forward, it's a joy to see them moving forward, and you talked about the 10 million, but you know we think about that in today's terms, but I also think about then what that took to build out of the wages, as Gavin talked about, and really, it's an interesting parallel to me about that. It was not a small feat to build this in the years and so as much as the church is obviously the starring role here, those other properties, those other buildings on the site are equally as outstanding and I will add my two cents to the rectory, which is this amazing mashup of Craftsman and Ecclesiastical, which is just something different, right, but good for them. Thank you for entertaining this and sending it down to the state with the positive recommendation." Letters were received in support of the nomination, but none were read into the record. They are available publicly on the City of South Bend's online document portal. The following from the public spoke in opposition of the nomination: There was no one from the public to speak in opposition of the nomination. Commission Discussion Commissioner Andrews: Anything we need to discuss as a Commissioner? Commissioner Hertel: I have a question. I understand criteria A and C, but there has been mentioned that maybe it falls under criteria B as well. Is that what I heard in the beginning? Adam Toering: So, there was the initial discussion about criteria B. In conversations with Gavin regarding that nomination, I advised him either to make a very strong case for putting it forward under criteria B or to back away from criteria B. The information that I'm getting from my colleagues at the state level and elsewhere is that National Register nominations are being scrutinized more and more, so you want the argument to be airtight and solid on the criteria that you know will be successful. Not that I didn't think that there was wonderful history associated with the individual in question for criteria B, it's just whether it is a nationally significant significance, I questioned whether it would carry that much weight. For local history, the individual, the priest, in question was very prominent and was very well known, but as to how it would be received by the federal government, I don't know. Commissioner Hertel: Is that something that could be added later or is once this submitted, it's submitted, and this is how it will always be, or you know, the data comes back that we could, they could prove criteria B also? Adam Toering: I mean, I've joked with other people that the National Register of Places is still a very, in my opinion, young thing, since the 1960s. So, our ways of quantifying it and defining it are still evolving. I would again echo they're providing more scrutiny with reviewing of nominations. That's not to say that calling out that history is present in this nomination and calling out that individual is present in this nomination. So his name and his impact on the erection of this church and its complex is very felt in the nomination. I would say, again, the National Register program in historical terms is still very young and it feels strange saying that because it's 60 years old, but we're still, it's evolving always and I'm feeling a current of more restriction and more review. I hope that answers your question. Page 16 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION Commissioner Skaggs: I'm not detecting any hesitancy, so this may be beside the point, but if you could just put it very bluntly for me, how does this get around the properties owned by religious institutions? Sort of automatic exclusion, but then, coming back in? Adam Toering: That's a great question. So, a number of sites that are religiously owned are added to the National Register of Historic places. I would say, like the other paragraph there was the cemetery and I bring this up as a parallel, city cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018, that took some, I won't say finagling, but there was a number of back and forth with that nomination. I always joking say there's a Vice President of the Unites States buried in that cemetery and it was a big struggle to get that listed on the National Register. So it can happen. I don't know if that answers your question or not. Todd Zeiger: So the exclusion is to carve out a property. You wouldn't be able to nominate this property just because it's a Catholic church, but the importance of being put on the National Register, which is what you were just talking about, criteria A, B, C or D, sets out it's importance beside it being just a Catholic Church. So it's an amazing architecture. You can't just nominate a church cause it's Protestant or Catholic or whatever. The importance of spending the extra time to knit that story together about the immigrants and the art and the architecture and all of that helps set this church aside from just another one that's just a Catholic church or a Protestant church. So that's that hopefully helps you make the difference between just excluded because it's a church versus not because this has deeper meaning to it. Just to try quick criteria B, it's not any less or more on the National Register because it doesn't have that other criteria. Two is good, call it good. Some only get one. Adam Toering: I will say, I mean, for me when reviewing and writing the staff recommendation, there's an amazing case for criteria C, which with the Masters because of all the beautiful amazing artwork. Kudos again to Gavin for doing the research, but showing who did what, when, and that narrative, which I think, that in itself, I'm not saying that criteria A is not important, but like that's a beautiful narrative that in and of itself is amazing. After due consideration the following action was taken: Upon a motion by Elizabeth Hertel, seconded by Joan Downs-Krostenko, and UNANIMOUSLY carried by vote, the Historic Preservation Commission submits their approval for the nomination of St. Adalbert Church Complex to the National Register of Historic Places under criterion A and C and that all of the appropriate paperwork be submitted to the Mayor for his concurrence, and that is then sent onto state's representatives. Vote: 6-0. Six in favor, none opposed. Nomination of St. Adalbert Church Complex for addition to the National Register of Historic Places is APPROVED c. LOCAL LANDMARK NOMINATION 3016 Portage Avenue, "Portage Manor" (Audio Position: 44:24) The staff update was presented by: Adam Toering Todd Zeiger, with Indiana Landmarks, 801 W Washington, South Bend, IN also gave an update on Portage Manor. Page 17 CITY OF SOUTH BEND HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION After due consideration the following action was taken: Upon a motion by Elizabeth Hertel, seconded by Michael Skaggs, and UNANIMOULSY carried by vote, the Historic Preservation Commission votes to continue the discussion of the Local Landmark Nomination request for 3016 Portage Avenue to the next regularly scheduled monthly meeting. IV. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR V. REGULAR BUSINESS a. APPROVAL OF MINUTES February 20, 2023 and March 20, 2023 minutes (Audio Position: 54:16) Upon a motion by Joan Downs-Krostenko, seconded by Don Dietz, and UNANIMOUSLY carried by vote, the minutes from the February 20, 2023 and March 20, 2023 Historic Preservation Commission meetings are approved. b. STAFF REPORTS Administrative Approvals After due consideration. no action was taken. c. COMMITTEE REPORTS i. No committees met since the previous meeting. Vl. OLD BUSINESS VII. NEW BUSINESS a. Standards & Guidelines (Audio Position: 54:56) Adam Toering gave a presentation on the public engagement that occurred as a part of the process to update the standards and guidelines. Joan Downs-Krostenko wrote a letter and read the letter into the record. VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS a. Properties of Interest — None for consideration b. "10 Most Endangered" (Audio Position: 1:28:48) Adam Toering gave a presentation on the Historic Preservation Commission members' "10 Most Endangered" properties. It was proposed that a special meeting be held on May 1, 2023 at 6pm in the Board of Public Works Meeting Room on the 13th floor of the County -City Building to discuss and narrow down the "10 Most Endangered" property list as well as determine the next steps. IX. ADJOURNMENT Upon a motion by Joan Down s-Krostenko, seconded by Elizabeth Hertel and UNANIMOUSLY carried by vote, the meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m. Joan Downs-Krostenko Date Arch. Historian/ Secretary ,rnoy i A a 3 Page 18