Mps newsletter 01 spring 2012

Tulane Preservation Alumni Group Tulane Master’s of Preservation Studies Quarterly Alumni Newsletter • Spring 2012

Alumni News • Chuck Berg (’11) has recently completed his first year as Plan Examiner with the Vieux Carré Commission and four historic house renovations for clients in the Marigny, Uptown and the New Marigny.

• Eric Iglesias (’11) was recently hired by Urban Strategies as a project manager.

• Brooke Malec (’11) has started a design and preservation blog called Old City South: www.oldcitysouth.com.

• Justin Newhart (’11) was hired as the house manager of Bocage Plantation, which operates as a bed and breakfast, wedding and event facility and museum with daily tours. “All MPS students and alumni have entree for free if they want to come visit!” he said.

• Casey Stewart (‘09) has been appointed Vice-President for Education and Outreach of Save Our Cemeteries. He is helping organize events including four lectures in 2012, the first of which featured Dr. Eugene Cizek, who spoke on his HABS work in the cemeteries over the years.

• Daniel Young-Torquemada (‘99) and Malena Rojas (‘02) of the San Felipe, Panama-based firm Hache Uve have completed a number of commercial and residential restorations in Panama and abroad, and in November 2011 they won an award from the Panama`s Architects and Engineers Association and Panama’s Architecture School for the restoration of Benedetti Hermanos, an Art Deco building in Casco Viejo.

Greetings all MPS Alumni!

From the Director

It is a special pleasure to communicate to you via the first newsletter of the newly established Tulane Preservation Alumni Group. It is also an honor to help finally establish this long hoped-for facet of the Masters in Preservation Studies program as a means of staying in touch and working together on matters of common interest.

Since joining the Tulane School of Architecture as Director of the MPS program last August much has happened toward the revitalization and enrichment of the program.

With 22 registered full time students and another 16 in the process of completing their degrees.

I, with the help of Dean Kenneth Schwartz, Assistant Director Ann Masson, the other MPS faculty The fall 2011 MPS class and numerous others have worked hard to enrich the existing course offerings and clarify a number of procedural matters. Perhaps the most significant help resulted from the convening of the first annual Tulane MPS Program Advisory Group last October that consisted of some of ten of the best and the brightest minds in preservation in the country. The Advisory Group examined highlights of the of program’s first 22 years of existence in the light of both the field today and the program’s present offerings.

This helpfully resulted in a number of recommendations that a committee of the preservation faculty have incorporated into a Strategic Plan for the development of the program over the next five years and beyond. That plan including a number of exciting new initiatives is being discussed with the Dean Schwartz at the present time.

The upshot of it all is that the new leadership of the MPS program is very aware of the unmatched resources and opportunity to teach preservation studies in New Orleans and the region today which, of course, was re-defined so by Hurricane Katrina. With great thanks to my predecessor, Dr. Eugene Cizek, who did the hard work of inaugurating the program and establishing its educational framework, we are earnestly underway in a new era with an eye to making the Masters in Preservation Studies more relevant than ever to the mission of Tulane and the historic preservation needs of New Orleans and the nation.

I close with thanking Danielle Del Sol for offering to serve at the acting director of the Alumni Group and producer of this newsletter. Further establishment of the Alumni Group is ahead of us but we can say already how pleased and excited we are about the good things we have in mind going forward.

Sincerely, John H. Stubbs Director

CONGRATS TO THE MOST RECENT MPS GRADUATES Winter 2011 Graduates are: Elizabeth Ann Burger, Laura Camayd, Ann Gray Conger, Margaret Rose Dallosta, Eric J. Iglesias, Annalise Ayse Kehler, Brooke Hartley Malec, Michelle Kathleen Moylan, Justin Michael Newhart and Leslie Andree Perrin.

Congratulations to you all!

last notes • Most of the MPS students, along with some MArch friends, traveled to Havana for one week during spring break to meet with Isabel Rigol and other preservation greats in the Antillean capital. The group toured many historic sections of the city as well as the National Arts Schools, Finca Vijia, Habana del Este and other important sites. A brilliant time was had by all!

MPS CAMPUS update Richardson Memorial Hall, longtime home of the Tulane School of Architecture, is slated for renovations that were defined by a steering committee of faculty and students led by Dean Kenneth Schwartz in 2010. The MPS class, for their main fall 2011 studio project, seized the opportunity to develop a historic structure report on the building.

The result is a 300+ page report that gives a detailed account of the building’s past and includes measured drawings, numerous specialty analyses and preservation recommendations for moving forward with the renovations. Students were interested to find out that the building was Tulane’s original medical school. Advice and guidance was provided by MPS and Architecture faculty, and according to MPS Director John Stubbs, the students’ research included meetings with doctors who used to work in the building and the granddaughter of Richardson Memorial’s architect.

This semester began with a project that split the class into three but utilized “the same methods of problem solving, planning, analysis and recommendations for three representative areas that together present a basket of urban issues,” Stubbs said. The three locations are: The triangular block of Dryades that fronts the Muses development; Banks and Rocheblave Streets, the current site of the S.W. Green home, which was spared demolition and moved when the new V.A. hospital site was cleared; and a block in downtown Mandeville that includes the historic Dew Drop Music Hall. Students involved in the last project also aided preservation students from the University of Pennsylvania who visited New Orleans in February to complete documentation work in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2.

• Save Our Cemeteries has recruited eight MPS students to do volunteer internships working on several important projects, including building a data-base which will be available online. “The database will include the results of SOC projects over the years including the closure tablet inscriptions from St. Louis No. 2.

The work of our MPS students is invaluable,” said Casey Stuart. Find out more at saveourcemeteries.org.

Students’ work in studio this semester has primarily focused on learning the art of designing infill between historic buildings. Guest critics for spring include Tulane MArch and Preservation Certificate graduate Elliott Perkins, director of New Orleans’ Historic District Landmarks Commission.

• The 15th US/ICOMOS International Scientific Symposium will be held Thursday, May 31 to Saturday, June 2, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. A group from Tulane’s MPS program hopes to attend. This year’s Symposium celebrates the 40th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention. Learn more here about US/ICOMOS internship opportunities.

• The Vieux Carré Commission office, which is full of MPS grads, including Erin Edwards (’08) and intern volunteers Stephen Fowlkes (’07) and Gordon McCleod (’11), is looking for eager interns and practicum students, to work in the microcosm that is the French Quarter. Contact Chuck Berg at cberg2@cox.net for more information.

job and internship news • The Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation (LASHPO), located in the US Mint Museum Building (400 Esplanade Avenue), is looking for interns or volunteers for the Historic Building Recovery Grant Program and the Mid-City Rehabilitation Grant Program. For more information, contact Dabne Whitemore at 504568-2500 or dwhitemore@crt.la.gov

• Our favorite preservation job sites: Preservation Directory, HistPres, PreserveNet, National Conference of SHPOs, USA Jobs (for positions with the National Park Service and other governmental organizations) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Career Center.

Keep your fellow tulane preservation alumni in the loop!

To submit your news items, job or internship announcements or just to keep in touch, email Danielle Del Sol (‘11) at danielle.delsol@gmail.com. Please help us build the Tulane Preservation Alumni Group into an active, helpful resource for all preservation graduates!