Friday Farewell - Spring Cleaning

With spring upon us, a lot of us are focusing on the new, which is great, because we are doing the same here at DotLoop.

But, with all this talk about the new, I decided to end the week talking about the old. Last night, my girlfriend and I had dinner downtown and afterwards, we walked through the city with our necks craned towards the beautiful night sky as we admired some of the old gorgeous buildings, many of them a century or more old.

We also walked past the new Great American Tower which is quickly on its way to completion. It looks pretty and shiny and new, but we both agreed that its glass walls don't offer the same majestic look as the hand-carved stone facades of the older buildings, especially in light of their beautiful ornate features.

I've discussed renovation here on the DotLoop blog a few times before not only because many of you out there specialize in selling older homes, but because, like you, we recognize the value an older building brings to a neighborhood.

Serendipitously, I ran across this article a few days ago that highlights the lengths people will go to help preserve not just a building, but a neighborhood. I especially like what Timothy Lynch had to say as to why preservation is so important. Like all things in life, it comes down to people:

“The preservation of the buildings is not as important as the preservation of workers, or of the neighbors.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Razing the Roots

Here in DotLoop's home city of Cincinnati, we're having a bit of our own housing crisis. Last week, it was announced that the Gamble House, so named because it was owned by the co-founder of Proctor & Gamble, is about to be razed, because it's cheaper to get rid of it than spend money on repairs and restoration. The house is a local landmark, with gorgeous 19th-Century architecture. As the old adage says, "they don't make 'em like that anymore." But it is in disrepair and is in desperate need of a doctor for Gamble.

But is it really cheaper to raze it than to restore it? Yes and no.

In the short-run, it probably is cheaper to raze than restore. It's the easy and convenient way to do things. In the long-run, though, it will cost more to raze the property than to restore it, and not just financially.

Keeping and restoring an old home as opposed to just destroying it also benefits the community, many of whom have fond memories of it from their childhood. It also helps preserve a piece of history for the city, allowing us to have a benchmark to show where what we once were so that we can see how far we've come (or haven't, so that we can adjust our sails).

Luckily, the community here can see this and are trying to prevent the house from becoming just another empty lot. They see the value of this house beyond the cost of new shingles and elbow grease. I hope that their efforts pay off.

As I've touched upon before, a building - whether it be a home or a commercial property - is more than just an ATM, it's a part of a community. Place matters and buildings most certainly affect how we feel about a place. That's the beauty of architecture.

The owners have every right to raze the house if they want to, but I hope they reconsider. Costs other than financial are at stake. Restoring and re-purposing the Gamble House is one gamble that will pay off for the entire community.

Photo courtesy of cincinnati.com.

No Preservatives Added

Here at DotLoop, we take seriously our charge to change the real estate industry in a positive direction (while having fun too, of course). In fact, one of our pioneering pillars is to lessen the amount of paper needed for a transaction. Sure, this makes sense environmentally, but it also makes sense financially--after all, the less paper used, the lower the costs.

And that's the beauty of real progress--not only can you enhance your pocketbook, but in many ways, you can enhance your environment, too.

Progress in Preservation

In fact, communities across the country (and world) are understanding that progress does not always mean brand new, but oftentimes means rehabilitating what's already there. This is especially true when it comes to the preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings.

Just this past weekend in fact, DotLoop's hometown newspaper--the Cincinnati Enquirer--ran a three-page story about the efforts local businesses and community members have taken to preserve Over-The-Rhine, the nation's largest collection of Italianate architecture. The neighborhood has been in a spiraling decline over the last few decades for many reasons (suburban sprawl, new highway construction, lack of parking) but has seen a revitalization within the past five years spear-headed by the OTR Foundation and 3CDC.

The architecture found in such historic areas is unrivaled. While Dubai's latest skyscraper is impressive in its technological prowess and its shear size, seeing historic buildings with their detailed gargoyles carved by hand and intricate stained glass windows soldered one pane at a time gives communities a real sense of history. They don't make 'em like that anymore...

Blended to Perfection

Or do they?

If the city of Bruges in Belgium is any indication, they do. The city's market square looks as it did when it was around in the 1300s. Indeed, even the newer buildings look like they were built when lamb chops were eaten in between bouts with dragons. Bruges knew its history and heritage were worth preserving, blending the new with the old flawlessly. Bruges has benefitted economically by being one of the most visited places in Europe.

But you don't have to go halfway around the world to see the benefits in preserving historic buildings. From Charleston, South Carolina to New Orleans to Chicago, cities have all learned that preservation--and not razing--not only keeps a community's character in place, it also helps the local economy (a discussion I'll dive into in a future post). In fact, many preserved neighborhoods are thriving today because they attract the young urbanites who want to live in such places. The presence of young urbanites translates into more tax revenue for a city, and more discretionary spending for the individual, helping both the tax base and local businesses flourish.

Preserve or Parish

Photo (c) Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

We oftentimes confuse progress with new. Everyone loves their new flat-screen TVs, but what of their old tubes? Are they worth preserving? What happens when their "new" TV becomes obsolete with the latest rendition?

We've seen the lasting effects of preservation and the economic benefits of keeping historic buildings around. Still, historic buildings around the country, like the St. John's School in Garden City, NY (shown above) are still endangered. Historic buildings offer more than just a pretty facade, though. Many were built before the single-use zoning laws that took off after WWII and offer walkable, multi-functional communities that people gravitate to.

Besides, do we really need more strip malls?

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