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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 2011
(Click on each site name below to see a more detailed summary of each individual property.) Eight WV Endangered Properties Announced for 2011. Preservation Alliance of West Virginia selected eight historically significant sites for their 2011 Endangered Properties List. Sites from around the state include three former schools including a training facility for “colored” orphans, a coal town high school, and a private academy. Industrial sites listed include a historic train depot, coal company store, and a coal & coke company railroad building. A cemetery chapel and art deco theatre complete the list. PAWV will provide preservation assistance and advocacy to help local supporters in their efforts to save and reuse these significant sites.The Old Ansted High School (Fayette County) enjoys emotional community support and represents an element of shared history and sense of place. The 1920s brick and stone structure has been damaged by water and ice, as well as vandalism. The Town and two local organizations plan to rehabilitate the building to provide the Town of Ansted with handicapped accessible offices, to develop a learning center for teaching 21st century skills related to high-speed internet technology with possible business incubator sites, and also to house the Ansted Cultural and Heritage Museum. The Woodlawn Cemetery Chapel and Supervisor’s Residence (Marion County) is a substantial brick four-square house near the entrance to Woodlawn Cemetery. Built circa 1928 of brick from locally dug clay, the building was designed to serve as a funeral parlor and chapel as well as offices and residence for the superintendent. A large hole in the roof endangers the building today. The National Register listed cemetery holds the remains of Francis Pierpont, the “Father of West Virginia,” two governors, several Congressmen, and the founders of Fairmont. A number of organizations support its saving and adaptive reuse as a historical and genealogical research and archive facility in partnership with Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community and Technical College. West Virginia Colored Children’s Home (Cabell County) is a Classical Revival-style institutional building in Huntington was constructed in 1922 to provide housing, social services and education for the state’s black children in need. A cemetery where the Home’s children are believed to be buried is near the main building. Now owned by the Cabell County School Board, the West Virginia Colored Children’s Home is slated for demolition to make way for a new Middle School. A local advocacy organization has been formed to save the Home, and supporters are asking for consideration of an alternative building site for the new school or incorporation of the existing structure into a new school campus. The Mannington Railroad Depot (Marion County) began operations in 1852 serving as a link to the Ohio River and the western frontier, as well as providing strategic advantage during the Civil War. Built in 1906, the present structure is a one story hip roof, brick building with stone detailing. The depot, typical of that style on the line, is in danger of development that will not preserve its special historic features. The City of Mannington and Mannington Main Street, are working with at least nine organizations interested in providing fund-raising efforts and “sweat equity” to purchase the building for adaptive reuse as a community center and snack bar along the Mannington Rail Trail. Elkins Coal & Coke Company Building (Preston. County) sits along the Deckers Creek Rail Trail near Masontown. It is associated with the Elkins Coal and Coke Historic District containing the Bretz coke ovens, a National Historic Landmark. The Romanesque style stone structure is deteriorating and damaged by vandalism. The Monongahela River Trails Conservancy plans to convert the building and its nearby picnic shelter into a visitor’s center and restroom facilities for use by trail users and those traveling the Old Route 7 Byway. Shanklin’s Grand Theatre in Ronceverte (Greenbrier County) was designed by John Norman Sr., one of the first of West Virginia’s African American architects. Built circa 1937, it is best remaining art deco theater in the county. The Ronceverte Development Corporation intends to purchase the property, which sits in the heart of the downtown, to protect it from demolition. Future plans include restoring the theater for public use and as a community college cinema arts classroom. The old WRON Radio studios on the second floor will be converted for use as a recording studio. The Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy (Ohio County) has overlooked Wheeling since 1856. The “commodious," eclectic Victorian architectural landmark was constructed using local materials. It exhibits a tri-partite arrangement providing space for public functions in the center (administration and chapel), nun's residences on the left side, and student housing on the right. Additions have expanded the classrooms with space included for other functions as well. The school provided quality education for young women, together with girls from both North and South during the Civil War era. The building is no longer in use and is deteriorating. While local supporters are advocating for its saving and adaptive reuse, the structure is threatened by likely demolition. Mount de Chantal is in private hands; however PAWV agrees that this unique, historical, cultural treasure should be preserved and will advocate to that end as opportunities permit. The privately owned Whipple Company Store (Fayette County) circa 1900 was a focal point in the area’s once thriving coal community. Today, it is an important heritage destination in the New River Coal Fields, representing a critical element in telling the story of the 1921 mine wars, the struggle for unionization, and the lives of the miners and their families. The owners are seeking funding to make critical repairs necessary to preserve the unusual and eye-catching hexagonal building and keep the museum open and accessible to the visiting public. Endangered lists are used by preservation organizations to bring attention to the plight of at-risk properties and to provide assistance to the dedicated organizations involved in their preservation. The selected properties contribute to our understanding of our heritage, which will be diminished if they are lost. PAWV revived its endangered list program in 2009 with a competitive application process and with technical assistance provided to the selected properties. Thanks to the Partners in the Field Challenge Grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the committed donors who have stepped up to that challenge, PAWV field representative, Lynn Stasick, provides endangered list sites with assistance such as needs assessment, preservation expertise, capacity building, raising public awareness and advocacy. Stasick explains “I work with each property and each community in an effort to rehabilitate and adaptively re-use these unique historic sites.” Properties selected for the PAWV Endangered List must be listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and meet other criteria such as historic significance, preservation emergency, and local support. Preservation Alliance of West Virginia is the statewide, grassroots organization promoting historic preservation and our state's cultural heritage. Copyright © 2011 Preservation Alliance of West Virginia |
