Historical Assn Rebukes Presidio Trust for Changing Planning Documents
California Desk
January 06, 2009
The Presidio Historical Association (PHA), a nonprofit watchdog group, sharply criticized the Presidio Trust for making plans that conflict with the Interior Department´s standards to protect historic structures and landscapes. The Trust, a federal agency, has a duty to conform to those standards. The Presidio is a national historic landmark district and part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area (GGNRA).
In a 15-page letter delivered to the Trust office yesterday, PHA charged the Trust with altering the intent of its previously approved Presidio Trust Management Plan´s (PTMP) section on the Main Post design guidelines and ignoring the Secretary of the Interior´s Standards for managing national historic landmark districts in order to permit construction of a contemporary art museum, large hotel and restaurant, and enlarge a historic movie theater on the Main Post, the park´s most historically significant site.
Harvard-trained architect Lucia Bogatay, whose San Francisco firm specializes in historic preservation projects, noted that the Trust has released at least four new versions of the PTMP since early 2007. Bogatay, a member of PHA´s Board of Directors since 1993, cited numerous ways that the Trust´s latest design guidelines conflict with established protocols as detailed in PHA´s letter.
"The Presidio Trust started with a succinct, three-page statement of design guidelines in 2002 focusing upon preserving, protecting and restoring this National Historic Landmark District -- guidelines which would have barred projects that the Trust is now promoting," Bogatay noted. "Now, the latest version of those guidelines consumes 26 pages and would permit the Trust to build inappropriate, incompatible and possibly illegal new structures in the Presidio," she said.
PHA´s letter charged the Presidio Trust with failing to follow Secretary of the Interior Standards for the treatment of historic properties, specifically its 1995 published guidelines for "Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring & Reconstructing Historic Buildings" and its 1996 "Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes."
PHA´s letter was sent to Trust to provide timely feedback during the Trust´s current process of revising its building guidelines.
The Presidio of San Francisco is a designated National Historic Landmark District (NHLD), the highest possible status for historic sites in the United States. The National Park Service has stated that the Presidio Trust´s proposals will have an adverse effect upon its NHLD designation if the Trust proceeds with its plans.
By far the most controversial of development proposals is a contemporary art museum sponsored by Gap founder Donald Fisher. After more than one year of intense criticism, Fisher has tentatively withdrawn his original proposal for a massive, modernistic structure to house his personal art collection. He is in the process of preparing a new proposal.
The Presidio Trust continues to advocate for placing Fisher´s museum and other large structures on the Main Post, a site dating back to 1776 Spanish explorers with historical and archaeological meaning.
National and community groups, private citizens and governmental agencies have spent more than a year fighting to keep the Presidio´s historic and recreational character from being destroyed by the Presidio Trust´s new construction proposals.
The California Office of Historic Preservation is allocating 90 percent of its efforts attempting to deal with the Trust´s proposals to build on the historic Main Post, called by State Historic Preservation Officer Wayne Donaldson "The Plymouth Rock of the West."
In a 15-page letter delivered to the Trust office yesterday, PHA charged the Trust with altering the intent of its previously approved Presidio Trust Management Plan´s (PTMP) section on the Main Post design guidelines and ignoring the Secretary of the Interior´s Standards for managing national historic landmark districts in order to permit construction of a contemporary art museum, large hotel and restaurant, and enlarge a historic movie theater on the Main Post, the park´s most historically significant site.
Harvard-trained architect Lucia Bogatay, whose San Francisco firm specializes in historic preservation projects, noted that the Trust has released at least four new versions of the PTMP since early 2007. Bogatay, a member of PHA´s Board of Directors since 1993, cited numerous ways that the Trust´s latest design guidelines conflict with established protocols as detailed in PHA´s letter.
"The Presidio Trust started with a succinct, three-page statement of design guidelines in 2002 focusing upon preserving, protecting and restoring this National Historic Landmark District -- guidelines which would have barred projects that the Trust is now promoting," Bogatay noted. "Now, the latest version of those guidelines consumes 26 pages and would permit the Trust to build inappropriate, incompatible and possibly illegal new structures in the Presidio," she said.
PHA´s letter charged the Presidio Trust with failing to follow Secretary of the Interior Standards for the treatment of historic properties, specifically its 1995 published guidelines for "Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring & Reconstructing Historic Buildings" and its 1996 "Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes."
PHA´s letter was sent to Trust to provide timely feedback during the Trust´s current process of revising its building guidelines.
The Presidio of San Francisco is a designated National Historic Landmark District (NHLD), the highest possible status for historic sites in the United States. The National Park Service has stated that the Presidio Trust´s proposals will have an adverse effect upon its NHLD designation if the Trust proceeds with its plans.
By far the most controversial of development proposals is a contemporary art museum sponsored by Gap founder Donald Fisher. After more than one year of intense criticism, Fisher has tentatively withdrawn his original proposal for a massive, modernistic structure to house his personal art collection. He is in the process of preparing a new proposal.
The Presidio Trust continues to advocate for placing Fisher´s museum and other large structures on the Main Post, a site dating back to 1776 Spanish explorers with historical and archaeological meaning.
National and community groups, private citizens and governmental agencies have spent more than a year fighting to keep the Presidio´s historic and recreational character from being destroyed by the Presidio Trust´s new construction proposals.
The California Office of Historic Preservation is allocating 90 percent of its efforts attempting to deal with the Trust´s proposals to build on the historic Main Post, called by State Historic Preservation Officer Wayne Donaldson "The Plymouth Rock of the West."
Print
Email
