QUARTERLY MEETING

April 26, 2005 | Environmental Design Archive, Berkeley

The Environmental Design Archives, on the UC Berkeley campus, hosted our third HALS meeting. During introductions, Roger Scharmer noted that in 1974 he was involved with writing the legislation for the original historic preservation element for the State of California (Senate bill 2309).

Minutes:

1. INTRODUCTIONS

   During introductions, Tom Brown reported that he has a box of information on Bay Area Landscape Architects and Landscape Architecture. It was agreed that his material should be housed at the archives.

   Debra Lindsay, who was the head gardener at the Kaiser Roof Garden for nine years, expressed interest in being involved with that site's documentation. Debra indicated that she has a lot of material on the garden to share.

2. HALS NOMINATIONS

   After introductions, Cathy Garrett reported that Jen Liw of PGAdesign has prepared two additional short form nominations for Mills Hall and the oval on the Mills College campus, and one for the Dunsmuir Estate. Both properties are in Oakland. HALS member, Helaine Kaplan-Prentice is working with two students to prepare a City of Oakland landmark application for the 1920s Cleveland Cascade designed by Howard Gilkey. Their efforts could lead to another HALS short form nomination.

   Marlea Graham reported that the City of Gilroy has prepared a HALS long form, as mitigation for the removal of a row of Deodar Cedars that have been or will be removed as part of a new development.

   Tom Brown noted that the site on Seven Hills Road in Castro Valley that has an 1876 structure is a good candidate for HALS documentation. W.A. Stratten is associated with this site.

   Seth Bergstein mentioned the Pudding Creek Trestle in Fort Bragg as another potential HALS nominee.

   At the end of the meeting, we agreed that anyone who intends to nominate a site that might be a contender for further study in the foreseeable future should do so by our next meeting. At that time, we will agree on which site to focus on for our first full documentation. Jill Johnson suggested that we might plan a Saturday event to kick-off the documentation process. This idea was well received. Margaret Mori offered to provide the beer.

   There was no discussion on the format of the short form nomination.

   Cathy shared the recent news of the proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The House Subcommittee on National Parks oversight met at the end of April to discuss the following proposed changes to the Act: halt the National Register process entirely if an owner (or a majority of owners in a district) objected to listing, and require that a property be listed on the National Register or formally determined eligible by the Keeper for Section 106 to apply.

   These proposed changes would gut the Section 106 process. This is a significant threat to the integrity of the National Historic Preservation Act.

   A brief footnote on consent, it appears that an owner's consent is desirable for a HALS listing, even if the above discussed changes to the NHPA are thwarted.

   Chris Pattillo noted that our group is still in need of financial support to cover the cost of doing documentation. Anyone who has experience with grant writing or interest, please speak up. Jill Johnson has indicated that she might be willing to be part of a committee to pursue funding.

3. HALS PHOTOGRAPHY

   We discussed the HALS guidelines for site photography. Waverly Lowell clarified that the reason that black and white photography is required is because currently there is no color photography that is permanent.

   Seth Bergstein of PAST Consultants described his experience doing HABS photography for ARG, Architects and other clients. Seth is interested in working with us on that aspect of the documentation. Shane Watson, currently with ARG is interested in working with Seth.

   It was noted that Roger Sturtevant was a prolific landscape photographer in California, and that many of his photographs are housed at the Museum of California in Oakland. Drew Johnson, Curator of Photography, would be helpful. Sunset Magazine would also be a good source of historic garden photos.

   William Stout Publishers is another source of books with historic landscape photos. Marc Treib did a book on Maybeck's Landscapes that was recently published.

   (It is unlikely that William Stout actually retains the photographs from the books he publishes. Generally they are returned to the author. Also, Marc (not Mark) Treib is the editor for a series of publications. The first monograph on Maybeck's landscapes is authored by Diane Harris, the second monograph in the Berkeley/Design/Books/ series focuses on the Donnel and Eckbo- Alcoa gardens and was written by Treib. They should be available late this summer.) Update from Waverly Lowell.

   Cathy asked about copyright issues. Waverly said this was an important issue. The photographer or their family frequently owns photo copyrights. Sometimes archives own the copyright. One always needs to ask permission to publish a copyrighted image. If it is for non-profit use, such as for HALS, permission may be given for no charge.

4. HALS WEB PAGE The web site will introduce HALS and our committee. It will include our comprehensive list of historic landscapes, which Betsy Flack is assembling. The site will invite viewers to nominate sites that they know about.

   We discussed what level of review should be provided for posting information on the site and tentatively agreed that we would allow open access for anyone to post information of historic landscapes. We will define parameters on what is appropriate, i.e., the site must be at least 50 years old, and we will include a disclaimer regarding the source of the publicly provided information.

   We also agreed to not include specific locations (addresses) for private gardens or other sites that are not publicly accessible.

   The site will include landscape historic preservation news and links to related sites of interest. Please review their report and send feedback directly to Steve at canciansteve AT hotmail DOT com

5. ARCHIVES TOUR

   At the conclusion of the meeting Waverly Lowell, Curator and Carrie McDade, Assistant Curator led tours of the archives. We saw original drawings of Garrett Eckbo, Thomas Church, Beatrix Farrand, Julia Morgan, Geraldine Knight Scott, and Gertrude Jekyll. Waverly and Carrie responded to questions and generally enlightened us on what material is at the archives, how the archives are organized, how they are funded, and how to access information. It was an inspiring afternoon.

6. NEXT MEETING

   Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday August 3rd 4pm at Fort Mason, hosted by Carola Ashford of The Garden Conservancy