| (Updated) Demolition of Pop Culture House begins |
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| Written by By HAROLD BROWN/Sentinel-Tribune | |||||
| Friday, 10 August 2012 07:35 | |||||
Crews began knocking down the walls of the Bowling Green State University Popular Culture House at 7 this morning. Starting on the west end of the building, a large mechanical claw made short work of the structure. By 7:20 nearly half of the portion of the house facing Wooster Street was rubble. A short while later the cleanup began. About a half-dozen people, including BGSU officials, a BGSU police officer and members of the press witnessed the initial demolition. Sprinkles were falling as the work began and turned into a steady drizzle by 7:30. “We were ahead of schedule with the preparations and got the permits late Thursday from the city,” BGSU spokesperson Dave Kielmeyer said as he stood on the north side of Wooster Street watching the work. The city requires a demolition permit to insure that all utilities have been disconnected to help insure the safety of the work. BGSU officials earlier indicated the demolition would begin Monday but decided not to wait through the weekend. The work is being done by the same firm that is demolishing the Central Administration Building on South Grove Street, Kielmeyer said. The structure was a Montgomery Ward kit house done on a Sears design. It was built in 1932 as a private residence and purchased a few years later by the university. Four BGSU presidents resided there, before it became the headquarters for the university’s alumni association and then the Popular Culture House.
Kielmeyer said staff walked through the building with faculty members to help determine which items to salvage. It has not been determined what will be done with the salvaged items. Fencing was put in place Thursday to secure the site. Since news of the planned demolition was published July 21 in the Sentinel-Tribune, groups and individuals mounted efforts to convince BGSU officials to change their plans or at least delay the work to determine if the house could be moved. Social media was employed to gather interest and support, with some claiming more than 2,000 supporters to stop the process. There was also a demonstration at the 838 E. Wooster Street property. A group spent more than hour at Monday night’s Bowling Green City Council meeting trying to convince city officials to take a stand or intervene. The university has indicated the site, along with two adjacent lots cleared earlier this summer, is its primary location for a new student health center. BGSU is in talks with Wood County Hospital to develop the project. |
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| Last Updated on Friday, 10 August 2012 10:57 |
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Comments
Additionally, national landmark status DOES NOT prevent a structure from being demolished. The property owners still can do whatever they want (as long as they are not receiving federal funding for it).
HOWEVER state laws and local ordinances can protect threatened structures. These ordinances can be strong enough where the local govt can block a demolition--regardless of what the owner wants. This is what Bowling Green needed on the books to save the PopC house.
Sorry, but people who are so pro-preservation need to stop being reactionary and start being proactive. Learn a lesson from the nature lovers who have put their money where their mouths are, with actions like the Wood County Conservancy.
Change happens. Nothing is permanent. The concern for preserving this and other "historical" buildings should have been researched long before an announcement was made about a building's fate. By the time it's decided, it is too late.
Sorry if this upsets some people, but maybe the lesson here is to learn to appreciate what we have when we have it, take good care of it, and prepare for the future while we have time (not wait until the last moment and hope for a miracle).
It surprises me that a building so rare that there is (was)only one of its kind in the entire USA was off the radar of Kit Home Preservationist s all this time. Perhaps better research is needed.
Material culture makes meaning in our lives. Sorry to say this, but you don't get to decide how people make use artifacts to make meaning. The building was far more than its contents. That is why we create monuments and have historic buildings.
This perceived "progress" is not necessarily positive. All change is not good. The survival of BGSU, its future and its ability to attract new students is not contingent on the destruction of its past. That is a terrible, and misinformed argument to make.
Guess the university does not need my paltry hundreds of dollars since they have multi-tens of millions to spend on new construction and destruction.
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