By Mary Jo Viero
Executive Director
For BAPA, Housing Preservation is at the core of what we do and have been doing since 1947. This past month our efforts included both a Historic Preservation Town Hall meeting at the Ridge Park Field House and an Old House Lecture Series.
The Old House Lecture featured a discussion on the topic of caring and repairing plaster and paint in older homes. The event drew nearly 50 residents and was held at the home of Mike and Jessica McCarihan. The McCarihans graciously opened their home to show off the plaster work they recently had done by master plasterer, Pedro Rosales. It was another example of BAPA at work, providing information and resources to our neighbors.
The Historic Preservation Town Hall meeting at Ridge Park was a success with over 60 residents filling the auditorium. The goal of the meeting was to discuss the Historic Districts in our community, what they mean to us and how we can protect them. The panel of experts included Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, Tim Blackburn, of the Ridge Historical Society, Emily Schmidt, a historian from the 106 Group, Carla Bruni, a historic preservation expert with the Chicago Bungalow Association and Mary Fishman, a local architect with a background in landmarks.
The meeting included a presentation by Tim Blackburn that focused on the historic districts and what that means to homeowners. We have four of them, including the Ridge Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, more of a designation that does not provide protections, and three Chicago Landmark Districts covering historic homes, churches, in sections of Longwood Drive and Seeley Avenue including the Givens Castle. The Walter Burley Griffin district featuring Prairie-style houses is its own Chicago Landmark District and so are the six train stations from 91st Street to 115th Street.
Questions about the permit process, tax incentive programs, resources, educating new homeowners and the possibility of enlarging our historic districts were brought up to the panel. It was an informative meeting and because of the overwhelming interest in the subject, BAPA will be hosting another meeting in October. The date and location will be announced as soon as it is finalized.
Please reach out to BAPA with any questions or concerns and check out our website at bapa.org for a full list of links and resources.
